Web & Internet Programming (comp315 & comp515)

Unit Details

Welcome

Welcome to comp315 and comp515!
My name is Ioan Despi and I will be your lecturer. Here are my vital statistics:

E-mail: comp315@turing.une.edu.au

Office: 107 Maths Building

Phone: (02) 6773 2513

Fax: (02) 6773 3312

School: (02) 6773 2298

Unit www: http://mcs.une.edu.au/~comp315/

Lecturer www: http://mcs.une.edu.au/~despi/

Tutor: TBA

Aims & Prerequisites

This unit will be a comprehensive guide to programming on the world wide web, concentrating on the common gateway interface (CGI). The unit will also provide an introduction to the language PERL, the duct-tape of the Internet, concentrating on its use as a CGI language. The unit will also provide a basis for the construction, and maintenance of web sites with dynamic web pages, and touch on new technologies such as Javascript, PHP, Ruby, Rails, Python, and XML (depending on available time).

The unit will consist of two lectures per week, and a two hour laboratory session per week.

The prerequisite for this unit is comp160.

I have supplied you with last years lecture notes and work. They should only be taken as a rough guide. This year's course will differ in various ways. Thus you should always consult the lecture notes that will be appearing on the web as the unit progresses. This is also true of the assigned work! So you should pay close attention to the comp315 web page: http://mcs.une.edu.au/~comp315/

You must also monitor the unit's bboard, found on the unit web page. Failure to do so will mean you will miss important announcements and clarifications. To be completely clear: Monitoring the bboard is a compulsory part of the unit!

Plagiarism

Students are warned to read the statement in the Faculty's Undergraduate and Postgraduate Handbooks for 2009 regarding the University's Policy on Plagiarism. Full details of the Policy on Plagiarism are available in the 2009 UNE Handbook and at the following web site:
http://www.une.edu.au/policies/pdf/plagiarismcoursework.pdf
The page for Avoiding Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct (Coursework) - Information for Students is:
http://www.une.edu.au/policies/pdf/plagiarismstudentinfocw.pdf

In addition, UNE students must complete the Plagiarism Declaration Form for all assignments, practical reports, etc. submitted in this unit. As all your submissions are made electronically, it is assumed by default that you agreed and signed the form. Your work will be checked against any possible sources on the Internet by means of modern plagiarism detecting programs.

Textbooks:

The textbooks for this year are:

1. CGI Programming with Perl, 2nd Edition,
   by Scott Guelich, Shishir Gundavaram, and Gunther Birznieks, O'Reilly, 2000, ISBN: 1-56592-419-3.

2. Programming the World Wide Web
   by Robert W. Sebesta, Pearson/Addison Wesley 2008, ISBN: 9780321526724.

The textbooks for this unit used to be:

1. Practical Perl with CGI Applications By Elizabeth B. Chang, Scott/Jones Inc., Publishers, 2004, ISBN: 157676112-6.

2. Perl Core Language Little Black Book, 2nd Edition By Steve Holzner, Paraglyph Press, October 2004, ISBN: 1932111921.
3. PERL Black Book, 2nd Edition, by Stephen Holzner, Coriolis, 2001.

   but unfortunately Coriolis has gone down the gurgler, and taken this nice book with them, so it is not be available.

4. Learning Perl, 3rd Edition, by Randal L. Schwartz and Tom Phoenix, O'Reilly, 2001, ISBN: 0-596-00132-0.

5. Programming Perl, 3rd Edition by Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen, and Jon Orwant. O'Reilly, 2000, ISBN: 0-596-00027-8.

This year we will rely mainly on these notes (the online versions actually). Though we will supplement this text with other, online material. In particular, heavy use will be made of Lincoln Stein's CGI.pm module, and the online documentation for it, http://stein.cshl.org/WWW/CGI/

How this Unit will be Run

The first thing you should do is check out the ~comp315 web page, and familiarize yourself with its layout, and the bboard. Of course it should be bookmarked in your browser. The lectures, tutorials, assignments, and projects will all be released, in real time, on the web page, according to the (tentative) unit schedule,

http://mcs.une.edu.au/~comp315/UnitPlan/

The unit web page and the bboard are fairly good examples of CGI programming in PERL!

Assignments, Projects & Assessment

A student must obtain at least 50% in the programming part and at least 50% in the exam part of the unit to pass the unit itself.
Your final mark will be computed from

• comp315
  • 3 programming assignments, worth together 50%
  • exam, worth 50%
• comp515
  • 3 programming assignments, worth together 30%
  • 1 project, worth 20%
  • exam, worth 50%

Deadlines will only be extended on medical grounds. Please provide all the documents before the due date. Otherwise late submissions will attract a penalty of 5% per working day late and will not be marked at all (0 marks) if more than ten working days late. In any situation you have to submit your assignment (project) otherwise you'll get an NI. The last week for submissions is week 13th of the semester.

