CMPS183, Fall 2011, Section 01: Readings

Note: The reading list is still under construction, but we added already a list of topics covered from last year. We expect many will still be relevant, but some may be exchanged. Stay tuned for more updates ...

Each week has a set of required and optional readings. Students are expected to read all required readings by the date marked on the syllabus. Optional readings provide additional perspective and depth on the material.

There are two textbooks that contain assigned reading for the class (links only work at on-campus computer, or via Sluglink proxy):

• PHP and MySQL Web Development, Third Edition, Luke Welling, Laura Thomson, SAMS, 2005 (there is a PDF version that can be downloaded).
• XML in a Nutshell, Elliotte Rusty Harold, W. Scott Means, Third Edition O'Reilly, 2004.

Additional books that are worth reading (complimentary to the topics covered, links only work at on-campus computer, or via Sluglink proxy):

• Learning JavaScript, 2nd Edition, by Shelley Powers
• Designing Web Navigation, 1st Edition, by James Kalbach
• Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, 3rd Edition, by Peter Morville; Louis Rosenfeld
• Programming the Semantic Web, 1st Edition, Toby Segaran; Colin Evans; Jamie Taylor
• Don't Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, by Steve Krug
• User-Centered Web Site Development: A Human-Computer Interaction Approach (Paperback)by Daniel D. McCrackenDaniel D. McCracken, Rosalee J. Wolfe, Jared M. Spool (check with library)
• XSLT Cookbook, 2nd edition, Sal Mangano, O'Reilly, 2005

Some readings for the class are not found in these texts. These readings are available in digital form from the course website. Directions on accessing these materials will be given in class, and can also be obtained by emailing the Professor.

Week 1: Pre-Web Hypertext Systems and Data Models

Required:

• Hypermedia, Chapter 2 of Hypermedia and the Web, David Lowe, Wendy Hall, Wiley, 1999, pp. 25-52.
• Chapter 4 (Locations, Placements, and Interconnections) of From Web to Workplace, Kaj Gronbaek, Randall H. Trigg, MIT Press, 1999, pp. 47-60.
• Wikipedia: Hypermedia
• Wikipedia: Hypertext
• Software Development Methodology
• HTML Tutorial (walk through basic sections, Introduction, until HTML Quick List)

Optional:

• As We May Think, Vannevar Bush, Atlantic Monthly, July, 1945.
• Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework, D. C. Engelbart, Summary Report for Contract AF49(638)-1024, 1962.
• The Xanadu Vision, Ted Nelson.
• Vannevar Bush and the Memex, in Hypertext: The Convergence of Contemporary Literary Theory and Technology, George Landow, Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1992, pp. 14-18.
• Uniform Comparison of Data Models Using Containment Modeling, Jim Whitehead, Proc. Hypertext 2001, College Park, MD, June 11-15, 2002, pp. 182-191.
• As We Do Write, Jim Whitehead, 2002.
• KMS: A Distributed Hypermedia System for Managing Knowledge in Organizations, Robert M. Akscyn, Donald L. McCracken, Elise A. Yoder, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 31, No. 7, July, 1988, pp. 820-835.
• Reflections on Notecards: Seven Issues for the Next Generation of Hypertext Systems, Frank G. Halasz, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 31, No. 7, July, 1988, pp. 836-852.
• Intermedia: The Concept and Construction of a Seamless Information Environment, Nicole Yankelovich, Bernard J. Haan, Norman K. Meyrowitz, Steven M. Drucker, IEEE Computer, Vol. 21, No. 1, January 1988, pp. 81-96.
• Hypertext: Behind the Hype. ERIC Digest
• Historical overview of Hypertext
• Architectural Component of Hypertext Systems
• Spatial Hypertext: An Alternative to Navigational and Semantic Links
• Scrum Alliance
• Articles on Scrum
• Video: History of the Internet

Week 2: Web engineering process, hypertext systems, WWW, HTML

Required:

• Chapter 7 ("Prototyping") of User-Centered Website Development
• Client Needs and the Design Process in Web Projects, D. B. Lowe, J. Eklund, Journal of Web Engineering, vol. 1, no. 1, October 2002, pp. 23-36.

