L548: Computer Programming for
Information Management
School of Library and Information Science
Indiana University
Fall 2000
Instructor: Uta Priss
Email: upriss@indiana.edu
Office: 029 SLIS
Phone: 812-855-2793
Office hours: Wednesday 2.30 - 3.30 or by appointment
This syllabus is electronically available at
http://php.indiana.edu/~upriss/l548/548-Fa00-syllabus.html
Course Syllabus
Some class-related links:
Final exam
Student projects
Introduction
This course introduces basic skills for programming and manipulation of
text-based information systems. Information management is a major task for
librarians and information professionals who are asked to extract information
from sources on the WWW, design interactive text-based web interfaces to
information systems, utilize text that is stored or is supposed to be stored
in a markup format or preprocess information for storage in databases.
This course teaches computer-based approaches to these tasks.
Currently the class is taught using Perl/CGI. Perl provides a good
introduction to general programming concepts. These concepts include basic
programming structures, such as control structures, file handling and
program design strategies. But they also include more advanced topics,
such as networking, text-based user interfaces, and basic
retrieval concepts. Perl allows rapid prototyping which is appropriate for
applications in a fast changing environment such as the WWW. Furthermore, Perl
is very suited for search engines, parsers and mark-up languages. Students
will develop a small information systems application as a project for this
class. The concepts are therefore not taught abstractly but as hands-on
experiences with WWW applications.
Course Objectives
This course
- teaches basic programming concepts and structures.
- introduces basic information processing and management concepts.
- uses small scale but realistic examples of information management tasks.
- teaches the basics of Perl and Perl/CGI.
- provides an introduction to more advanced topics such as object
oriented programming.
Prerequisites
L401 (must be either completed in a prior semester or an approved waiver
must be in the student's file).
For non-SLIS students: please, fill in the
waiver form
and send it to upriss@indiana.edu.
Indicate on the form that you are not a SLIS student but
need the form for L548.
Especially important for this class are: basic Unix skills,
i.e. understanding of the Unix directory structure and ability to edit and
save files on a Unix computer; ability to create HTML web forms.
Class Organization
The class is taught as a combination of lecture and lab sessions.
The students will work on a semester project either as a team of two
members or individually. The results of the projects will be
presented during the last class session.
Computer Lab
The lab session is taught in GY226 (a Unix lab). All students must
create an account
on the Unix Nations cluster at least 24 hours before the first lab session.
If students want to practise in the Unix lab during other times,
they should first check the on-line availability schedule for the
lab. (Select month and lab "GY226" on
this page.)
Readings
There is no required textbook for this class. There are numerous
web resources or books available that can be used as supplementary materials
for this class. For students who have never used a programming language
before,
* Elizabeth Castro's "Perl and Cgi for the World Wide Web:
Visual Quickstart Guide", Addison-Wesley, 1998
is a good introduction.
For students who already know other programming languages,
* Randal L. Schwartz & Tom Christiansen: Learning Perl, 2nd Edition,
July 1997, O'Reilly
could serve as a more comprehensive resource.
Some on-line tutorials are
Day 2
on this page or the
Perl Tutorial.
Additional resources can be found at
www.perl.com and on a
local IU resource page.
Grading
The grades are given according to the SLIS grading standards. Good work
that meets the course expectations will be assigned a grade of B. To get a
higher grade than B, the students must demonstrate above average
comprehension of the course materials, knowledge and/or effort.
The final course grade will be computed for each student on the basis
of grades assigned for the following:
| Class contribution and listserv discussions
| 1/5
|
| Project
| 2/5
|
| Final exam
| 2/5
|
Each student is expected to complete all course work by the end of the
term. A grade of incomplete (I) will be assigned only if exceptional
circumstances warrant. Late work will be accepted only at the discretion
of the instructor and in every case will be automatically downgraded by
1/3 grade (e.g., a B+ becomes a B, a B- becomes a C+, etc.).
Class contribution and listserv discussions
The class contribution grade will be calculated based on
class attendance and contributions to class
discussions and discussions on the majordomo distribution list
(upriss_l548@indiana.edu).
It is required that every student
demonstrate respect for the ideas, opinions, and feelings of all other
members of the class.
Projects: Teams and topics
Students can work on their projects either as a team of two members
or individually. The teams must be formed during the first week of class.
Each project will consist of developing an information processing
or information management tool. The tool must have a CGI-based user
interface.
Examples for projects are: a mail filtering system (allows users to extract
mail messages from a standard Unix mail folder based on certain
preferences), a search engine,
an information extraction tool for webpages (allows to extract certain
information from a set of webpages), an html or xml viewer (displays markup
pages as text with certain formatting), a data preprocessing tool (prepares
data for input into a database or formats the output from a database), a
library access tool (formats user input for search in an electronic library
catalog), an indexing tool (parses text and identifies important words
based on frequencies). Other similar topics can be suggested by the students.
Some of these topics require additional knowledge (such as databases or
xml) and should only be chosen by students who have acquired such knowledge
prior to this class. The students should discuss their choice of
topic with the instructor.
Project presentation, assignments and final project report
The students will present their tools during the last lab session
(December 5th or 6th, 2000). Parts of the projects will be handed in as
assignments during the semester (see the Class Schedule).
The final project report is due on
December 5, 2000. It must contain
information on the purpose, features and limits of the software
and indicate possible future extensions and improvements.
