Computer Fundamentals

Computer Fundamentals
Understanding Web Development

I have taught web development in various forms over the past many years. This website contains information from courses that I taught including my notes, transcripts, insights, and other material. It has been edited to make sure that it is readable, but all of the content is derived from my own course content. Courses include CMU 95-881 Web Application Development, CMU 95-882 Enterprise Web Development, Pitt CS/CoE 1520 Computer Languages for Web Development, Pitt CS 134 Web Site Design and Development, and IUP COSC 415 Internet Architectures. Comments have been turned off, but you can feel free to contact me personally.

There is nothing special about the posts on the front page, as it is simply whatever Wordpress wants, which is typically the most recent items that I’ve uploaded.

  • Web 1.0

    Web 1.0 is all about presentation. There is a user, and the user is going to read what’s on the page. That’s the primary focus. This is where we start to see a major difference between Web 1.0 and Web 3.0. In Web 3.0, personalization, customization, and context start to matter. What you put on…

  • Web 0.5

    Web 0.5 is all about file transfer. It’s one of the foundational technologies of the web. The goal here is simple: move files from one place to another. That’s it. There’s no need for fancy interfaces, personalization, or advanced interactions. If the product’s primary need is file transfer, then Web 0.5 is perfectly sufficient.

  • Web Technology Evolution

    Let’s start talking about web products. I’m really talking about all kinds of products and the taxonomy of those products. That means we also have to talk about web technology, which is basically the evolution of the web itself. Now, I’ll say my advantage here is that I’m old. I lived through Web 1.0 all…