2007 Handbooks

(V2 Session dates: 7 January 2008 - 15 February 2008)

This unit provides an introduction to the conceptual aspects of distributed systems design and applies them to the implementation of systems for the World Wide Web. It explores the full spectrum of this technology, providing insight into the standards underlying the Web and the programming techniques used to exploit these standards to build Web applications.

Students are introduced to the development of dynamic websites using the markup languages HTML and XML, style-sheet languages such as CSS and XSLT, and both client-side and server-side scripting languages. Internet protocols are discussed in some depth.

A conceptual understanding of distributed systems issues is developed and applied to the design and implementation of complete client-server and peer-to-peer systems. Remote method invocation mechanisms such as RPC, SOAP and CORBA are discussed and applied.