CS 110 - Introduction to Internet Programming and Applications

Fall-2014

Catalog description: Skill Area II Examination of physical infrastructure of local and wide area networks, internet protocol implementation, world-wide web interface programming, interactive Java applet, and Visual Basic web programming.

Course objectives: Upon successful completion of the course the student will be able to

• understand the basic concepts of the Internet, the Web and online communication;
• use the basic features of web browsers, such as Internet Explorer;
• use email, ftp, and Web search engines;
• create simple web pages using HTML and CSS;
• write simple programs using JavaScript.

Web Resources

• World Wide Web Consortium
• W3Schools Online Web Tutorials
• Tryit Editor
• Information Retrieval and Web Search - Chapter 1 from Data Mining the Web: Uncovering Patterns in Web Content, Structure, and Usage by Zdravko Markov and Daniel T. Larose, Wiley, 2007.
• Christmas Lectures 2008: Chris Bishop - Untangling the Web
• Warriors of the Net

Grading: The final grade is based 50% on test grades(midterm and final) and 50% on lab assigmnets and will be affected by classroom participation, conduct and attendance. The letter grade will be calculated according to the following table:

A	A-	B+	B	B-	C+	C	C-	D+	D	D-	F
95-100	90-94	87-89	84-86	80-83	77-79	74-76	70-73	67-69	64-66	60-63	0-59

Unexcused late submission policy: Assignments submitted more than two days after the due date will be graded one letter grade down. Submissions more than a week late will receive two letter grades down. No submissions will be accepted more than two weeks after the due date.

Honesty policy: The CCSU honor code for Academic Integrity is in effect in this class. It is expected that all students will conduct themselves in an honest manner and NEVER claim work which is not their own. Violating this policy will result in a substantial grade penalty, and may lead to expulsion from the University. You may find it online at http://web.ccsu.edu/academicintegrity/. Please read it carefully.

Attendance: All students are expected to attend class sessions regularly. In case of missed classes and work due to plausible reasons (such as illness or accidents) limitted assistance will be offered. Unexcused absences will result in the student being totally responsible for the make-up process.

Students with disabilities: Students who believe they need course accommodations based on the impact of a disability, medical condition, or emergency should contact me privately to discuss their specific needs. I will need a copy of the accommodation letter from Student Disability Services in order to arrange class accommodations. Contact Student Disability Services, Willard Hall, 101-04 if you are not already registered with them. Student Disability Services maintains the confidential documentation of your disability and assists you in coordinating reasonable accommodations with your faculty.

Tentative schedule of classes, assignments and tests (by week)

