Course Objectives

In this course you will learn how to build interactive, database-driven web sites. We will start by learning the client side technologies of HTML (hypertext markup language), CSS (cascading style sheets) and some JavaScript. We will then cover server-side programming with Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP). ASP is a powerful, programmer-friendly scripting technology that uses VBScript to manipulate a small collection of powerful server-side programming objects. The course also covers the fundamentals of relational database design and Structured Query Language (SQL), both of which are needed to realize the full power of server-side programming.

Required Textbooks

1. HTML for the World Wide Web with XHTML and CSS: Visual Quickstart Guide, 5th, by Elizabeth Castro

2. SAMS Teach Yourself Active Server Pages 3.0 in 21 Days, by Mitchell and Atkinson

Course Web Site

The course web site is located at http://yorktown.cbe.wwu.edu/sandvig/mba597/ (shortcut MBA597.csandvig.com) and contains the course syllabus, schedule, assignments and project information.

Yorktown Server Accounts

Your code must be located on Yorktown account for grading. If you write the code on your own server you must move it to Aspen for grading.

Your accounts are accessible to Professor Sandvig for the purposes of grading and trouble shooting. Do not put any private information into your accounts. You may use your accounts for non-class purposes, as long as your use is within the bounds established by the University's Policy for Responsible Computing. Aspen accounts have a file space limit of 10 MB. Abuse of your account will result in the loss of account privileges on the server.

Your accounts are created specifically for this course and you should assume that it will disappear at the end of the quarter. To assure that none of your work is lost you should make backup copies of all your files at the end of the quarter. The College is experimenting with keeping Aspen accounts active for two years after the end of the course, but this cannot be guaranteed (see photos of the fire in the server room, July 3, 2002).

Course Policies

Grading: Course grades will based on the following criteria:

Assignments: Assignments are due 15 minutes before class starts on the day shown on the course schedule. Mail the URLs of your pages to Professor Sandvig and cc a copy to yourself. The subject line of your email should read "MBA597 AX YourName", where X is the assignment number.

After submitting your assignment do not make changes to the files until they have been graded. The time of assignment submission is based upon the later of the time the email was sent or the last modified date. If you want to continue to work on the files you should make a copy and work on the copies until the assignment has been graded.

Late Assignments: Late work and broken URLs will be penalized one letter grade per 24-hours, starting at the due date (one minute after the due date is late). Please check your URLs carefully to make sure they are correct. To avoid typing errors in your URLs it is highly recommended that you cut URLs directly from the address bar of your browser and paste them into your email submission. You can expect to have technical problems and should build safety time in your schedule.

Exams: A midterm and a final will be given during the quarter. The final exam is cumulative.

E-mail Policy: I usually reply to emails within a few hours on weekdays. I do not reply to email messages that are poorly written, unclear or disrespectful. If it is not worth your time to send a thoughtful message it is not worth my time to reply to it. I suggest that you include a salutation (e.g. Dear Dr. Sandvig or Dear Professor Sandvig) so that it is clear that the message is not junk mail and deleted.

Plagiarism: You are encouraged to work with other students in the class, but all work that you turn in for grading must be your own. Taking credit for another students work is plagiarism and is a violation of WWU academic policy. An unfortunate plague of cheating in the spring of 2002 resulted in six MIS 314 students failing the course and being reported for academic dishonesty. Don't let this happen to you! Remember, all work that you turn in for grading must be your original work. Professor Sandvig has copies of every assignment ever turned in for this course and cheating is easy to detect.

If you have any questions regarding cheating, plagiarism or WWU's Academic Policies see the Office of Student Life's Academic Dishonesty web page, Appendix D of the University Bulletin or talk with Professor Sandvig.

Microsoft DreamSpark Software

Students enrolled in MIS courses may download free copies of Microsoft's developer software. The complete developer software list available is quite extensive and includes Windows OS, Office, Visual Studio, Expression Studio and SQL Server. None of these products are required for MIS 314.

You will receive an email via your WWU email from eAcadamy during the first week or two of the quarter containing instructions on how to download the software.

Some of these tools are very large. Before downloading the software it would wise to compare your computer's free disk space to the recommend system requirements for the software (Amazon.com lists the system requirements for the products).

You must be currently enrolled in a MIS course to be eligible for the free software. You will not be eligible after the quarter ends unless you are enrolled in another MIS course. This offer is available through Microsoft's DreamSpark program.