CIS 219 covers Web Development using PHP and MySQL. This course provides students with the knowledge and skills necessary to use the PHP scripting language to develop dynamic web-based applications. Topics of study include the fundamentals of scripting, using PHP with HTML forms, creating functions, and integrating with the MySQL database. Plan to spend 5-10 hours per week on this class.   You must have reliable access to Internet to complete this class. You are expected to check this site and your email at least twice per week.

Section 1188

This section is fully online. Please see a brief overview of How This Online Class Works.

Also review the Cuyamaca College pages on How Online Classes Works.

Course Web Site: http://www.edworlds.com/cis219/index.php

Instructor Contact Info:

Jeff Sale
Computer & Information Science, Graphic Design
Cuyamaca College
jeff.sale (at) gcccd.edu
jsale37 (at) gmail.com

Topics/Themes

Learning Object
PHP Basics
Fundamentals of PHP
Control Structures
Dealing with Data in a Grid Format
Storing and Retrieving Data
Functions
Using Arrays
String Manipulation
MySQL Basics
PHP_MySQL Security
Debugging
eCommerce

Prerequisites

The recommended prerequisite skills for this class are:

  1. Send, receive and manage electronic mail.
  2. Use a web browser to browse, navigate and conduct research.
  3. Use Windows or MacOS to copy, paste, move and rename files.
  4. Open and save word processing files.
  5. Copy and paste text or graphics from one window or application to another.
  6. Organize files using folders.

These skills can be learned in CIS 105, CIS 110,  or GD 105.  Solid skills are especially important for students in the online course.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, each student will be able to:

Grading and Assignments

You will be graded on assignments, online discussion, and tests.  The main course Moodle page will link to complete instructions for each week, including examples not found in the textbook, scoring rubrics for each practical assignment, comments about the material, and links to related resources.  You will use the course Moodle site to check your grades, turn in assignments, take quizzes, and participate in class discussion.  Your total grade will include:

~20% Practical Assignments Practicals are fairly quick ways to reinforce your understanding of a specific concept or skill.
~15% Discussion Participation You are expected to post at least one message to the online course discussion each week.  These can be questions, comments, responses, interesting Web sites, etc.  Your message will be given 1-5 points based on complexity, appropriateness, and helpfulness. Maximum per week: 10 points.
~20% Quizzes Quizzes will focus primarily on the textbook, except for the first quiz which will also focus on the course orientation and syllabus.
~20% Midterm Exam The midterm exam will be cumulative and might include a practical section.
~25% Final Exam The final exam will be cumulative and might include a practical section.
  Extra Credit extra credit is sometimes offered and is used to bump up a borderline grade (1-2% below higher grade)

Scale*

A  90-100%, awarded for work that meets all requirements and shows effort, skill, and creativity
B 80-89%
C 70-79%
D 60-69%
F Anything below 60%

*NOTE: We may now offer plus/minus, but since I did not actually specify a plus/minus scale above any grade you get will be a plus.

Due Dates, Make-ups, and Incompletes

Practial assignments are due within two weeks after they are assigned.  Due dates are shown online. After the due date, you may have one additional week to turn your assignment in but you lose 20%. Be sure to SAVE and BACK UP everything you do. BEGIN ASSIGNMENTS EARLY in the week they are assigned so you will have time for questions. ASSUME you will have technical problems and turn in work BEFORE the due date. I have built in plenty of time to allow for questions and technical difficulties as long as you begin on the date it was assigned.

Quiz start dates and due dates may vary throughout the semester. I will generally allow at least 10 days to complete a quiz, often longer depending on how the class is progressing. I will NOT accept any late quizzes.

An incomplete grade is given only when there is an emergency near the end of the semester.

Mature students meet deadlines in spite of difficulties, but there are times when personal or work situations demand a shift in priorities. Please contact me if you need to discuss your situation. If you fall behind on more than 2 assignments you may be dropped from the class.

Class Policies

Technical Requirements

The technical requirements for this course are potentially somewhat more demanding than other CS courses since you need to install some reasonably advanced and complex software on your computer (XAMPP), and you will need to have a good internet connection since some of the course content will consist of video-based instruction. If you cannot be sure of having both of these capabilities, then you should reconsider registering for a fully-online version of this course. The very nature of a course on dynamic web applications is such that these two requirements are reasonable and should not come as a surprise.

Grading

Grades will be based on participation in online discussion forums, quizzes, exams, and practical assigments. Exact grade structure is listed above under Grading and Assignments.

Attendance and Participation

Since this is a fully online course, attendance is a more elusive requirement to define. It is important you fully understand how online courses are different from face-to-face or hybrid courses, so please click this link to review the Cuyamaca College pages for clarification.

To be considered actively participating in this class, you MUST logon at least once per week. A week is measured from Monday-Sunday. Any student who misses two full weeks may be dropped from the class.

Additionally, any student who is more than two weeks late with an assignment, and has not made prior arrangements with me, may be dropped from the class for non-participation.

