Seminar OHJ-1820 (4-6 op):
Web Application Development Seminar

Tampere University of Technology
Seminar OHJ-1820
Fall 2007

Seminar organizers:
Prof. Tommi Mikkonen
Dr. Antero Taivalsaari

Seminar Background and Motivation

The software industry is currently in the middle of a paradigm shift. Software applications are increasingly written for the World Wide Web, to be used from a web browser, rather than for conventional operating systems, specific computing architectures or devices. Examples of such web applications include online productivity applications (such as word processors, spreadsheets and calendars), social networking systems, online games, and so on. We believe that the trend towards web applications will continue and even strengthen in the future, causing a fundamental change in the way people develop, deploy and use software.

Back in Spring 2006, we arranged the first seminar on Web-Oriented Software Development in Finland. Since then, the technologies intended for web application development have matured considerably. Even though there are numerous web application development systems, only a handful of them are in more widespread, commercial use. Such systems include:

• Adobe AIR (Apollo) (http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/air)
• Ajax (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_(programming), http://www.ajaxian.com/by/topic/ajax)
• Google Gears (http://gears.google.com/)
• Google Web Toolkit (http://code.google.com/webtoolkit)
• Microsoft Silverlight (http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight)
• Ruby on Rails (http://www.rubyonrails.org/, http://www.ruby-lang.org/)

Seminar Goals and Format

In this seminar, we will investigate the emerging web application development technologies in the form of student presentations, application development exercises and group discussions. Students will prepare a presentation on one of the technologies that they choose, and will give a presentation in front of the seminar participants to summarize their findings. Students will also build sample applications using at least one of the technologies mentioned above.

Presentations may be prepared and presented in Finnish or English (English preferred if there are non-Finnish-speaking participants).

Intended Audience

The seminar is intended for third-year students and up. The seminar is suitable also for Ph.D. students.

If necessary, the number of participants will be limited to about 30-40 people to enable fruitful discussions.

Important Dates

• September 12, 2007: Seminar kick-off meeting [Presentation slides are here]
• September 19, 2007: Presentation by Mikkonen, Taivalsaari: "Using the Web Browser as an Application Platform" (no slides available)

Seminar will be held on Wednesdays, 12:15 - 13:45, in Tietotalo TB 110

Student Presentation Schedule

• October 3: Antti Kervinen (Ruis [SLIDES]), Pekka Reijula, Mikko Kuusipalo
• October 10: Samuel Lahtinen, Feetu Nyrhinen, Aki Seppänen (Silverlight [SLIDES]); Timo Kokko, Henri Heiskanen (Ajax [SLIDES])
• October 24: Raine Mäkeläinen, Mika Pänkälä (Google Web Toolkit & Google Gears [SLIDES]); Tuomas Turto, Panu Åkerman (Adobe AIR/Apollo [SLIDES])
• October 31: Anna Ruokonen, Jussi Saarinen (Ruby on Rails [SLIDES]); Jukka Huhtamäki, Jaakko Salonen (Django Web Framework [SLIDES])

Student Demo Schedule

• November 7: Antti Kervinen (Ruis), Pekka Reijula, Mikko Kuusipalo (Sun Labs Lively Kernel)
• November 14: Samuel Lahtinen, Feetu Nyrhinen, Aki Seppänen (Silverlight); Timo Kokko, Henri Heiskanen (Ajax)
• November 28: Raine Mäkeläinen, Mika Pänkälä (Google Web Toolkit & Google Gears); Tuomas Turto, Panu Åkerman (Adobe AIR/Apollo)
• December 5: Anna Ruokonen, Jussi Saarinen (Ruby on Rails); Jukka Huhtamäki, Jaakko Salonen (Django Web Framework)

Proposed Outline for Presentations and Seminar Reports

• Introduction (high-level overview, purpose of the technology, background, history, ...)
• Overview of the technology
• Small examples
• Walkthrough of a more complete example illustrating the use of the technology
• Evaluation (benefits, drawbacks, general usefulness of the technology, possible measurements, ...)
• Summary (a half-page summary of everything above)

Questions and Further Information

Questions related to the seminar may be sent to:
tjm@cs.tut.fi.nospam. (remove ".nospam" from the address before sending).