1. Sep 3, 8: Overview of the Internet and the Web
• Topics
• URLs and IP addresses as unique Internet IDs
• Data and file transmission across the Internet
• Transmission protocols
• Internet connections
• Domain Name System (DNS)
• Exercises
• IP addresses and DNS: ipconfig, nslookup, ping, tracert in DOS window
• Assignments
• Read the Internet
• Watch Warriors of the Net
2. Sep 10, 15: Overview of the Internet and the Web (cont.)
• Topics
• Client/server model: URL, protocols, file, http, ftp, telnet
• Secure connection (HTTPS)
• Network share (M: drive)
• Blackboard Learn course management system
• Exercises: URL, protocols, file, http, ftp, telnet, using the M: drive and Blackboard Learn
• Lab 1: Using Blackboard Learn course management system
• Assignments
• Watch Christmas Lectures 2008: Chris Bishop - Untangling the Web
• Sep 16: Submit Lab1 (BB Learn, Lab 1 link)
3. Sep 17: Web Browsers and Email Tools
• Topics
• Browser tasks
• Browser window structure
• Micorsoft Internet Explorer
• Managing browsers: cache, plug-ins, and customization
• Managing Web surfing: boomarks, privacy, and security
• E-mail protocols: SMTP, POP3, IMAP, MIME (chp03_final.ppt)
• Content, attachments
• E-mail clients versus Web-based e-mail
• E-mail software
• E-mail activities: receive, read, send, reply, autoreply, forward, delete, organize
• Exercises:
• Putting information on the web (text, links, images): create a simple web page with Notepad, send it to a server and access it using a browser.
• Using browsers: managing windows, identifying different areas in the browser window (right click menu), saving/loading images and files, viewing page source.
• Managing browser settings: bookmarks, cache, history, plug-ins, cookies.
• Sep 17: Lab 2: Extracting information from web pages
• Assignments
• Read Web Browsers and Email Tools
• Sep 18: Submit Lab2 in BB Learn, Lab 2 link
4. Sep 22, 24: Using the Web, Web Search
• Topics
• The Web Challenges (How to turn the web data into web knowledge)
• Topic directories (Open Directory Project)
• Web crawlers and search engines
• Information Retrival
• Search techniques: words, exact phrase, Boolean operators, title, site, url, link
• Web page ranking (Vector Space Model)
• Semantic Web
• Web security and privacy issues
• Hyperlink Based Ranking
• Exercises
• Crawling theWeb (WebSPHINX)
• IR resources and demos: http://ir.exp.sis.pitt.edu/res2/resources.php
• Boolean queries
• Venn diagram demo
• Vector Space Model
• Using Google's advanced search
• Assignments
• Read Information Retrieval and Web Search (pages 1-20) - Chapter 1 from Data Mining the Web: Uncovering Patterns in Web Content, Structure, and Usage by Zdravko Markov and Daniel T. Larose, Wiley, 2007.
• Watch Christmas Lectures 2008: Chris Bishop - Untangling the Web
• Watch Christmas Lectures 2008: Chris Bishop - The Ghost in the Machine
• Further reading (optional)
• The PageRank Citation Ranking: Bringing Order to the Web by Lawrence Page and Sergey Brin
5. Sep 29, Oct 1: Basics of HTML
• Topics
• Three views of Web pages: URL, browser display, and document
• Web sites and Web pages
• HTML Editors
• HTML Versions: HTML - HTML5
• HTML tags and elements
• Text formatting: titles, headings, breaks, paragraphs, emphasis
• Exercises:
  • Create HTML documents with MS Word and Netscape Composer
  • Tryit Editor, Create/Edit HTML documents with Notepad
• Oct 1: Lab 3: Basic HTML text formatting
• Assignments
• Read HTML tutorial (http://w3schools.com/html/default.asp): Introduction, Editors, Elements, Headings, Paragraphs, Formatting, Head
• Oct 2: Submit Lab 3 (BB Learn, Lab 3 link)
6. Oct 6, (No class on Oct 8), Oct 13: Basics of HTML (cont.)
• Topics
• Attributes
• Colors
• HTML Style, Properties (font-family, color, and font-size)
• Ordered list
• Unordered list
• Nested list
• Exercises: Tryit Editor, Create/Edit HTML documents with Notepad
• Oct 13: Lab 4: Structuring HTML documents
• Assignments
• HTML tutorial (http://w3schools.com/html/default.asp): Attributes, Colors, CSS (Inline Styles), HTML Reference/ HTML Tag List/<span>, Lists.
• CSS tutorial (http://w3schools.com/css/default.asp): CSS Styling (Backgrounds, Text, Fonts).
• Oct 14: Submit Lab 4 ( BB Learn, Lab 4 link)
7. Oct 15, 20: HTML Images and Links
• Topics
• Pixels and resolution
• Image format and software
• Image operations and use
• Links
• Exercises: Creating and using images in HTML documents, local and external links to images and HTML documents (Paint, Tryit Editor, Notepad, IE)
• Oct 20: Lab 5: Create a web site with two web pages, images and links
• Assignments
• Read HTML tutorial (http://w3schools.com/html/default.asp): Images, Links.
• Oct 21: Submit Lab 5 (BB Learn, Lab 5 link)
8. Oct 22: Midterm Test (20%)
9. Oct 27: HTML Tables
• Topics
• Structure and variables
• Layout design
• Rows and columns
• Headings and cells
• Rendering
• Nesting
• Tabulating data
• Formatting via tables
• Exercises: Creating tables (Tryit Editor, Notepad, IE)
• Oct 27: Lab 6: HTML document with tables
• Assignments:
• Read HTML tutorial (http://w3schools.com/html/default.asp): Tables
• Read CSS tutorial: Styling Tables (http://w3schools.com/css/css_table.asp)
• Read CSS Reference (http://w3schools.com/cssref/default.asp)
• Oct 28: Submit Lab 6 (BB Learn, Lab 6 link)
10. Oct 29, Nov 3: Web page layout and navigation
• Topics
• HTML Layouts
• HTML Layout Tags: <div> and <span>
• HTML Iframes
• Navigation
• Exercises: Web page layout and navigation (Tryit Editor, Notepad, IE)
• Nov 3: Lab 7: Create a web site with navigation and multiple pages
• Assignments
• Read HTML tutorial (http://w3schools.com/html/default.asp): Layout, Iframes
• Nov 4: Submit Lab 7 (BB Learn, Lab 7 link)
11. Nov 5, 10: HTML Forms
• Topics
• Data collection over the Web
• Active Server Pages (ASP)
• Name/value pairs
• Forms
• Input elements: text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, drop-down list, submit and reset buttons
• Formatting forms with tables
• Exercises: Creating forms (Tryit Editor, IE)
• Nov 10: Lab 8: Create a web page with forms
• Assignments
• Read ASP Introduction (http://w3schools.com/asp/asp_intro.asp)
• Read HTML tutorial (http://w3schools.com/html/default.asp): Forms (text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, drop-down list, submit and reset buttons)
• Nov 11: Submit Lab 8 (BB Learn, Lab 8 link)
12. Nov 12, 17: Cascading Style Sheets
• Topics
• Separation of Webpage content and formatting
• CSS syntax
• Linking CSS and HTML
• Inheritance and Cascading order
• Box model
• Font properties
• Text properties
• Content positioning
• Exercises:
• Nov 17: Lab 9: Create an HTML page using a style sheet
• Assignments
• Read HTML tutorial (http://w3schools.com/html/default.asp): HTML Styles (internal, external, inline)
• Read CSS Tutorial (http://w3schools.com/css/default.asp): Syntax, Selectors (element, ID, class), Background, Text, Font, List
• CSS Examples (http://w3schools.com/css/css_examples.asp)
• Nov 18: Submit Lab 9 (BB Learn, Lab 9 link)
13. Nov 19, 24: JavaScript
• Topics: HTML scripts, JavaScript syntax, Statements, Comments, Variables, Operators, If...Else, Popup Boxes, For Loop, While Loops.
• Exercises: Tryit Editor, IE
• Assignments:
• Read HTML Scripts (http://w3schools.com/html/html_scripts.asp)
• Read JavaScript Tutorial (http://w3schools.com/js/default.asp): Introduction, Output, HTML Events (Click Event), Popup Alert, Syntax, Comments, Variables, Operators, Conditions (If...Else), For Loop, While Loop.
14. Dec 1, 3: JavaScript (cont.)
• Topics: Events, Functions, Objects
• Exercises: Tryit Editor, IE
• Dec 3: Lab 10: Create a simple JavaScript program
• Assignments:
• Read JavaScript Tutorial (http://w3schools.com/js/default.asp): Functions, HTML Events, Math object, Date object
• Dec 4: Submit Lab 10 (BB Learn, Lab 10 link)
15. Dec 8: Review of HTML and JavaScript
16. Monday, Dec 15, 8-10am: Final Exam (see Review Topics)

