CS 110 - Introduction to Internet Programming and Applications

Fall-2009

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;
• understand the implications of Internet on society, such as communication, commerce, crime, ethics, and privacy;
• create simple web pages using HTML and CSS;
• write simple programs using JavaScript.

General 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.

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. Projects submitted 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: It is expected that all students will conduct themselves in an honest manner (see the CCSU Student handbook), 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.

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.

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

1. September 1 - 3: Overview of the Internet and the Web
• Topics
• 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
• Exercises
• IP addresses and DNS: ipconfig, ping, tracert in DOS window
• Client/server model: URL, protocols, file, http, ftp, telnet
• Assignments
• Read the Internet
2. September 8 - 10: Overview of the Internet and the Web (cont.)
• Topics
• Network share (M: drive)
• Vista course management system
• Exercises: Web browsing, using the M: drive and Blackboard Vista
• Lab 1: Using Blackboard Vista course management system
• Assignments
• September 10: Submit Lab1
3. September 15 - 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
• 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:
• 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.
• Lab 2: Extracting information from web pages
• Assignments
• Read Web Browsers and Email Tools
• September 17: Submit Lab2
4. September 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
• Booelan 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.
• Further reading (optional)
• The PageRank Citation Ranking: Bringing Order to the Web by Lawrence Page and Sergey Brin
5. September 29 - October 1: Basics of HTML
• Topics
• Three views of Web pages: URL, browser display, and document
• Web sites and Web pages
• Text formatting: titles, breaks, paragraphs, emphasis
• Exercises: Tryit Editor, Edit page source in IE
• Lab 3: Basic HTML text formatting
• Assignments
• Read HTML tutorial (http://w3schools.com/html/html_intro.asp): Introduction
• October 1: Submit Lab 3
6. October 6 - October 8: Basics of HTML (cont.)
• Topics
• Attributes
• Colors
• Styles (font size, color and face)
• Ordered list
• Unordered list
• Nested list
• Exercises: Tryit Editor, Edit page source in IE
• Lab 4: Structuring HTML documents
• Assignments
• HTML tutorial (http://w3schools.com/html/default.asp): Attributes, Colors, Styles, Lists.
• October 8: Submit Lab 4
7. October 13 - October 15: 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, IE)
• 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.
• October 15: Submit Lab 5
8. October 20 - October 22: Web design
• Topics
• Website planning
• Elements of Web design
• Navigation elements
• Layout design
• Website and page design
• Design tools
• Testing and validation
• Putting it altogether
• Exercises: Using HTML editors
• Microsoft FrontPage
• Blackboard Vista HTML creator
• Google Page Creator (googlepages.com)
9. October 27: Midterm Test (25%)
10. October 29 - November 3: 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, IE)
• Lab 6: HTML document with tables
• Assignments:
• Read HTML tutorial (http://w3schools.com/html/default.asp): Tables
• November 3: Submit Lab 6
11. November 5 - November 10: HTML Frames
• Topics
• Positioning and coordinate system
• Creation
• Layout
• Design
• Management
• Nesting
• Control
• Navigation
• Exercises: Creating HTML pages with frames (Tryit Editor, IE)
• Lab 7: Create a web site with frame-based navigation and multiple pages
• Assignments
• Read HTML tutorial (http://w3schools.com/html/default.asp): Frames
• November 10: Submit Lab 7
12. November 12 - November 17: HTML Forms
• Topics
• Data collection over the Web
• Name/value pairs
• Front and back ends
• Communication cycle
• Elements
• Using forms
• Formatting forms with tables
• Formatting forms with layers
• Exercises: Creating forms (Tryit Editor, IE)
• Lab 8: Create a web page with forms
• Assignments
• Read HTML tutorial (http://w3schools.com/html/default.asp): Forms
• November 17: Submit Lab 8
13. 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:
• 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, Background, Text, Font, List
• CSS Examples (http://w3schools.com/css/css_examples.asp)
• Submit Lab 9
14. 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): JavaScript syntax, Statements, Comments, Variables, Operators, If...Else, Popup Boxes, For Loop, While Loop.
15. JavaScript
• Topics: Functions
• Exercises:
• Lab 10: Create a simple JavaScript program
• Assignments:
• Read JavaScript Tutorial (http://w3schools.com/js/default.asp): Functions, Events, Math object, Date object
• Submit Lab 10
16. Final Exam (comprehensive, 25%)

The World Wide Web

1. 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
2. Underlying technology - the 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
3. The Web - a client/server arcitecture
4. 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
5. 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 18.23.0.23.
• The browser makes a TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) connection to port 80 on 18.23.0.23
• 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>
 

• 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
6. Writing Web pages in HTML
• 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 (File Transfer Protocol), e.g. ftp://cs.ccsu.edu/
• 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 (establish an on-line connection to a remote machine), e.g. telnet://cs.ccsu.edu/
• 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.
7. 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).
8. 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.
9. Semantic Web
• Semantic Web Home Page
• The W3C Semantic Web Activity
• The DARPA Agent Markup Language (DAML)
• An example of a semantic web page
• Web Ontology
• A Web Ontology example
• Resource Description Framework (RDF)
• RDF Example: WWW Proposal

Lab 1: Using Vista course management system (graded maximum 5 pts.)

