Syllabus for CS6204: The World-Wide Web: Beyond the Basics
Index 5307, Fall 1996, TH 11-12:15, Randolph 120 (note room change)
(A second section, index
06777, is offered in Northern Virginia.)
Contents:
Instructor/GTA ||
Course Description ||
Workload ||
Grading ||
Texts ||
Course Schedule
Instructor
M. Abrams, 508 McB Hall, Computer
Science Department, Virginia Tech,
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0106, 540-231-8457, abrams@vt.edu
Office hours: MWF 2-3 p.m.
GTA
Stephen Williams,
williams@cs.vt.edu
Office hours: M 2-3pm and HF 10-11am in McBryde 116
This course surveys what the World Wide Web (WWW) is today, how it
is evolving, and open problems being tackled by current research and
development.
Prerequisite: Knowledge of one programming language,
preferably C++.
Students will participate in four activities during the course.
(There will be no other homeworks, assignments, or exams.)
- Contribute to on-line Web Book
- Each student will write one chapter of an WWW-based book about the
Web, serve as reviewer for about two other chapters, and have one
additional duty: serving on the editorial board, the advertising
board, or copy editor (checks for compliance with book's style).
Click here for a sample table of
contents for the Web book.
- (Re)design a set of Web pages for a client
- Each student will find a client (e.g., an organization listed in
the Web page client list)
and either design new Web pages or redesigned the client's existing
Web pages. A student cannot serve as their own client. Web page
redesign can be done in teams, if the set of pages is sufficiently
large and the redesign ambitious; normally all team members will
receive the same grade.
- Complete a Project about the World-Wide Web
- Each student will complete a project that is mutually agreed on
by the instructor and student. Projects can be done in teams, if the
project is sufficiently ambitious; normally all team members will
receive the same grade. The recommended project is to implement a
Web-based application for a client. Preferably, the student will
design the application for a client (e.g., an organization listed in
Web project client list), to
guarantee that your time and effort in the class goes into something
that outlasts the semester! However, other (even non-programming)
projects are possible. Examples include writing a program to analyze
Web log files or the hypertext structure of Web documents, carrying
out a performance study of the Web, or doing a usability study of Web
browsers or applications.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to install and administer a Web server
- Each student will demonstrate to the instructor that they have
mastered the skill of downloading and installing a Web server on a
platform of their choice, and that they can perform basic Web site
administration.
- Oral Presentations
- The student will two oral presentations to the class. The first
will be 35 minutes long, and will cover the chapter that the student
wrote. The second will be 15-20 minutes long, and will cover both the
project that the student (or student team) did and the Web page
redesign that the student (or student team) did.
A grade will be assigned to each item listed in Workload, and these grades will be combined into
a final course grade according to the following weights:
- On-line book, Web page (re)design, Web application: 30% each
- Installation and administration of Web server: 10%
[Required] David Flanagan, Java in a Nutshell,
O'Reilly and Associates, 1996.
- [Required] Lincoln D. Stein, How to Set Up and Maintain a
World Wide Web Site -- The Guide for Information Providers,
Addison Wesley, 1995.
- [Optional] Richard Stevens, TCP/IP Illustrated, Vol. 3, Addison
Wesley, January 1996.
Last modified on 17 September 1996.
Return to CS6204 home page.
Send comments to abrams@vt.edu.
[This is http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~wwwbtb/fall.96/syllabus.html.]