CIS 4309: Client/Server and Net-Centric Computing

Spring - 2008

 

 

Welcome to CIS 4309.   Your instructor is J. Henri Wiesel.  I can be reached at

·         Office               Wachman 1050

·         Telephone        215 204-6973

·         EMail               hwiesel@temple.edu

·         Office Hours                 

                                                            

                       Monday                             1:30 PM    -    2:30 PM

                            Tuesday                             1:00 PM    -    2:00 PM

                            Thursday                            1:00 PM     -   2:00 PM

               

                           Other Times By Appointment

 

Ø     Course Objective

This is the second of a 3 course IS&T required sequence in the development of networked application systems.  The 3 courses are based upon the use of Microsoft’s .NET software development technology. The first course in the sequence is CIS 3209, which teaches how to develop basic information systems units called components, using the VB.NET language in conjunction with databases and windows Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs).  This second course, CIS 4309, adds the ASP.NET language and will teach deployment of these software components to operate on the internet.  The third course in the sequence, CIS 4342, teaches more advanced networking techniques, including distributed systems.  The principal development tool of this course will be Visual Studio.Net (VS.NET), that will enable the student to develop and combine ASPX web pages and VB.NET components for network deployment via the .NET Framework.   In addition, SQL Server and its Enterprise Management Console will be used for database creation and management.  The student will integrate  various technologies: (1) Web page design using html, (2) client side processing with VB or Java Script, (3) dynamic web pages that access databases using ASPX, (4) XML for web data transfer, and (5) server side transaction processing using ASPX and VB.NET objects, the .NET Framework, and the SQL Server database server.

 

Ø     ASP.NET and VB.NET Languages and Course Resources
The basic prerequisite knowledge of the course is the use of web based client/server language systems involving HTML and VBscript  or Javascript for client side processing and ASP/VB or JSP/Java for server side processing.   The corresponding .NET technologies that we will be learning are syntactically more similar to ASP/VB but structurally more similar to JSP/Java, because they are more purely object oriented languages.  These languages are ASP.NET and VB.NET.

 

Resources for learning and using these languages are:

 

(1) The website that you are currently reading, referred to as the WebNotes.

(2) The TextBook

(3) OnLine References

(4) MSDN online documentation

(5) VB.NET online Class definitions

(6) The Help system embedded in VS.NET 

(7) Intellisensing within VS.NET

 

Ø      Course Structure and Textbook
You will learn the basics of ASP.NET and VB.NET through the course resources discussed above, exercises found in the textbook, examples within these WebNotes that serve as code models, and the lab exercises. You can examine and run them as you study the corresponding chapters of the book. Many other examples will be presented and discussed in detail in the lectures.  

 

      The textbook is Beginning  Programming Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0, by Dino Esposito, Microsoft Press, 2006, Library of Congress Control Number 2005933933.

 

Ø     Grading

The course is very lab intensive.  70% of the grade will be based upon assigned programming exercises.  A midterm exam comprises 10% and a final exam the remaining 20%.

 

There are five lab assignments, each weighted by difficulty.  Each assignment will be given a letter grade based on a curve.  These are then converted to the GPA numeric equivalent from 0 to 4, weighted by the Assignment Weight shown in the Project Schedule, summed and divided by 16, which is the total of the Assignment Weights, and multiplied by 0.7.  The exam is graded in the same way, making up the other 30%, and is added to the numeric score of the projects.  The result is a number from 0 to 4, which is converted back to a letter grade for the course.  The formula is:

 

0.7*(Sw_ig_i)/13 + 0.1*m + 0.2*f

 

where w_i is the weight of the lab assignment i, g_i is the numeric grade of Lab Assignment i, m is the numeric grade of the midterm exam, and f is the numeric grade of the final exam.

 

Each assignment has a deadline, shown in the Due Date column of the Project Schedule.    Submission policy is that an assignment turned in by the Due Date gets the full letter grade.  It can be turned in up to one week late but will be downgraded by 1 letter grade.  It will not be accepted after the Late Date. 

 

Ø     Development Tools

We will use the following development tools, all of which are available in the lab and which can also be provided to you for installation on your home computer:

·         Visual Studio (VS) .NET for development of aspx web pages, VB code behinds, and VB components.

·         Microsoft Enterprise Manager for SQL Server

 

Ø     The Course Map

Most of the information that you will need for this course can be obtained by a navigation process through the Course Map.  This map contains the following sections:

 

·         WebBoard Setup

·         Syllabus

·         Schedules

o        Lecture

o        Project Assignment

o        Accounts

·         Reference Material

 

·        The WebBoard

We will use a bulletin board product called the WebBoard for most of our multilateral class communication.  The WebBoard enables the instructor and anyone in the class to post messages for the rest of the class.  Use the WebBoard Setup for instructions on how to register yourself into the WebBoard.  It is extremely important for you to do this; otherwise you may miss important announcements from the instructor or TA, and they will not be able to communicate with you individually via e-mail.    In the setup you should choose the option that automatically e-mails all postings to you, so that you don't have to rely on going to the WebBoard to get the latest messages.  For bilateral communication there is, of course, e-mail.  Certain pages, like this home page, will contain a blue button at the top labeled Class Interaction, that will take you immediately to the WebBoard.  The Course Map also has such a button at the top. You might also want to create a browser bookmark to the WebBoard (interact.cis.temple.edu/~cis309) and to the Course Map pages.

 

·        Schedules and Accounts

The Lecture Schedule presents a series of Lecture units, textbook readings and links to more detailed lecture material.  

 

The Project Schedule presents the 5 lab assignments and their due dates.  These have been described above under Grading.  

 

The Accounts describe 3 account types on 2 server machines.

(1) An NT account, c4309ccnn, is assigned on cisadmin to each student where documentation and miscellaneous files can be stored.  A shared directory, called Board provides a means for the Instructor to distribute programs or files to the class. 

(2) Each student will have a virtual web root on Zbach.  The name of the web is c4309ccnn.  A subdirectory structure can be developed under the web root for the various project subsystems.

(3) The DBMS is SQL Server, which runs on Dwarf.  Each student will be assigned a Database, named c4309ccnn.

 

·        Reference Material

Finally, the Reference Material section will give you links to OnLine references and some hard copy references.  The OnLine references are classified by major topics, such as HTML, ASP, ASP.NET, VBScript, VB, Java, JSP, etc.

You should also search the web for additional, and possibly better, references for languages in the course.  If you find better references than the ones provided, please send the urls to the Instructor.  

 

Good Luck and enjoy the course.