Course Details for A.Y. 2019/2020

Course Objectives

The course aims to provide basic knowledge about all the kinds of web application and the technologies used to implement them. After an in-depth study of base technologies such as XML, markup languages (HTML 4 and HTML 5) and style sheets, the course will focus on server-side and client-side programming languages, in particular Java and JavaScript. Finally, we will discuss accessibility and validation issues for web applications.

Course Content

• Web Standards. Accessibility and Usability: what they mean and how to achieve them. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). XML and markup languages.
• Structure of web contents: HTML4, XHTML1, HTML5. Correct use of HTML and crossbrowser compatibility techniques. Accessible HTML. Rich User Applications (RIA) accessibility. Web content validation.
• Presentation of web contents: CSS2 and CSS3. Correct use of style sheets and crossbrowser compatibility techniques. Graceful degradation of style sheets.
• CSS stylesheets and web page layout: base techniques. Responsive design.
• Logic of web contents, server side: Java Servlets. Sessions in Java web applications. Databases in Java web applications: JDBC, connection pooling. Dynamic content generation: Java template engines. Web application security: server-side basic techniques.
• Logic of web contents, client side: Javascript. Javascript as an object-oriented programming language. The HTML Document Object Model. The CSS Document Object Model. The HTML event model. DOM manipulation with Javascript. Gracefully degrading Rich User Interaction with Javascript e CSS. AJAX. Introduction to JQuery.

Learning Outcomes (Dublin Descriptors)

On successful completion of this course, the student should

Prerequisites and Learning Activities

Base knowledge of Java programming

Assessment Methods and Criteria

Formative assessment: the students are encouraged to actively participate to the lectures by making questions and discussing the solutions adopted in the developed examples. Summative assessment: project development and presentation (in team) and oral exam (individual) (80:20). The project to be developed consists of a complete website, whose specifications are given by the teacher and are valid for the entire academic year of publication. The project evaluation aims to verify its level of completion and documentation (15% of total mark), the proper use of the basic web development technologies (30%), the level of client-side and server-side (Java) programming (20%), the ability to exploit the latest technologies (5%), and the crossbrowser compatibility, usability and accessibility features (30%). The oral exam starts from the discussion of the project, and aims to verify the achieved level of teamwork (20% of total mark) as well as the individual contribution to the project, with strong emphasis on the knowledge of the main technologies presented in the course (40%), the ability to apply them where and as appropriate (20%), as well as the ability to design, implement and properly present a complex web application (20%).

Textbooks

• Danny Goodman, JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook , O'Reilly. 2007. Testo consigliato per l'approfondimento di Javascript e DHTML    
• Vincenzo Della Mea, Luca di Gaspero, Ivan Scagnetto, Programmazione web lato server, seconda edizione , Apogeo. 2010. Testo di riferimento per HTML, CSS e Javascript    
• Jeffrey Zeldman, Ethan Marcotte, Sviluppare Siti Con Gli Standard Web, terza edizione , Apogeo. 2010. Testo di riferimento sulle techiche di progettazione di siti web    

Internet Resources

Course page updates

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