2503ICT: Resources


Out of date.

Index

(Please let me know of any resources you find particularly useful. -- rwt) (Note that online and mirrored documentation may not always refer to same versions, and neither may refer to the version actually implemented on dwarf/kobold or your own computer. Tough! -- rwt)

General references

There is a wealth of material on the Web covering the content of the course. General sites that contain material relevant to all aspects of the course include:

Note that all references cited in this document should be used with care. Many refer to old standard or advocate deprecated techniques.

Other relevant Web sites are listed below.

No single text covers the entire course. If you must buy a text, I recommend one or both of the following:

(Other relevant texts are listed below. Generally, O'Reilly texts are the most definitive and the best long-term purchases.)

Some relevant texts listed here are available online through Griffith University Library's subscription to O'Reilly's Safari service (follow links to Electronic Books and Safari Books Online). (Please try this service and send me your feedback.)

Other courses

Software

To access dwarf, where the examples on this site are hosted, from off-campus, it is necessary to download and install VPN software from this University Web page.

Good software distributions with Apache, PHP, MySQL and other tools include:

Both of these are easy to install, the first on Windows only, the second also on Linux and Mac OS X.

HTML and related standards

Official W3 recommendations for CSS, DOM, HTML, HTTP, XHTML, XML and related standards may be found at the W3 Web site:

Just follow the links to the appropriate topic. Note the W3C markup validation service at validator.w3.org.

The following are excellent general references:

Cascading stylesheets

Official recommendations, tutorials and other information can be found at the W3 site w3.org/Style/CSS/. See Learning CSS in particular.

There is a detailed description and browser feature comparison at Webreview.com.

The following text is recommended:

JavaScript

The JavaScript (ECMAScript) standard is available from:

Perhaps the best general introduction is:

Other useful sites are:

Other texts include:

Python

The official Python Web site is www.python.org. It contains download and installation instructions, tutorials, documentation, etc.

The official Python documentation is mirrored here. The "tutorial" is an introduction to the language, the "language reference" defines the core language, and the "library reference" defines the various modules (cf. the Java API) including Internet modules (Section 11).

Tutorials on the Python language include:

None of the above describe how to use Python as a Web scripting language. For that, see the tutorials and documentation at:

The following texts are excellent:

PHP

The official PHP Web site is www.php.net. It contains download and installation instructions, tutorials, documentation, etc.

The official PHP documentation is mirrored here.

Tutorials on PHP (and its use with MySQL) include:

The following texts are all excellent:

There's lots of good, general information in Philip Greenspun's entertaining and "picturesque" online book: Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing (esp. Chapter 15)

Database design and SQL

There are hundreds of texts on data modelling, database design, SQL and database management systems. I particularly like the ones by Korth & Silberschatz; Ramakrishnan; and Lewis, Bernstein & Kifer.

The following texts and tutorials are online:

MySQL

The official MySQL Web site is www.mysql.com. It contains download and installation instructions, tutorials, documentation, etc.

The official mySQL documentation is mirrored here.

The following texts are excellent.

A convenient way to create, query and update MySQL databases on dwarf is through the phpMyAdmin GUI.

PEAR

See the PHP Extension and Application Repository.

Smarty

See smarty.php.net for examples, documentation, discussion, etc. (documentation only mirrored here).

XML and related technologies

There are many Web sites with XML information. Here are a few starting points:

The following are excellent references:

Web services, REST and the semantic Web

The following are three key refererences on Web Services:

Google provides a Web service that allows you to search its Web site database; see Google Web APIs.

Some RESTful references:

Here are two key references on the semantic Web:

Unix and vi resources

Several information guides are listed on the CIT Web site.

Many others can easily be found with a Google search.

Here are two terse but useful summaries:

These may be worth printing and keeping with you.

Other recommended resources