The World Wide Web

• A little history
• 1989, CERN: distribution of linked documents (nuclear physics)
• 1991, text-based prototype
• 1993, First graphical interface - Mosaic
• 1994: WWW consortium (CERN, MIT): http://www.w3.org
• Underlying technology - the Internet, History of Internet
• URLs and IP addresses as unique Internet IDs
• Data and file transmission across the Internet
• File protocols, compression and decompression
• Intranets and Extranets
• Internet connections
• Models of communication
• Client-Server
• Peer-to-peer(P2P)
• The Web - a client/server arcitecture
• The client side
• Web documents (pages) connected via hyperlinks (hypertext).
• Hyperlinks: highlighted strings in text or images.
• Browsers (text-based or graphical): tools for navigating the WEB.
• Forms and Java applets
• The server side
• URL (Uniform Resource Locator): <protocol name>://<machine name>/<file name>, e.g. http://www.w3.org/History.html
• Steps of fetching http://www.w3.org/History.html
• The browser determines the URL
• The browser asks the local DNS (Domain Name System) server for the IP (Internet Protocol) address
• DNS replies with 128.30.52.37.
• The browser makes a TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) connection to port 80 on 128.30.52.37
• It then sends a GET /hypertext/WWW/History.html
• The www.w3.org server send the file History.html
• The TCP connection is released
• The browser displays all the text in History.html
• The browser displays all the images in History.html (new TCP connection for each image)
• Example of HTTP protocol in text:

