Lecturer: David Peterson

Outline

This course will focus on the development of database-driven web applications using open-source web development technologies. Areas covered include the Linux operating system, the Apache web server (httpd), SQL databases including MySQL and PostgreSQL, the Perl programming language, and the PHP hypertext pre-processor language. The lecture programme shall be reinforced by practical laboratory sessions and a major website development project.

By the end of this course, students shall have developed the following website programming skills:

• A knowledge of Linux operating system essentials
• Experience in the configuration (and securing) of basic Linux services
• A knowledge of the architecture and functions of the Apache web server
• Experience in the configuration of the Apache web server daemon (httpd) and Apache modules
• A knowledge of Structured Query Language (SQL) queries and statements.
• A basic knowledge of database administration (DBA) activities.
• Experience with the MySQL RDBMS server
• Experience with the PostgreSQL RDBMS server
• Experience in the configuration of MySQL and PostgreSQL RDBMS servers
• A knowledge of programming in the Perl language
• A knowledge of Perl CPAN modules including CGI, DBI, DBD::MySQL, DBD::Pg, HTML::Embperl, and HTML::Mason
• Experience with the PHP website templating environment

Textbook

The text for the course is "Open source web development using LAMP: Linux, Apache, MySQL and Perl/PHP" by James Lee and Brent Ware. ISBN 0-201-77061-X. A request for this textbook has been placed with the Co-op Bookshop on campus.