CSCI 3916: Web API Technologies

Course Syllabus

Spring, 2024

Instructor: Shawn McCarthy
Email: shawn.mccarthy@ucdenver.edu
Phone: (303) 900-8613
Class: Microsoft Teams / 330PM (Monday)
Office Hours: 445pm-545pm M/W Teams

Catalog Data: Topics in JavaScript Web technologies for front-end development and back-end development. Building a full end to end solution with a mobile or web front-end, Web API and NoSQL database

Co-requisites: N/A
Prerequisites: CSCI 2421-3 Data Structures & Program Design

Note: Each student must sign and return the attached Prerequisites Agreement form to receive any credit for any assignment or exam. If this form is not returned by the 1st week, the student will be administratively dropped from the course.

Expected Knowledge at the Start of the Course:

• Data structures for simplifying algorithm design

Expected Knowledge Gained at the end of the Course:

• Solid understanding of JavaScript, NodeJS, Development of Web APIs, NoSQL Databases and React front-end complete solution

ABET Assessment Criteria:

• This is a Computer Science Tech Elective, specifically students design, implement and test Web APIs in the context of this course.
• (2) Design, implement, and evaluate a computing-based solution to meet a given set of computing requirements in the context of the program’s discipline

Course Objectives: Full stack development (GitHub, Unit Testing, Integration Testing) focused on building Web APIs.

Textbook:

• Full-Stack React Projects
• MERN Projects for Beginners (Only if you choose to do an individual project)
• Optional: Beginning MERN Stack
• Optional: Learning JavaScript

Topics: Web APIs (Design, Best Practices and Development). JavaScript, NodeJS, TypeScript, React, MongoDB

Course Outline:

Lecture Videos

Grading Policy:

• Homework: 65%
• Projects: 35%

Notes: UCD Code of Honor as in the catalog: UCD Honor Code

Projects (you can work individual or as a team of up to 5)

• Individual Projects: MERN Projects for Beginners (any one of the 5 applications) with one additional feature added (your proposal should include what you are going to add to one of the project ideas)
• Team Projects: Full Stack React: See Online Marketplace (with extending marketplace for orders and payment) example and build in the additional capabilities

Mental Health Resources: CU Denver faculty and staff understand the stress and pressure of college life. Students experiencing symptoms of anxiety, depression, substance use, loneliness or other issues affecting their mental well-being, have access to campus support services such as the Student and Community Counseling Center, the Wellness Center and the Office of Case Management. Students also have access to the You@CUDenver on-line well-being platform available 24/7. More information about mental health education and resources can be found at Lynx Central and CU Denver’s Health & Wellness page. Students in imminent crisis can contact Colorado Crisis Services for immediate assistance 24/7 or walk-in to the counseling center during regular business hours.

Courses in this program

• Assignment Zero

  Purpose In this assignment, you will familiarize yourself with Postman, HTTP, and REST protocols using the Postman testing framework. You will also create your first node program and commit it to GitHub.

• Assignment One

  Purpose The purpose of this assignment is to set up your GitHub and Render instances for future assignments. You will create an Echo server, setup auto-deployment on Render, and test the server using Postman.

• Assignment Two

  Purpose The purpose of this assignment is to start working with Node.js and become more familiar with HTTP requests. You will create a standard Node.js server to handle incoming HTTP requests and then respond with information about the request.

• Assignment Three

  Purpose This assignment aims to enhance your understanding of NoSQL databases, particularly MongoDB. You will build a Users collection for storing user data and implement a signup and signin functionality. Additionally, you will also create a Movies collection to store movie information.

• Assignment Four

  Purpose Using the information already entered to MongoDB for the previous assignment, you will add another collection of reviews that are tied to the movies. This way users can query the database and get the previous information (title, year released and actors) as well as the reviews.

• Assignment Five

  Purpose The objective of this assignment is to create a React Single Page Application that interacts with your previously developed API. The application will enable users to search for movies, display information about a selected movie, view stored ratings, and submit a new rating for a movie.

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