Sun. Jan 22nd, 2023

Year 11 into 12 Preparatory Work

The work on this page is mandatory – any written work must be submitted during the first lesson. The content you are being asked to work on ahead of starting in year 12 is part of the course, and other than a recap and to check your understanding, it will not be covered again.

Coding for the Web

Since the first websites were created, web design has become unrecognisable. Whereas early designers had to do nothing more than display static information, websites nowadays are expected to be slick, work on multiple different device types, link in to databases and other systems in order to provide personalised experiences, and to appear to work without the traditional lag associated with loading web pages.

You need to:

  • Understand what makes up a webpage
  • How information is transmitted from a web server
  • How it is displayed
  • What the benefits and drawbacks of including code on the client side are
  • What the benefits and drawbacks of writing code that executes on the web server are
  • Common HTML tags, and be able to write HTML code with pen and paper (no design software allowed)
  • Common CSS and how to use it
  • Security implications of web systems and how to mitigate them

Structure

There are three sections to what you are being asked to do. They are:

  1. Read a set of resources
  2. Watch a set of video tutorials
  3. Complete a set of tasks

If you get stuck, please email Mr C Koncewicz (Christopher.koncewicz@astrea-longsands.org).

Reading materials

Read all of the following:

Issues and implications of web coding

The request-response model

Uses, applications and implications of client side processing and scripting

Uses, applications and implications of server side processing and scripting

Web security

Required viewing

You are expected to watch the following videos; they demonstrate the concepts discussed elsewhere on this page/linked pages, and elaborate.

An HTML course for beginners.

A CSS course for beginners.

This video introduces client-side programming using JavaScript. It does get quite technical, but the point is that it illustrates what is potentially achievable using client side scripting.

A short explanation of how firewalls work.

SQL Injection attacks, and how to guard against them: NB do not attempt to use any skills gained from this for evil – it is a criminal offence!

Hashing and encryption are both techniques used in security. Here is an explanation of what they are, and the key differences.

Tasks

The HTML Coding task can be completed either using Notepad if you want to be able to save and test it, or on paper.

You may find the W3Schools website helpful if you get stuck on the HTML task.