Objective: Learn how to use Blackboard Vista course management system

What to do?

• Why you are taking this class
• What Internet/Web tools and programs you are familiar with
• What you expect to learn from this class

Due date: September 10

What to submit?

Use Blackboard Vista (CentralPipeline>Student>Blackboard Vista>CS-110 or  https://vista.csus.ct.edu/webct/logon/459901910011) to submit the file with your essay as an attachment for Lab 1.

Lab 2: Extracting information from web pages (maximum 5 pts.)

Objective: Learn how to extract different types of information from web pages and use the Vista Mail tool

What to do?

• Extract all plain text (text not associated with links) and copy it into a text file (file extension ".txt"). Use Notepad to create the file.
• Extract all linked text (text associated with links) and copy it into another text file (file extension ".txt" created with Notepad). For each link include the text, the corresponding URL, the protocol name, and the server name.
• Extract all images and copy them into an MS Word document. For each image include the corresponding link (if any).

Due date: September 17

What to submit?

Use Blackboard Vista (CentralPipeline>Student>Blackboard Vista>CS-110 or  https://vista.csus.ct.edu/webct/logon/459901910011) to submit all three files as attachments to a mail sent to Zdravko Markov (markovz). Use the Mail tool in Vista.

Lab 3: Basic HTML text formatting (maximum 5 pts.)

Objective: Learn the basics of formatting HTML documents

What to do?

• <html>
• <head>
• <title>
• <body>
• <p>
• <br>
• <h1>
• <h2>
• <h3>
• <i>
• <u>
• <b>

Restrictions and implementation

Due date: October 1.

Use Blackboard Vista (CentralPipeline>Student>Blackboard Vista>CS-110) to submit the HTML file of your web page as an attachment to Lab 3.

Lab 4: Structuring HTML documents (maximum 5 pts.)

Objective: Learn how to use font properties and structure HTML documents

What to do?

• Background color
• Font size (use at least three different sizes, absolute or relative)
• Font color (use at least three different colors)
• Font face (use at least three different fonts)
• Ordered list
• Unordered list
• Nested list

Restrictions and implementation

Due date: October 8

Use Blackboard Vista (CentralPipeline>Student>Blackboard Vista>CS-110) to submit the HTML file of your web page as an attachment to Lab 4 (a link is available at the class home page in Blackboard Vista).

Lab 5: Create a web site with two web pages, images and links (maximum 5 pts.)

Objective: Learn how to use images and links in  HTML documents

What to do?

1. Create two HTML documents:
• Take a part of the web page that you created for Lab 4 and move it into a new page (HTML file)
• Or create a new page that includes some information related to your original web page.
2. Include at least one link in the original page to point to the new one and vice versa by using the <a> tag. Use anchor text with proper names (for example, "home page" and "favorite activities").
3. Include an external link in each of both pages that opens in a new browser window.
4. Use the <img> tag to include two images in your web site (one in each page):
• One local image: create an image in Paint, use your picture files or download a picture from the web. Use GIF or JPG format and save the image file in the same drive or folder where the HTML files are located.
• An image from the web: find an image on the web and use its URL in the <img> tag.
• Use width and height attributes in both <img> tags to adjust the image size and the align attribute to align the image properly with the text.

Restrictions and implementation

Due date: October 15

Use Blackboard Vista (CentralPipeline>Student>Blackboard Vista>CS-110) to submit all files for the web site inlcuding the two HTML files and the local image file. Attach all files as separate attachments to Lab 5 (a link is available at the class home page in Blackboard Vista).

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.

Lab 6: Create a web page with tables, images and links (maximum 5 pts.)

Objective: Learn how to use tables in HTML documents

What to do?

1. Page title
2. Document header (level 1)
3. A table with at least for cells
• A picture with a caption below it in each cell.
• The pictures should be included preferably as external links. If you use local image files, they must use relative URL and be attached to the lab submission.
• The picture should be also a link to a bigger image that opens in a new window.
• The table should have a thick border and enough spacing between the cells to separate the pictures.
4. Some text before and after the table

Restrictions and implementation

Due date: November 3

Use Blackboard Vista (CentralPipeline>Student>Blackboard Vista>CS-110) to submit the HTML file and the image files (if you use local images). Attach all files as separate attachments to Lab 6 (a link is available at the class home page in Blackboard Vista).

Lab 7: Create a web site with frame-based navigation and multiple pages

Lab 8: Create a web page with forms

Lab 9: Create an HTML page using a style sheet

Lab 10: Create a web page with Javascript (maximum 5 pts.)