The source code of the tool should not be
included in the documentation but it must be made available
for evaluation by the instructor.
Grading of the projects
A total of up to 100 points will be given for the project.
Each assignment is worth 10 points, the presentation is
worth 10 points and 30 points will be given for the final project report
and the project as a whole.
The project will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
-
General project: The project should be appropriate
and feasible for Perl/CGI. It should be neither too comprehensive nor
too simple. It should provide a service that is relevant
and interesting for WWW users.
-
Performance: The software must run without errors
and must do whatever is claimed in the documentation. The software
should not be too slow, for example, it should not try to download
huge files or graphics from the WWW while the user is waiting.
-
Security: The software should not present an open security risk for
the CGI server, i.e. all security rules that are given in class
must be followed. The CGI scripts must not permit sending of
unsolicited email messages. All copyright and privacy rules that
are common law or issued by IU must be followed.
-
Usability: the software must be usable by a medium computer literate
person. The web pages and links must contain enough information
so that users know what the software does and what happens if they
follow links or press buttons. The structure of the pages should be
clear, consistent and contain no redundancies.
The documentation should be clear and concise.
The web pages and documentation should be spell- and grammar-checked.
-
Programming style: the source code of the script should be clear
and should have appropriate comments.
Final Exam
The final exam will be a take-home exam consisting of several small
information management tasks for which the students will write
appropriate Perl
scripts. The exam will be distributed at the conclusion of the class
on November 28 and will be due on December 12, 12.00 pm
(Noon). Team work is not allowed for the final exam.
A note on plagiarism
The students must clearly indicate if they use materials from other
sources, such as textbooks or Internet webpages. Full citation information
must be given for such sources. Academic and personal misconduct by
students in this class are defined and dealt with according to the
procedures in the Code of Student Ethics.
Class Schedule
Note: the topics given in this schedule are fixed but I may still
make some modifications during the semester
to the order of the topics and the precise content covered in each week.
Exercise materials for the lab sessions will be added each week.
Week 1. Programming basics - Aug 29
Topics:
Introduction to information processing tasks; simple Perl programs;
scalar variables
Assignments:
- Lab Exercises
Answers
- Develop a plan for your information
processing tool: what do you want to accomplish with the tool? Which
components will your tool have? What are possible features and limits?
Find a name for your software tool.
Week 2. Operators and if statements - Sept 5
Topics:
operators, if statements and debugging
Assignments:
- Lab Exercises
Answers
- To be handed in by Sept 12:
Email the name of your project and a short description to the discussion
list.
Week 3. Logical expressions - Sept 12
Topics:
Logical "and", "or", and "not", truth tables
Assignments:
- Lab Exercises
Answers
- Optional reading: A Logic Tutorial
Week 4. Program design and control structures - Sept 19
Topics:
Program design; flowcharts; control structures
Assignments:
- Lab Exercises
Answers
- To be handed in by Sept 26:
Draw flowcharts for components of your information processing tool.
Week 5. Arrays, Hashs and File handling - Sept 26
Topics:
Arrays and hashs; file handling
Assignments:
- Lab Exercises
Answers
Week 6. CGI I - Oct 3
Topics:
HTML forms and how to process them with CGI
Assignments:
- Lab Exercises
Answers
- To be handed in by Oct 10:
Create forms for your project and email
the URL of the forms to upriss@indiana.edu.
Week 7. Regular expressions I - Oct 10
Topics: Regular expressions
Assignments:
- Lab Exercises
Answers
Week 8. Regular expressions II - Oct 17
Topics:
Regular expressions; substitution, transliteration and split
Assignments:
- Lab Exercises
Answers
Week 9. Programming in the large - Oct 24
Topics:
Functions, modular program design, local and global variables
Assignments:
- Lab Exercises
Answers
- To be handed in by Oct 31:
Write the main (sub)routine of your project.
Print the source code of your main routine and hand it in.
Week 10. A Perl networking client - Oct 31
Topics:
Retrieving documents from the web via Perl
Assignments:
- Lab Exercises
Answers
Week 11. CGI II - Nov 7
Topics:
Searching web pages on-line; security
Assignments:
- Lab Exercises
Answers
- To be handed in by Nov 14:
Process the form input for your project in a secure manner.
Print the source code of the subroutine
that processes the form input and hand it in.
Week 12. CGI III - Nov 14
Topics:
Environment variables, hidden text and cookies
Assignments:
- Lab Exercises
Answers
Week 13. The object oriented paradigm I - Nov 21
Note: due to Thanksgiving and the fact that there is no Wednesday
lab, we'll leave object-oriented programming for next week and
instead cover some optional materials, such as hashs.
(Topics:
Objects, classes, methods)
Assignments:
-
Lab Exercises: Hashs
Answers
- (
Here is an optional reading on object-oriented Perl.
Follow the links: Object-oriented programming, Objects, ...,
Using Modules on that page.)
- To be handed in by Nov 28:
Write a two page user manual for your project.
Print the manual and hand it in.
Week 14. The object oriented paradigm II - Nov 28
Topics:
Class hierarchy, inheritance, polymorphism and encapsulation
- Lab Exercises
Final exam
is handed out
Week 15. Outlook and Team presentations - Dec 5
Presentation of projects: Dec 5/6
Project report is due: Dec 5
Final exam is due: Dec 12