Course Description
How does one move away from creating static websites and toward building active, evolving hubs of activity? This class will cover the design and implementation of the "dynamic" website in two distinct but related contexts: the technical aspects of manipulating content "on the fly", and the end user experience of interacting in this type of setting. Particular attention will be given to social and community-based web interaction. The production environment will consist of the MySQL database and the PHP programming language. Students can expect to develop a firm knowledge of database design and optimization, the SQL query language, and the use of PHP to create dynamic activity of both orthodox and unorthodox nature. Late-semester topics will focus on interfacing this environment with other technologies such as JavaScript, XML, AJAX, JSON, and Flash, along with data population, site architecture methodology, and interaction with web service APIs from Google Maps, Flickr, YouTube, and Delicious. Introduction to Computational Media or equivalent programming experience is required. Students are also expected to have fluency in HTML or to come up to speed with it outside of class. Class requirements will include homework assignments to reinforce each week's concepts while simultaneously contributing to the student's "toolkit" of code and design principles. There will also be a midterm project, and a final project of the student's choosing. Given the wide range of applications that would benefit from a web-accessible database, students should feel free to use their project(s) from this class to support or enhance projects from other classes.

Syllabus

1. Introduction and Dynamic Website Theory Basics
2. PHP Basics and CGI: Script-Generated Pages
3. Database Design, MySQL, and the SQL Language - Part 1
4. Database Design, MySQL, and the SQL Language - Part 2
5. PHP Talks to MySQL: The Web to the Database and Back
6. PHP Tricks: The Basic and The Sexy
7. Dynamic Design: Page Layout and CSS
8. Mid-Term Project Presentation
9. Dynamic Web Development on the Client-Side: JavaScript, XML, and AJAX
10. More Client-Side: Interfacing with Flash
11. Site Architecture and Interacting with Web Services
12. Dissection of Dynamic Websites: DodgeBall, Wallop, WholeNote
13. Final Project Workshop
14. Final Project Presentation

Teacher Biography
Christopher Sung (B.S., Yale; M.P.S., NYU) is the President and CEO of eTonal Media, Inc. which owns and operates the WholeNote.com website for guitarists, the ActiveBass.com website for bassists, and ActiveMusician.com, an on-line retail musician store. eTonal's sites have garnered attention from such publications as The New York Times, Guitar Player magazine, Acoustic Guitar magazine, and Bass Player magazine. Prior to founding eTonal in 1999, he spent stints at Yale's Center for Studies in Music Technology (CSMT), the Banff School of the Arts, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, the Berklee College of Music, Microsoft Research, Interval Research, and Organic. Christopher holds a US patent in the field of music technology, and is active in the New York music scene, playing guitar with ASCAP and MAC-award winners Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich in the realm of musical theater, and with the singer/songwriter Talia Paul in the pop/rock sphere.

For information about taking this class, visit the ITP website at: itp.nyu.edu