Lecturer: Luigi Caforio  

Course name: Design Of Web Systems
Course code: 504704
Degree course: Computer Engeneering, Ingegneria Informatica
Disciplinary field of science: ING-INF/05
L'insegnamento è caratterizzante per: Computer Engeneering
University credits: ECTS 6
Course website: n.d.

Specific course objectives

The course explains the process of software development for the implementation of Java Web Applications. Through group exercises, and the implementation of use cases on a few prototypes, you learn to build and manage the lifecycle of web applications, from the front-end pages (jsp) to data persistance in an RDBMS. The combination of theory and practice makes the student autonomous in devising his/her own solutions to problems found in the requested deliverables.

Course programme

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The course is divided into a general part, which explains the main concepts related to the modeling of the software lifecycle. It presents UML (Unified Modeling Language). Part of it is devoted to the architecture of Java Web Application, with particular attention to the design of a layered architecture with use of the main design patterns. In particular, it analyzes the MVC (Model View Controller) in its implementation provided by the most famous "Apache Struts framework version 1.3.x" (http://struts.apache.org/index.html). About the persistence layer for the development of Java Web Application, you take one of the most widely used ORM (Object Ralation Mappings) such as Hibernate and use an open-source RDBMS such as PostgreSQL. The course ends with notes relating to the design of portals or portlets (according to specifications JSR-168 and JSR-268).

Course entry requirements

Basic knowledge of software engineering techniques and object oriented languages, including JAVA J2EE.

Course structure and teaching

Lectures (hours/year in lecture theatre): 45
Practical class (hours/year in lecture theatre): 0
Practicals / Workshops (hours/year in lecture theatre): 0

Suggested reading materials

The material presented in class and the exercises are available on the sites listed below by looking for any tutorials. Refer to:
1) Refer to the Sun site for tutorials based on servlet and jsp. (Http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/).
2) Apache Struts http://struts.apache.org/index.html, refer to the version 1.3.x.
3) M. Fowler. UML Distilled. (3. Pearson. Text reference for the study of the UML notation.
4) Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John M. Vlissides. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software.
5) Hibernate (http://www.hibernate.org/)

Testing and exams

The exam consists of a written test for the implementation of a Java Web Application with the Struts framework and integration with Hibernate for access to an RDBMS (the use of PostgreSQL is recommended). UML diagrams and explanations of "Design Patterns" complete the solution adopted. The exam also includes an interview, focused the knowledge gained about the peculiarities of the Java Web Application Framework and the use of Struts and the Hibernate ORM.