It is still your responsibility to make sure that you withdraw from the class, by the official withdraw date found on the college Web site, if you want to receive a grade of "W".

Lab time and homework

Practical assignments will be given out during the course. Some of these can be completed on any computer with a text editor but will require you to be able to test them with a web server supporting PHP and MySQL. I am assuming that everyone at least has access to a computer outside of class with a web browser, email, text editor, FTP, XAMPP (or some other web server with PHP and MySQL) installed, and some sort of image processing program (preferably Photoshop or GIMP). Please see me if this is not the case.

Textbooks

We will continue to use the same textbook used in previous semesters at Cuyamaca College:

PHP and MySQL Web Development (4th Edition) by Luke Welling and Laura Thomson

PHP and MySQL Web Development, 4th Ed.
Welling and Thomson
ISBN: 978-0-672-32916-6

Amazon

Cuyamaca College Bookstore

 

Lynda.com video training (no cost, optional)

5 full accounts will be available for "check out", details to be announced when class begins

However, Larry Ullman’s PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide is an excellent introduction to PHP and MySQL and is strongly recommended. Additionally, a recommended reading list will be posted on the Links page as we go along.

Web Reference

I will be posting links, samples, reviews, and other course reference materials on this web site. This site will also include many, many links to my favorite references for learning about the web on the web. I will not have any fixed office hours this semester, but should you have any questions, concerns, comment or complaints, please feel free to contact me at any time via e-mail at jsale37 (at) gmail.com.

Firefox Browser Required

All (Web-based) assignments must work in the latest Firefox browser! I used to allow Firefox and IE, but now Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome have become popular as well. I will not be covering any specific cross-browser issues in this class.

Since Firefox is what I use to test your work you must be sure that your assignment works using Firefox before you submit your (Web-based) assignment.

You can download Firefox for free at: www.mozilla.com

Communication

Please call me "Jeff". My first name is "Edward" which is why you might see E. Sale in the Cuyamaca College database for WebAdvisor and the course schedule. However, I use my middle name for whatever reason my parents came up with many years ago when I was a baby.

There are multiple ways of communicating in this course, so there is no excuse for you not to be able to contact me.

Sending your questions via the discussion forums is the best way to get help with the course material. At a minimum, I check and respond to the posts at least once every two days. Please do not hesitate to contact me via email if a matter is private. Otherwise please use the discussion board for your questions. The discussion boards are organized by Weekly Topics so you can make your posts to the appropriate area. Some students feel they are imposing on me by asking questions, but that's what I'm here for. In fact, it's better to ask questions more frequently with a question or two, than to wait until you are completely frustrated and send me 10 questions in a panic.

I sometimes teach mulitple classes a semester. If you do send me an email (instead of a posted question in the discussion area), please identify yourself by first and last name and what class you are in.

Most times I will wait for you to contact me with a question before you hear from me directly. However, if I notice you are getting behind in the class, or struggling in some way, I may contact you first to see if there is anything I can do to help. On rare occasions, I may suggest a phone call appointment if we both agree it is warranted. I may be able to set up an online web conference that allows us to meet online at the same time and for you to see what I am presenting.

Periodically I may send out an email to the entire class or send you an individual email. I MUST have a valid email id from you at all times to insure proper communication. If you change your email id, please update it on the "Profile" page on the course site. If I send you an email and it "bounces" (i.e. gets returned as undeliverable) I will temporarily remove your access to the class web site until I establish email communication with you again. Also emails can (and do) get lost sometimes. I usually respond within 48 hours (weekends and holidays excepted) so if you do not get a reply from me within 48 hours - email again!

NEVER specifiy an email subject line that says "Hi" or "Hello", etc. These are very common subjects of spam email. I usually delete them without reading them! A good subject line will include either the class name or the college name.

Be as specific as you can be with your questions. Please don't send a questions that says, "I'm having some trouble with this assignment, can you look at the code and tell me what I'm doing wrong?" Try to get some of your program (or SQL statement) to work and then ask me about the part you are struggling with.

The best way to work on your programs is to get a little bit working at a time. Break the problem into steps and solve one step at a time. In general, don't move on to the next step until you have the previous step working.

If you are asking about a question/problem with something you're working on, be sure to send your entire program (or SQL statement) as an attachment to the post in the discussion board (or email) . It's very hard to help you debug your code just by your description alone.

Send any files to me as email attachments rather than pasting code into the email message itself. Sometimes the text gets changed in transition and I cannot evaluate your code properly.

Ask as many questions as you need to :-)

Written Communication Policy

Be as clear as possible and include examples of your work as attachments as necessary. Use proper capitalization and spelling. Do not write in "text messaging". For example, please don't send something like the following:

hey jeff how r u? im doin gr8 w/asgn 6 wut is the next 1?

I don't expect perfect spelling in your emails but your emails shouldn't be riddled with spelling errors either. Most text editors will flag or highlight spelling errors. Please be aware of and implement needed corrections before sending. Remember to include your full name and the class in the message Subject.

The wise old buddhist monk says "Communication, Communication, Communication!".