Hardware & the Submission of Assignments

You are expected to have access to a Linux PC. The assignments and projects must be submitted using the electronic submit facility on turing. All programming assignments will be tested on our server, turing.une.edu.au

If you have a problem with your code, then do not send me lots of messages that contain code segments, etc., or even one message with lots of attachments. The desired form of interaction is:

• Isolate the problem as best you can. Try and get it as small as possible.
• Try to solve it yourself.
• Use the unit bboard as a means of solving your problems.
• Last chance is to submit this as a directory and warn me of this and either ring me up to talk about it or wait patiently until I find time to look at it.

Library Services

The UNE University Library has an extensive collection of books, journals and online resources. You can borrow books, obtain copies of articles and exam papers, and request advice from librarians on search strategies and information tools to use. Additional information on the services and resources outlined below is available on the University Library page at http://www.une.edu.au/library. Look down the screen for the blue ‘Services’ heading and choose ‘Local students’ or ‘External students’. If you are a new student, click on the ‘Services’ heading and then on ‘New’ to see lots of hints about using the Library.

• http://www.une.edu.au/library/services/external/index.php
• http://mcs.une.edu.au/~comp315/UnitDescription/LibGuide.docx

Online Resources

There are many online resources available to staff and students from UNE Libraries page at

• http://www.une.edu.au/library

Try the following resources:

• Catalogue. The catalogue tells you the books, journals, Reserve Collection items, audiovisual materials and other resources that are held in the Dixson and Law Library collections. You can directly access online books and journals in the catalogue by clicking on the URL (web address) provided. Easily renew your loans by using the ‘renew items’ link above the catalogue search box.
• myLibrary. Look for the myLibrary tab in myUNE and on the Library page. You can access the catalogue, recommended journal databases for your units, online tutorials, room bookings and more.
• Ask a Librarian. There are help pages for frequently asked questions (FAQs) and an email service if you have more you’d like to find out.
• Find resources.
  • eReserve. Here you will find electronic copies of articles and chapters of books recommended by lecturers as having high relevance to your unit/s of study.
  • Exam papers. Use this to see officially released exam papers for UNE units.
  • Journal articles & databases. A number of the University Library's databases include full-text, so you can read or print articles straightaway.
  • ebooks. The Library now holds several thousand online books, dictionaries and encyclopedias.
• Training & help. Find out about online tutorials, technical help, assignment tools and on-campus library tours and classes.
• Research guides. These are listed by discipline to make it easy to investigate what's most relevant to you. You can find highly recommended databases, websites, reference tools, assignment help and subject guides for your area of study.
• eSKILLS UNE. This is a series of lessons showing you how to find and evaluate information, write essays and correctly reference assignments. You can also try eSKILLS Plus to work on advanced information skills.

Access to some e-resources is restricted to UNE staff and students. Register online for a UNE username and password through the student portal, myUNE, at https://my.une.edu.au.

More information for off-campus students

(Students living outside the 2350, 2351 and 2358 postcode areas)
There are a number of Library services available to you.

• Borrow books.
  • There is no charge for the loan of items, although you are responsible for the cost of return postage. Please return books to:
    Document Services
    Dixson Library
    PO Box U246
    UNE NSW 2351
• Copies.
  • Ask for copies of journal articles or a chapter from a book to be sent to you. Electronic and posted copies are free.
• Subject searches.
  • Don’t know where to start finding information for your assignments? Librarians will point you in the right direction, advising the best journal databases for your topic and suggesting search strategies for you to use.
• To request any of these services please go to the External Students' page at http://www.une.edu.au/library/services/external/index.php.

Borrowing from other university libraries

UNE students can apply for reciprocal (in-person) borrowing rights at most other Australian university libraries. There is usually a small fee for this service. For full details on how to apply in the various states of Australia, go to http://www.une.edu.au/library/services/nbs.php.
Your borrowing privileges are valid from January of the current academic year through to 28 February of the following academic year.

Bibliography

1

E. B. CHANG, Practical PERL with CGI Applications, Scott/Jones Inc., 2004.
157676112-6.

2

S. GUELICH, S. GUNDAVARAM, AND G. BIRZNIEKS, CGI Programming with Perl, 2nd Edition, O'Reilly, 2000.
1-56592-419-3.

3

S. HOLZNER, PERL Black Book, 2nd Edition, Coriolis, 2001.
1-58880-193-4.

4

R. L. SCHWARTZ AND T. CHRISTIANSEN, Learning Perl, 2nd Edition, O'Reilly, 1993.
1-56592-284-0.

5

R. L. SCHWARTZ AND T. PHOENIX, Learning Perl, 3rd Edition, O'Reilly, 2001.
0-596-00132-0.

6

R. W. SEBESTA, Programming the World Wide Web, Pearson/Addison Wesley, 2008.
ISBN: 9780321526724.