CSC 551: Web Programming

Spring 2004

See online syllabus at:

http://www.creighton.edu/~davereed/csc551

Course goals:
ƒ understand the technology and protocols underlying the World Wide Web
ƒ become familiar with common tools and techniques for developing Web-based
applications, both client-side and server-side
ƒ develop a working knowledge of HTML, JavaScript, Java, and PHP as languages
for developing Web applications

Reasonable questions
What is the World Wide Web?

Is it the same thing as the Internet?

Who invented it?

How old is it?

How does it work?

What kinds of things can it do?

What does it have to do with programming?

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Web ≠ Internet
Internet: a physical network connecting millions of computers using the same protocols for
sharing/transmitting information (TCP/IP)
ƒ in reality, the Internet is a network of smaller networks

World Wide Web: a collection of interlinked multimedia documents that are stored on the
Internet and accessed using a common protocol (HTTP)

Key distinction: Internet is hardware; Web is software

Many other Internet-based applications exist

e.g., email, telnet, ftp, usenet, Instant Messenger, Napster, …

History of the Internet

the idea of a long-distance computer network traces back to early 60's
ƒ Licklider at M.I.T.
ƒ Baran at Rand
ƒ National Physics Laboratory in U.K.

in particular, the Department of Defense was interested in the development

of distributed, decentralized networks
ƒ survivability (i.e., network still functions despite a local attack)
ƒ fault-tolerance (i.e., network still functions despite local failure)

contrast with phone system, electrical system

in 1969, Advanced Research Project Agency funded the ARPANET

ƒ connected computers at UCLA, UCSB, SRI, and Utah
ƒ allowed researchers to share data, communicate
56Kb/sec communications lines (vs. 110 b/sec over phone lines)
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Internet growth
throughout the 70's, the size of the ARPANET doubled every year
ƒ decentralization made adding new computers easy
ƒ ~1000 military & academic computers connected by 1984

in 80', U.S. government took a larger role in Internet development

ƒ created NSFNET for academic research in 1986
ƒ ARPANET was retained for military & government computers

by 90's, Internet connected virtually all colleges & universities

ƒ businesses and individuals also connecting as computing costs fell
ƒ ~1,000,000 computers by 1992

in 1992, control of the Internet was transferred to a non-profit org

ƒ Internet Society: Internet Engineering Task Force
Internet Architecture Board
Internet Assigned Number Authority
World-Wide-Web Consortium
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Internet growth (cont.)

Computers on
Year the Internet
Internet has exhibited exponential growth – 2002 162,128,493
doubling in size every 1-2 years (stats from 2000 93,047,785
Internet Software Consortium)
1998 36,739,000

1996 12,881,000

estimated >600 million Internet users in 1994 3,212,000

2002 (www.nua.ie) 1992 992,000

1990 313,000

1988 56,000

1986 5,089

1984 1,024

1982 235

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History of the Web
the idea of hypertext (cross-linked and inter-linked documents) traces back
to Vannevar Bush in the 1940's
ƒ online hypertext systems began to be developed in 1960's
e.g., Andy van Dam's FRESS, Doug Englebert's NLS
ƒ in 1987, Apple introduced HyperCard

in 1989, Tim Berners-Lee at the European Particle Physics Laboratory

(CERN) designed a hypertext system for linking documents over the
Internet
ƒ designed a (Non-WYSIWYG) language for specifying document content
• which evolved into HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
ƒ designed a protocol for downloading documents and interpreting the content
• which evolved into HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
ƒ implemented the first browser -- text-based, no embedded media

the Web was born!

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History of the Web (cont.)

the Web was an obscure, European research tool until 1993

in 1993, Marc Andreessen (at the National Center for Supercomputing

Applications) developed Mosaic, the first graphical Web browser
ƒ the intuitive, clickable interface made hypertext accessible to the masses
ƒ made the integration of multimedia (images, video, sound, …) much easier

ƒ Andreessen left NCSA to found Netscape in 1994

cheap/free browser popularized the Web (75% market share in 1996)
in 1995, Microsoft came out with Internet Explorer
Netscape bought by AOL in 1999 for $10 billion in stock

today, the Web is the most visible aspect of the Internet

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Web growth

Computers on Web Servers on

Year the Internet the Internet
Stats from
Netcraft Web Server Survey. 2002 162,128,493 33,082,657

2000 93,047,785 18,169,498

1998 36,739,000 4,279,000

1996 12,881,000 300,000

IE
Netscape 1994 3,212,000 3,000
Mosaic 1992 992,000 50

recent estimates suggest 40-50 M Web sites, with 4-5 B Web pages!

Static vs. dynamic pages

most Web pages are static
ƒ contents (text/links/images) are the same each time it is accessed
e.g., online documents, most homepages
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is used to specify text/image format

as the Web moves towards online services and e-commerce, Web pages
must also provide dynamic content
ƒ pages must be fluid, changeable (e.g., rotating banners)
ƒ must be able to react to the user's actions, request and process info, tailor services
e.g., amazon.com, www.thehungersite.com

this course is about applying your programming skills to the development

of dynamic Web pages and applications

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Client-side programming
can download program with Web page, execute on client machine
ƒ simple, generic, but insecure

JavaScript
ƒ a scripting language for Web pages, developed by Netscape in 1995
ƒ uses a C++/Java-like syntax, so familiar to programmers, but simpler
ƒ good for adding dynamic features to Web page, controlling forms and GUI
ƒ see www.creighton.edu/~davereed/Memory

Java applets
ƒ can define small, special-purpose programs in Java called applets
ƒ provides full expressive power of Java (but more overhead)
ƒ good for more complex tasks or data heavy tasks, such as graphics
ƒ see www.creighton.edu/~davereed/csc107.F03/Labs/MontePI.html

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Server-side programming
can store and execute program on Web server, link from Web page
ƒ more complex, requires server privileges, but secure

CGI programming
ƒ programs can be written to conform to the Common Gateway Interface
ƒ when a Web page submits, data from the page is sent as input to the CGI program
ƒ CGI program executes on server, sends its results back to browser as a Web page
ƒ good if computation is large/complex or requires access to private data

Active Server Pages, Java Servlets, PHP, Server Side Includes

ƒ vendor-specific alternatives to CGI
ƒ provide many of the same capabilities but using HTML-like tags

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Exercise
pick some of your favorite Web sites and try to identify

ƒ static components?

ƒ dynamic components?
¾ client-side? JavaScript? Java applet?
¾ server-side? CGI? ASP?

e.g., www.creighton.edu/~davereed/csc551

www.creighton.edu

www.thehungersite.com

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