C: telnet www.w3.org 80
T: Trying 18.23.0.23 ...
T: Connected to www.w3.org
T: Escape character is '^]'
C: GET /hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html HTTP/1.0
    HTTP/1.0 200 Document follows
    MIME-Version: 1.0
    Server: CERN/3.0
    Content-Type: text/html
    Content-Length: 8247

    <HEAD><TITLE> The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)</TITLE><HEAD>
    <BODY>
    <H1><IMG ALIGN=MIDDLE ALT="W3C" SRC="Icons/WWW/w3c_main.gif">
    The World Wide Web Consortium </H><P>

    The World Wide Web is the universe of network-accessible information.
    ...
    </BODY>
 

• URL (Universal Resource Locator): a mechanism for naming and locating Web pages
• <Protocol>://<DNS name of the host>/<File name (with possible shortcuts, e.g. ~user)>
• Protocols:
• HTTP. e.g. http://www.cs.ccsu.edu/~markov/
• FTP or SFTP (File Transfer Protocol), e.g. ftp://ftp.andrew.cmu.edu/ or use an FTP client (ftp in command prompt or putty.exe).
• File: accessing a local file, e.g. /usr/pages/mypage.html
• Mailto (sending an e-mail from a Web browser), e.g. mailto:markovz@ccsu.edu
• Telnet or SSH (establish an on-line connection to a remote machine): psftp.exe (publish.ccsu.edu)
• Using other protocols
• HTTP Browser <---> FTP server
• HTTP Browser <---> FTP Proxy server <---> FTP server
• Proxy servers: translating protocols, caching pages, filtering information
• HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
• Simple (GET without the protocol version) and full requests
• Methods (commands)
• GET: request to read a Web page encoded in MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions - adding a header to describe the encoding)
• HEAD: request to read a Web page header
• PUT: request to store a Web page (may include authentication headers)
• POST: request to append new data to a Web page (e.g. posting a message to a news group)
• DELETE: request to delete a Web page (may include authentication headers)
• LINK: Connects two existing pages
• UNLINK: breaks an existing connection between two pages
• Writing Web pages in HTML
• The HTML language
• Standardized markup language: how the documents are to be formatted and reformatted (e.g. LaTeX), contrasted to WYSIWYG (not standardized, does not allow reformatting)
• Tags with parameters, e.g. <IMG SRC ="http://www.widget.com/image.gif" ALT="AWI Logo">
• Hyperlinks:
• <A HREF="http://www.nasa.gov"> NASA's home page </A>
• <A HREF="http://www.nasa.gov"> <IMG SRC="shuttle.gif" ALT="NASA"> </A>
• Forms (HTML 2.0): two-way trafic between the page owner and page user, <INPUT> tag. Example: Look-Up Classes
• CGI (Common Gateway Interface): a standard for handling forms' data. Example: interfacing a database:
• Write a script (program) to interface between a database and the Web
• Store the script in the cgi-bin directory under an URL.
• When retrieves a page located in cgi-bin the HTTP server executes the script.
• Put the script name in the ACTION parameter of the form.
• The browser invokes the operation specified in METHOD (usually POST)
• The script is started and presented with the form input data.
• After the database retrieval the script produce an HTML file, which is sent back to the browser.
• This mechanism can be used to include selected ads in the Web page depending on what the user is looking for.
• Java
• Applets
• Implementing highly interactive Web pages
• Running applications and using remote servers or databases
• Adding animation and sound to the Web page without spawning and external viewer
• No need of standard for the Web protocols (HTTP, FTP etc.)
• The Java system for the Web
• A Java-to-bytecode compiler
• A browser that understands applets (<APPLET> tag)
• A bytecode interpreter
• Security issues
• Problem: running a program on the client's machine (possible crash, collecting private information, consuming resources)
• Solutions:
• First barrier: strong typed language - array bounds checking, no pointers (thus no memory access)
• Second barrier: bytecode verifier
• Third barrier: class loader (loading first system classes before looking for user classes)
• Fourth barrier: security measures built in the classes, e.g. file access class (asking user if the applet needs file access).
• Locating information on the Web
• The Web Challenges (How to turn the web data into web knowledge)
• Web Search Engines
• Topic Directories
• Semantic Web
• Crawling the Web
• Example: WebSPHINX: A Personal, Customizable Web Crawler
• Example of running a Web Crawler
• Information Retrieval and Web Search
• Information Retrival (IR resources and demos: http://ir.exp.sis.pitt.edu/resources/)
• Information Retrieval and Web Search - Chapter 1 from Data Mining the Web: Uncovering Patterns in Web Content, Structure, and Usage by Zdravko Markov and Daniel T. Larose, Wiley, 2007.
• Semantic Web
• Semantic Web Home Page
• The W3C Semantic Web Activity
• The DARPA Agent Markup Language (DAML)
• MINDSWAP
• Web Ontology
• A Web Ontology example
• Resource Description Framework (RDF)
• RDF Example: WWW Proposal

