Although we are not there yet, I found this site by Google to be very interesting. The fact that Google lets you play with their code and run scenarios is amazing. The code playground seems similar to what we see in firebug - you edit the code and see an output. It allows for Google to operate on a whole new level and interaction. Allowing people to freely test your code and learn from it, mow that's cool.
Here is a link to the XAMPP program that Professor Halavais recommended in video 3-1, if you want to "test things on your machine as if it were on the server" (Halavais mentions this around the 19:50 mark). The program is free and is compatible with Windows, Mac, and others.
Great site for testing the different font, styles, weights, etc. options before using in your site. There's even a button to create the css code for copy/paste into your css doc!
Test your JavaScripting skills using the w3schools.com Tryit Editor. See what happens in side by side windows. Learn the basic formatting of JavaScript statements, blocks and comments. This site seems like a good place to practice, if you know very little about coding JavaScript from scratch.
This is my rendition of the ESP cards with random card generation. This one had taken me a while because I wasn't quite getting the concept of how the url were being passed. After re-watching the videos, I was able to grasp the concept better. I had originally thought that i could have the php function on a switch and then have a hidden input variable passed to the url...turn out i was over-thinking it....rather than give away the answer, just see for yourself!
A 5- question quiz about Connecticut. User can enter name, answer questions, see list of their answers as well as a list of the correct answers. Still trying to figure out how to total the score. Both pages validate.
I tried to code in an error message if you failed to fill out one of the answers, but I couldn't get the code to validate, so I removed it with disappointment.
Ha, I didn't see this hiding up here.
It's up to you which (and whether) you want to do the exercizes in the book. The advantage of the book, I think, is that it provides a nice structured approach, it gets you started on the right foot right away, and it focusses on what is important. The downside is that there is some "fluff." Sometime we all need a bit of fluff.
So, the long and the short of it is, if I were in your shoes, I would work through the book quickly. Some of what is covered there is also covered in my lectures. In fact, I think this is the largest amount of overlap I have ever had between a text and the lectures. But I suspect you will need more depth in some cases than you get from the lectures. You might try watching the lectures, and then working through the section of the book.
It's probably too much to actually "read" during a week (yikes) but it is highly skimable. And there will be an opportunity to return to it, as we move into some of the programming.
For challenge webprog-1-b: Question about the syllabus (and a suggestion)
Question: I've been submitting challenges through adding bookmarks on Diigo; however, I used sticky notes on this one. Do you have a preference of how we submit challenges? Thanks.
Suggestion: Very thorough lecture, but in future ones, it might be helpful to mention in computer requirements that Mac users need at least OS X 10.4 to access Firefox, Firebug, etc.
Monica:
Need to bookmark as well as sticky. I find the assignments according to the tag, so if it's not tagged, I won't find it.
Firefox, Firebug, Firezilla, etc. are all available for 10.4 and before. Just google, e.g., "Firefox earlier releases." They may not have the same features as the most recent version. In practice, you can survive without any of these; they are just nice to have.
As for your last question: the grade on an assignment is binary: either you get all the points or you don't. If you didn't, you'll need to send me a note when you redo it, so I can recheck it. If it's still before the deadline, you can rec. full points. If it is after the deadline, you get reduced points.
In the lecture 2-1 (coming soon!) I touch briefly on this. Generally, you just provide a short comment (see the last question on p. 6 of the book) near where you are borrowing code or ideas.
t will be added to the Completed page, at that point, with the associated number of points
I just clicked the Completed page and it failed to load. Is this a page that will eventually be up? Will grades also be posted in Blackboard as well as the Completed page?
For challenge 1-b it says to make sure we bookmark our question. How do we bookmark a highlighted comment? Do we just use the entire URL and you would seek out our question(s)?
Is this the question you are bookmarking? If so, I think the world is going to expload.
Yes, you should bookmark the page you are making the comment on (this one) and be sure to tag it webprog-1-b.
You mention MySQL for the db backend. Can you give a list of what we'd need to download from the MySQL site? There appear to be several options. My brain hurts.
what exaclty is a "shell account". I looked it up on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_provider), but can you try to explain it in English aka understandable terms?
As it turns out, we probably won't need to access a shell account. Basically, this allows you to directly log in to a server computer, and move around it. You generally have shell access to your own computer (on Windows machines, look under accessories or Run: Command; on OSX, the program is called "Terminal.") This is generally the only way to directly run programs or access detailed information about a web server. Otherwise, you are limited to FTP, which really is just used to copy files to and from the server.
Thanks, this actually spawned another question, but relating to Diigo. I had no notification (or none that I could see) or anything that you had responded to my sticky note. Is there something I'm missing or should I just remember to check back. Thanks
Done. It's a pretty quick read. Really, my lectures are a kind of "Cliff Notes" (I guess that's now "Sparc Notes"?) of the book. You won't have a test, but you will find the book helpful in filling in the gaps as you create stuff.
Hi Prof. Halavais. You mentioned in the opening syllabus video that you deliberately designed this ICM class to be an "open course," meaning it is open to others who are not tuition-paying QU students. Why make your class materials part of the "creative commons"? I'm also curious to know how QU officials feel about "open courses."
That's probably a longer question than I can answer. I think there is a mixed feeling about it, and some at QU think we should charge people for knowledge. I guess I'll turn that around and ask: what is it you are paying for when you pay tuition?
When I finally finish paying tuition, I'll have that oh-so-valuable piece of paper that says I have a master's degree, right? Tuition also helps to pay you, my professor!
Well, initially I had planned on doing more of this. In the sixth module, we briefly touch on what's available to a user via the *nix "shell," if those are the sort of commands you are thinking of. But I've aleady packpeddled quite a bit from my initial plans.
What pages of the textbook will we need to read in the first module? Should we do the exercises in the book? Also, can you cite how to acknowledge others' work within code?
Questions re: the course/syllabus:
I just clicked the Completed page and it failed to load. Is this a page that will eventually be up? Will grades also be posted in Blackboard as well as the Completed page?
Second, on the 1-b challenge page it said to bookmark our questions...I'm a little confused as to the expectations. To be safe, I commented on/highlighted on the syllabus page and am now bookmarking the Syllabus page as well. Are we supposed to do both for this challenge?
More of a general question towards the course itself....am in trouble if I really have no prior experience writing code/HTML/web programming? I'm a bit nervous to be honest.
To satisfy challege 1-B, I have asked a good question about the course under the SCHEDULE section. There is a sticky note attached to the words "if any."
Missed closing the "header" div (that is, you're missing the closing bracket). Haven't tested to see whether it renders in browsers other than Firefox, but need to be careful of such issues. Good job here.
