CSCI 5733
XML Application Development
Summer 2009
Course Syllabus and Policies

by K. Yue

This is not an easy course (but not too hard too). Make sure that you have the right background and prepare to work hard. Hopefully, we will learn a lot together. Good luck.

1. General Information

CSCI 5733 XML Application Development
Class number: 24962
Summer 2009
MW 6:00-8:29pm Delta 242

Instructor

Dr. Kwok-Bun Yue, Professor of Computer Science and Computer Information Systems, Chair, Division of Computing and Mathematics
Delta 163, 281-283-3864, yue@uhcl.edu; URL: http://dcm.uhcl.edu/yue/
Office hour: W4-6, walk-in, or by appointment

Teaching Assistant

None

Research Assistant

Account and software problems may be addressed to the systems administrator, Ms. Krishani Abeysekera.

Other Useful Information

• UHCL emergency hotline (to check weather related closing, for example): 281-283-2221.

Textbooks

There is no official textbook. We will use lecture notes and materials available from the Web.

We will use the following reference book:

Hunter, D., et. al, Beginning XML, 4th edition, WROX, ISBN: 978-0-470-11487-2.

Course Description

A survey of XML standards and technologies. Standards include XML, DTD, DOM, XSL, XSLT, XPath, XLink, XPointer, XML Schema and XQuery. Related technologies include XML parsers, JAXP and XSL parsers. Examples of XML such as AJAX, SVG, XHTML and RSS. Additional topics such as Web services, RDF, OWL, etc, may also be covered.

Course Outcomes

After completing the course, the students are expected to be able to perform the following:

• Identify major standards of XML and their purposes.
• Use DTD and XML Schema to define XML applications.
• Create XML documents by editors or custom developed programs.
• Perform simple data modeling of XML applications implemented in DTD or XML Schema
• Parse XML document using DOM and SAX.
• Access and query XML documents using XPath, XPointer and XQuery.
• Transform XML documents using XSLT.
• Describe major examples of XML applications.
• Select and apply appropriate XML technologies for applications.

Prerequisites

The following courses will be required:

• CSCI 3333 Data Structures
• CSCI 3134 Programming with Java
• CSCI 4230 Web Application Development

The course will use the following languages in lectures and examples:

• Java
• Javascript
• Perl

Depending on the course progress, the following languages may be included in the lectures:

• PHP
• VBScript and/or JScript
• VB.Net and/or C# in Microsoft's .Net framework.

New languages to be covered:

• XML Schema
• DTD
• XSLT
• XQuery
• XPath/XLink/XPointer

Other new languages may also be covered, such as:

• SVG
• WML
• RSS

Course Format

Traditional lectures, some classroom demonstrations and homework and programming assignments.

2. Course Policies and Guidelines

1. No class auditing without instructor's approval.
2. Assignments are due at the beginning of classes. No exception. Assignments turned in after the beginning of classes will be considered as late.
3. Late assignments are accepted with a penalty of 10% deduction per week day after the due date. No late assignment will be accepted one week after the due date. The last assignment cannot be late.
4. Make sure that you follow the submission guidelines for programming assignments. Failure to do so will result in assignments not graded.
5. No make-up exam except in verified emergencies with immediate notification.
6. No incomplete grade or administrative withdrawal under nearly all situations.
7. Penalty on cheating will be extremely severe. Standard academic honesty procedure will be strictly followed. Use your best judgment. If you are not sure about certain activities, consult the instructor.
8. This is a Web-assisted course with no paper class notes.
9. I do not respond to anonymous email.
10. Mobile phones and pagers should be turned off during classes.

Tips:

1. Check the course Web page regularly. Check the course Website frequently and read the class lectures beforehand.
2. If you need help in debugging, you may come to my office with the most recent listings of your program, output and error messages. Your program must be stored in your dcm account which I will have access to. Do not bring a flash memory stick as I will have to scan it for virus.
3. I check email frequently during the week days. Be sure to write a good subject heading for your email so my email filter won't consider it junk and I can relate to it quickly.
4. If you have problems with your accounts, you may want to contact the systems administrator directly by sending them an email and copying it to me. However, do not ask her questions about your homework. Instead, ask me.
5. Software development is time consuming. Start early and plan well ahead.
6. If you expect any potential problems, consult me as soon as possible so I may help you.
7. Assignments will be thrown away one month after the final examination week. Be sure to claim them on time.
   

2.2 Attendance

Students are expected to attend class regularly and actively participate in classroom discussions.

2.3 Academic Honesty

The UHCL Academic Honesty Policy will be strictly adhered to. The honesty code section state:

The Honesty Code is the university community's standard of honesty and is endorsed by all members of the University of Houston-Clear Lake academic community. It is an essential element of the University's academic credibility. It states:

I will be honest in all my academic activities and will not tolerate dishonesty.

Academic honesty is integral to university education. Students are advised to thoroughly understand UHCL academic honesty policy.

3. Grading Policies

Grades will be assigned based solely on homework and examination scores. No other factors will be considered. In particular, students have requested me to reconsider their grades using the following reasons in the past: course participation; improvement during the semester; extra efforts; avoidance of probation; financial needs; scholarship needs; need to graduate; company relocation; immigration status needs; family needs; etc. These requests had all been declined politely but firmly.

There will also be no 'special project' that you can work on to improve your grades after the final examinations. Anything I offer to one student will be offered to the entire class.

To obtain a grade of X, a student needs:

1. has a combined total score from homework and programming assignment of grade X based on the total score grade assignment table below.
2. has an exam grade assignment of X based on the exam score grade table below in at least one of the two examinations.

To be more exact, the final grade is the smaller of the two.

Total score is computed using the following percentages:

Homework: 40%
Mid-Term Exam: 30%
Final Exam: 30%

Total Score Grade Assignment Table

Exam Score Grade Table
 

Example:

A student gets:

38.5 out of 40 in homework
24.3 out of 30 (81%) in mid term exam
23.4 out of 30 (78%) in final exam

His total score is 88.2 (38.5+24.3+23.4), which is a B+ in the total grade score assignment table.  However, his higher exam grade is 81%, which is only a B in the exam grade score assignment table.  Thus, his final grade is B.

4. Course Syllabus and Schedule

The syllabus is tentative. Actual contents to be covered may change.

Dr. Kwok-Bun Yue
Professor, Computer Science and Computer Information Systems
Chair, Division of Computing and Mathematics
University of Houston-Clear Lake
2700 Bay Area Boulevard
Houston, TX 77058
  Yue's home page      yue@uhcl.edu       281-283-3864