If you are a graduate student and want to take this class come talk to me about getting 700-level credit for taking this class.
By the way, here is a positive (anonymous) comment from a student in last year's class:
"I loved this class. There was a lot of programming involved but it was, I believe the perfect amount of work.
However, that does not mean that I was able to finish every assignment on time. I would recommend to future students that you do not take a heavy course load when taking this class. To get the most out of this class you really want to be able to spend time on this.
This has been one of the most interesting and get this, fun programming classes I have taken. I hope that you continue to offer it more frequently in the future."
and another (sorry, no money for a TA, but if any graduates of this class happen to be reading this and are willing to TA for free, talk to me)
"Great class and attendance set up. I could go to lecture if i needed help but didn't have to if i understood the topic. I feel that the homework were for the most part interesting and fair (by fair i mean there were usually only 4 or 5 things that were required instead of 9-10). This class has really gotten me interested in building web-applications and i have already started building some in my spare time. Before this class i had no real passion in the computing field, but now i have a specific passion that i would like to one day turn into a career. Thanks for teaching this class and hopefully it will continue. One suggestion for future classes would be to get a TA (which may not be an option) or a student who has done well in the class or who knows the subjects to assist you with helping students. There where times when i would chat with you and you might have been away and didn't answer my question. I feel that if there are multiple outlets then students will have an easier time getting help, which well keep them motivated."
and another, mostly positive (but, good point, I will do more jQuery/Javascript time)
"I feel that the amount of material covered was just right. I feel that we learned a little about a lot of useful techniques and that the more important and complicated techniques (Javascript, JQuery/Ajax, getting information via API) were given more time than the more basic techniques (HTML, Canvas, Off-Line data)."
And here is a negative one:
"Far, far, far, far, far too much. Most of the topics could have been covered over the course of a semester and still be too much. I have other classes and work a lot, so I didn't stand a chance."
If you just want to learn HTML, CSS, and a little bit of JavaScript, then take CSCE 102. If you want to go beyond that and learn how to build web applications (jQuery, DOM, app engine, databases, ORMs, REST APIs, canvas, HTML5, templates, etc.), then take this class.
Finally, you might be wondering how in demand these technologies are in the real world. Well, a survey done by stackoverflow.com of their users reveals that 42% of software developers describe their occupation as "Web Application Developer" (Question 7).
Update: And, one more thing, if you can't wait to get started, Udacity is teaching a class on web applications that starts in April 16. It is taught by the guy who created Reddit. They are using the google app engine, just like we will!
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