Advanced Diploma in Web Development

The Thursday webinars are very interactive and are often student led. As long as you’re a member, you will be registered for them indefinitely, so you can log in anywhere in the world to practice and see what we are up to now. There is no end date to these Thursday practical lessons because the world of Web Development is fluid and ever-changing.

PHP Development Semester

• Week 1: Object-Oriented PHP

  Wednesday, March 15, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Friday, March 17, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Our knowledge of PHP will be updated for the object-oriented programming paradigm. PHP allows for easy customization of property and method visibility which allows for encapsulation of objects. Additionally, functions and methods can be overloaded with default parameters which allows for highly adaptable methods. Finally, we will look at some useful inbuilt objects in PHP, particularly the mysqli class, which allows for easy SQL queries.

• Week 2: Cookies & PHP Sessions

  Wednesday, March 22, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Friday, March 24, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Web applications can “remember” a user’s application access rights, and history to send appropriate content to that user. In PHP, this is done with a PHP session. A session is a set of global variables that are recalled whenever a request is sent from a user with the corresponding session cookie. During this week, you will learn how to set up a simple session using these tools.

• Week 3: Error Handling

  Wednesday, March 29, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Friday, March 31, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Error handling is a powerful programming tool used to prevent unexpected effects from damaging your web application. Error handling also allows for easier debugging and expandability of code in a long-term project. PHP’s error handling techniques are covered this week with a view to helping the developer gain a stronger understanding of what can go wrong in any program.

• Week 4: PHP & Security

  Wednesday, April 5, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Friday, April 7, 2017, 12:30 AM

  As a back-end language, PHP will oversee the handling of a significant portion of the security of your web application, including data validation, stripping HTML for display in a user’s browser, and data protection using encryption.

Servers & Databases Semester

• Week 1: Relational Database Management Systems

  Wednesday, April 12, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Friday, April 14, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Relational databases lie behind most of the interactive systems we use every day. This week will take an in depth look at the relational database model, how it works, and why the relational model is useful. Concepts such as primary keys, foreign keys, indexing and the database model will be covered. These topics will be covered via the phpMyAdmin user interface.

• Week 2: Advanced SQL

  Wednesday, April 19, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Friday, April 21, 2017, 12:30 AM

  The vast majority of relational databases in use today run on Structured Query Language. To this end, this week will cover the more in depth tasks available using SQL, including conditional queries with database indexing.

• Week 3: Databases & Security

  Wednesday, April 26, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Friday, April 28, 2017, 12:30 AM

  In week 3, we will take an in depth look at one of the most common malicious attack vectors in the industry today, namely SQL injection. Additionally, limiting access to SQL commands can grant additional layers of security and damage control if the application is compromised.

• Week 4: Server Setup

  Wednesday, May 3, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Friday, May 5, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Apache web server software has many configuration and control options allowing improved security and control over your web application. This week covers all the aspects from error display, to folder access control.

Front-End Development Semester

• Week 1: Bootstrap Fundamentals

  Wednesday, May 10, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Friday, May 12, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Bootstrap is a powerful, mobile-first CSS framework. This week will look at setting up Bootstrap using a Content Delivery Network. We will also look at the basics of utilizing Bootstrap to create a web page – the Bootstrap grid system and specific semantic element classes.

• Week 2: Object-Oriented JavaScript

  Wednesday, May 17, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Friday, May 19, 2017, 12:30 AM

  The object-oriented programming paradigm is the most popular programming methodology used in both software and web programming. In JavaScript, rather than building objects one by one, prototypes can be created, from which an object, with fully functioning properties and methods, can be instantiated.

• Week 3: JQuery

  Wednesday, May 24, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Friday, May 26, 2017, 12:30 AM

  JQuery is the world’s most popular JavaScript library, a set of methods contained in the JQuery object. JQuery can speed up writing JavaScript and creating dynamic functionality on the front end of your web application. JQuery can also make traditionally awkward tasks, such as event handling and AJAX, easy.

• Week 4: AJAX & Event-Handling

  Wednesday, May 31, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Friday, June 2, 2017, 12:30 AM

  Events occur all the time in a web application environment. This class teaches how events work, and how we can create our own, or even override the standard response to a trigger. AJAX on the other hand, is a powerful tool that allows us to create interesting web application responses to optimise the user experience. Both topics will be implemented with JQuery.