A practical way to teach web programming in computer science

Abstract

Nowadays, web-based applications have become more and more popular in computer-based applications. Learning and mastering web programming environment, techniques, and methods are becoming necessary for undergraduate students in computer science. Traditional curriculum in computer science usually does not include web programming course. It is a great challenge to design and implement an effective course to teach web programming so that a computer science student can learn and master necessary knowledge and skills for efficiently developing interactive web-based database-driven applications. Recently, I designed and taught a web programming course for junior and senior undergraduate students in computer science. The course mainly focused on teaching the server-side programming techniques with open source software PHP and MySQL. Considering that many students had not systematically learned the basic client-side web development techniques and software tools, the course allotted 1/3 time to review and teach XHTML, CSS, HTTP, JavaScript, and Macromedia Dreamweaver and Fireworks. This paper discusses the details of the design and implementation for the web programming course including course contents, structure, implementation, demonstration, assignments, final project, outcomes and feedback. The paper can provide some useful information and directions for other instructors teaching the same course in computer science.