Optional:

• Chapter 1 Introduction of Requirements Engineering: Processes and Techniques, Gerald Kotonya, Ian Sommerville, John Wiley & Sons, 1998, pp. 3-23.
• Chapter 3 (sections 3.1, 3.2 only) on Requirements Elicitation and Analysis, in Requirements Engineering: Processes and Techniques, Gerald Kotonya, Ian Sommerville, John Wiley & Sons, 1998, pp. 53-73.
• Chapter 1 (Foundations)of The Art & Science of Web Design
• Prototyping: Picking the Right Tool

Week 3: Designing Web Interaction

 

Required:

• web2py book, chapter 3.  This not only provides an introduction for web2py, but also serves as an example of how to design small web sites.
• Wikipedia on HTTP.

Optional:

• Introduction to Django.  Django is a highly recommended framework for web development.
• Introduction to HTTP by HTTPwatch.

Week 4: Web Application Requirements and Frameworks, CodeIgniter, HTML Forms, JavaScript

Required:

• Wikipedia: Web application framework
• Wikipedia: Comparison of web application frameworks
• Wikipedia: Javascript
• Wikipedia: Javascript Syntax
• CodeIgniter tutorials

Optional:

• CodeIgniter Introduction (read Getting Started, CodeIgniter at a glance, Supported Features, Application Flow Chart, Model View Controller, Architectural Goals)
• Learning JavaScript, 2nd Edition, by Shelley Powers
• Chapter 3 (sections 3.1, 3.2 only) on Requirements Elicitation and Analysis, in Requirements Engineering: Processes and Techniques, Gerald Kotonya, Ian Sommerville, John Wiley & Sons, 1998, pp. 53-73.
• Chapter 1 (Foundations) of The Art & Science of Web Design
• Building a Web application - Requirements Gathering (Example)
• Sample List of prioritized requirements for a web application
• UIDesign.net - Site Redesign - Gathering Requirements
• Web Site User Centered Design: Techniques for Gathering Requirements and Tasks
• Site Diagrams: Mapping an Information Space
• Video: Better Web application framework
• JavaScript tutorial

Week 5

 

October 18: Javascript, JSON, jQuery, start of AJAX. Slides of lecture.  This was a quick introduction; next Tuesday we will do mainly examples with Javascript, JSON, jQuery, and AJAX.  

Required Readings:

• jQuery library.  Read in particular on selectors, events, and the GET and POST AJAX calls. Also have a look at the attributes, and generally, give the documentation a look-over so that you know what's available, even if you don't know by heart the details of the calls.
• This is the official JSON documentation.  Note that all you need to know, typically, is how to call JSON.parse() and JSON.stringify() in the browser, and in the server (using the appropriate libraries for the language you are using).

Optional readings:

• There are many resources on Javascript, but none of the ones I could find on the web is particularly outstanding.  Here are a few ones:
• Javascript tutorial at w3schools.com
• A nice short tutorial from Brown University.
• A good reference site.
• For AJAX, here is what the Wikipedia has to say.  AJAX is really a set of techniques, and we will see examples of it in class.

Week 6: JavaScript, PHP, CSS

 

Required Readings:

• Chapter 1 (PHP Crash Course), Chapter 6 (Object-Oriented PHP) in PHP and MySQL Web Development

• Chapter 13 (Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)) in XML in a Nutshell

Optional Reading:

• PHP web site
• PHP Manual, by Mehdi Achour, Friedhelm Betz, Antony Dovgal, Nuno Lopes, Philip Olson, Georg Richter, Damien Seguy, Jakub Vrana, and others.
• Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, 2nd edition, Eric Meyer, O'Reilly, March 2004.
• Chapter 9 of Hypermedia and the Web (contains more details for information design)