Harvard Extension School - Computer Science E-75 : Building Dynamic Websites (2009)

Today's websites are increasingly dynamic. Pages are no longer static HTML files but instead generated by scripts and database calls. User interfaces are more seamless, with technologies like Ajax replacing traditional page reloads. This course teaches students how to build dynamic websites with Ajax and with Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP (LAMP), one of today's most popular frameworks. Students learn how to set up domain names with DNS, how to structure pages with XHTML and CSS, how to program in javascript and PHP, how to configure Apache and MySQL, how to design and query databases with SQL, how to use Ajax with both XML and JSON, and how to build mashups. The course explores issues of security, scalability, and cross-browser support and also discusses enterprise-level deployments of websites, including third-party hosting, virtualization, colocation in data centers, firewalling, and load-balancing.

Course Lectures: 13

Lecture 0: HTTP
Lecture 1: PHP
Lecture 2: PHP, Continued
Lecture 3: XML
Lecture 4: XML, Continued
Lecture 5: SQL
Lecture 6: SQL, Continued
Lecture 7: javascript
Lecture 8: javascript, Continued
Lecture 9: Ajax
Lecture 10: Ajax, Continued
Lecture 11: Security
Lecture 12: Scalability

Course Sections (supplements): 10

Section 1: HTTP, PHP
Section 2: PHP, Continued
Section 3: XML
Section 4: XML, Continued
Section 5: SQL
Section 6: SQL, Continued
Section 7: javascript
Section 8: javascript, Continued
Section 9: Ajax
Section 10: Ajax, Continued

Course Projects (homework assigments): 4

Project 0: Setup
Project 1: PizzaML
Project 2: C$75 Finance
Project 3: Mashup