Midterm (25%)

Topics

1. Internet and the Web
• Client/server model: URL, protocols, file, http, ftp, telnet
• Data and file transmission across the Internet
• URLs and IP addresses as unique Internet IDs
• IP addresses and DNS: ipconfig, ping, tracert in DOS window
2. Web Browsers
• Browser tasks
• Browser window structure
• Micorsoft Internet Explorer
• Using browsers: managing windows, identifying different areas in the browser window (right click menu), saving/loading images and files, viewing page source.
• Managing browser settings: bookmarks, cache, history, plug-ins, cookies
3. Using the Web, Web Search
• Topic directories (Open Directory Project)
• Web crawlers and search engines
• Search techniques: words, exact phrase, Boolean operators, title, site, url, link
• Web page ranking: content-based and hyperlink-based
4. Basics of HTML
• Three views of Web pages: URL, browser display, and document
• Web sites and Web pages
• Text formatting: titles, breaks, paragraphs, emphasis
• Font size, color and face
• Background
• Ordered list
• Unordered list
• Nested list
5. HTML Images and Links
• Pixels and resolution
• Image file format
• The image tag and its attributes
• Links
• The anchor tag and its attributes

Sample problems

1. Multiple choice questions

Which of the following tags can be used to create a heading
A. <h1>
B. <h2>
C. <h3>
D. All of the above
 
2. True/False questions

Each computer on the Internet has its own IP address
A. True    B. False
 
3. HTML coding questions

A. Add HTML tags to the following text so that the browser displays it exactly as shown below:

This is heading level 2

Here we start a paragraph. This line is broken here
and then continues on the next line.

This text is shown in italics. This text is shown underlined.

The following is an ordered list:

1. This is list item 1
2. This is list item 2. It is further broken down into subitems represented as an unordered list.
• Subitem 1
• Subitem 2
3. This is list item 3
B. Write an HTML fragment to insert in a web page the image from a file named "picture.jpg" in an area 100 pixels high and 200 pixels wide.

C. Write an HTML fragment to create a link to the web page with URL "http://www.ccsu.edu/" and link text "CCSU". The page should open in a new window.

Final Exam (25%)

Review Topics

1. The Internet (communication protocols, security, privacy)
2. The Web (Web documents, URL, clients, servers)
3. Web Browsers (features, use)
4. Email (tools, protocols, etiquette)
5. Developing Web Pages with HTML and Javascript programming
6. HTML text formating
7. Links
8. Tables
9. Lists
10. Forms
11. CSS (inline, internal, external)
12. JavaScript
• Embedding JavaScript in HTML
• Syntax (statements, comment, functions)
• Input (prompt box, text field)
• Output (manipulating HTML elements, writing to the document output)
• Variables (numbers, strings)
• Assignments
• Operators (arithmetic expressions, + for concatenation and addition)
• Running JavaScript programs (order of execution, events, onclick attribute)