A Hands-On Introduction to Program Logic and Design Using Web Technologies

OVERVIEW

This book provides a clearly-written, step-by-step, hands-on introduction to the logic and design of computer programs. You will find it of value if you are:

• A college instructor in need of an effective textbook to meet the goals of introductory Program Logic and Design courses. The book uses hands-on coding activities to teach key concepts and support active learning, but does not overwhelm the beginning student with the level of syntactical detail found in comprehensive programming languages textbooks.
• A professional such as a Web developer, technical communicator, information specialist, multi-media expert or graphic artist who needs a gentle introduction to programming as your information content becomes increasingly dynamic.
• An individual wishing to learn programming at home, for example to consider a software-related career, create software for your children, or develop useful applications in support of a home business or hobby.

The book teaches fundamental programming principles and problem-solving. You will learn to analyze requirements, design algorithms, and code solutions in the form of small Web applications using the HTML and PHP languages. Every chapter contains quizzes and hands-on exercises (these include "fix the problem", "modify the code" and complete coding exercises). The book makes use of freely available software (a customized copy is provided on the textbook Web site) that can be installed quickly and easily with no special configuration and no need for network connectivity or Internet access. You can be ready to develop working Web applications in minutes simply by unzipping a file. If you are an instructor, you will find that the book is popular with students who appreciate the hands-on approach and thoroughly enjoy creating Web-based programs. The material is easy to follow and designed for individualized, self-paced learning (especially relevant for online courses).

Topics include: the software development life cycle; interfaces and markup; algorithm development; sequential statements; simple and nested selection structures; count-controlled and event-controlled repetition structures; simple file processing; variables and assignments; arithmetic expressions, boolean expressions; testing and debugging; program modularity (functions and objects). The book also explains the general characteristics of significant emerging trends and technologies, such as client/server design, markup/scripting and object-oriented programming. Each new concept is introduced simply and coherently, using real-world context, minimal jargon, and complete code samples.

The companion Web site contains extensive support materials that include: downloads of all required software, all code samples used in the book, code for the hands-on exercises, slide presentations, quiz solutions, additional exercises, and useful instructor resources.

PLEASE NOTE: This book is NOT intended to teach you the HTML or PHP languages in detail. The book uses features of these languages as needed to: introduce general programming principles and concepts; provide hands-on experience of software design and development; prepare you for more comprehensive training in these or other common languages such as C++, Java, VB.NET or Python.