The Missing Link: An Introduction to Web Development and Programming

Reviewed by Subhasish Dasgupta, Associate Professor of Information Systems, The George Washington University on 2/26/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book is a comprehensive one. It covers all aspects of web development from basic HTML to PHP scripting and MySQL databases.

Content Accuracy rating: 2

This is where I have the most concerns. The book is outdated. It refers to older versions of HTML and PHP, which are no longer in use. For example, the books still presents functions such as mysql_connect() have been deprecated. The new function is mysqli_connect(). Some of the code in the text will not work any more. The code needs to be updated.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 2

Relevance is limited because the book refers to earlier versions of PHP code. Some sections of the book cannot be used any more.

Clarity rating: 5

The presentation of the material in the book is very clear. It is comprehensive and ideas are presented well. In terms of clarity it is a great book.

Consistency rating: 5

The framework and terminology are consistent.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is divided into different modules for web development, document mark up, scripting languages, persistent data storage, and an integrative section at the end. The modules are well though out and well presented. Each module or section presents in-depth information.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The book is structured well. It reviews the basics of networking, servers, and HTML and then moves to scripting languages. It is organized very well. It would an ideal book for one of the courses I teach if some of the issues mentioned above could be addressed.

Interface rating: 5

The book's interface is good, I didn't see any problems at all.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Grammatically, the book is well written.1

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I don't think this question is relevant to the book.

Comments

This would have been an excellent book if it had been revised for newer versions of the software. As mentioned earlier some of the functions have been deprecated (not used anymore). The text needs to be updated because some of the code does not work. If some of the corrections are made this would be a perfect book for the Cloud Applications course I teach.

Reviewed by Jerry Schnepp, Assistant Professor, Bowling Green State University on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

Overall, this book serves as a broad introduction to web development. This approach is particularly valuable because it is a single resource that tells the whole story without going into too much depth. When students are ready to dive deeper into specific topics, they should use other resources.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Very accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 2

Content is not completely up to date - which is a tall order for web technology. I'm not sure that this sort of textbook can stay up to date. it is nearly impossible to include all the relevant technologies. The best I think it can do is to summarize the most used/relevant technologies while recognizing those on the horizon.

Clarity rating: 5

Very clear

Consistency rating: 5

It's very consistent. Each section uses a similar format.

Modularity rating: 5

The first section presents a great overview for students interested in becoming professional developers, as it explains the most common paradigms (architecture, development, roles, etc).

The second section explains the most commonly used document tags and CSS styles. This is the type of information students typically learn from an HTML/CSS reference book.

Section three provides an overview of scripting languages and their uses. Since these technologies are used in very diverse contexts, this section is particularly shallow - out of necessity. As with previous concepts, students should use this section to learn about the capabilities of these technologies and seek more complex examples in online repositories or in other texts.

The fourth section focuses on databases and supporting database technology. It begins with an overview of the access mechanisms and proceeds to cover basic relational database theory.

Section five concludes the book with by exploring security concerns and optimization.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization is good. It seems appropriate for a student who is new to web development.

Interface rating: 5

The interface is good.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not find any grammar mistakes.

Cultural Relevance rating: 1

This is a highly technical book that does not address cultural issues.

Comments

Overall, this book serves as a broad introduction to web development. This approach is particularly valuable because it is a single resource that tells the whole story without going into too much depth. When students are ready to dive deeper into specific topics, they should use other resources.

The first section presents a great overview for students interested in becoming professional developers, as it explains the most common paradigms (architecture, development, roles, etc).

The second section explains the most commonly used document tags and CSS styles. This is the type of information students typically learn from an HTML/CSS reference book.

Section three provides an overview of scripting languages and their uses. Since these technologies are used in very diverse contexts, this section is particularly shallow - out of necessity. As with previous concepts, students should use this section to learn about the capabilities of these technologies and seek more complex examples in online repositories or in other texts.

The fourth section focuses on databases and supporting database technology. It begins with an overview of the access mechanisms and proceeds to cover basic relational database theory.

Section five concludes the book with by exploring security concerns and optimization.

Reviewed by Hakam Alomari, Assistant Professor, Miami University on 6/20/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 2 see less

This textbook is not appropriate for the computer science and/or the software engineering students. I believe this textbook is not a specialist one, the reader can consider it as an overview or for general reading.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The accuracy level is acceptable, some minor issues here and there, and this is the acceptable again.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

This textbook is published in 2014. It is supposed to be up-to-date till that time, however, some related topics at that time is still missing.

Clarity rating: 3

There is no enough programming examples provided for the reader. I can not use this textbook to help me/students to learn web development and programming.

Consistency rating: 2

Yes it is consistence using the same concepts with exactly the meaning every time, however, the connection between the title of this book and its content is violated. For example, this textbook is not about web development it is about how to connect and integrates multiple web programming languages together to accomplish creating a web page.

Modularity rating: 3

The book contains 46 small chapters! yes it is consistence using the same framework, however it is tedious having all this chapters to cover strongly related materials

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

The topics are logical, however again 46 chapters to cover almost the same concepts is too much. I suggest reorganize the text in a way that cover several modules and how these modules connected together.

Interface rating: 4

N/A

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

Minor issues

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

The examples used are very simple, and this is not enough for the learning purpose. No challenging questions, the idea is explained always these naive examples, which I believe not enough.

Comments

N/A

Reviewed by Jonathan Hiatt, Instructor, Chemeketa Community College on 6/20/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text is very comprehensive at a high level. There could be more detail to some of the topics. The index is effective. The glossary could either be eliminated and added to the index or it needs to be expanded as there are some terms that should probably be included.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The book is very accurate and I did not catch any errors. The sample code and side notes are very informative and useful. I know this content focuses on free technology but it does not even mention Microsoft or other similar manufactures thus leaving out a large and significant segment of technology. I am not sure if this would be considered a bias but I believe does students new to web development a disservice.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content is very relevant but as with most any technology book the lifespan of the content will be short lived. The text was written and arranged in such a way that it should be relatively easy to update.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is clear and written at a level that a beginning web developer should be able to easily understand. The technical terminology is clearly explained and usually demonstrated in samples.

Consistency rating: 5

The book is consistent and fluid.

Modularity rating: 5

The book's modularity is sufficient but it may not be easily reorganized due to the nature of the topic. I would be hard to put some topics ahead of others due to order in which it must be learned.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The text is organized well and the flow is logical.

Interface rating: 5

The interface is appropriate and does not present any distractions or confusions.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text does not appear to have any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is not culturally insensitive.

Reviewed by Devan Shepherd, Instructor, Saint Paul College on 4/11/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This book introduces a very broad set of essential Web development technologies in a theoretical, reference-based, style. In fact, this is one of its significant strengths. From a foundation suite of HTML5, CSS 3, and JavaScript 6 client-side technologies, through server-side PHP scripting and MySQL databases, the book discusses a bit of everything required to create Web solutions. There were times when I wished that the author had chosen to go into more depth on topics, but that was not the intent of this book, from what I can determine.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I did not find any inaccuracies.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

No book on any computer technology lasts forever, but we should not expect that. Computer technologies are constantly changing / evolving / morphing. This book lays an excellent theoretical foundation for Web Development that can transcend the specific languages, tools, frameworks, and approaches discussed in support of a multi-tier architecture of the Web.

Clarity rating: 4

The book is clear, concise, and maintains a good cadence throughout. It is supported by a brief glossary, that I would have preferred to have been much more comprehensive, however, the majority of terms, abbreviations, and acronyms are introduced sufficiently in the body of the text.

Consistency rating: 5

The book is very well-written, and the voice, cadence, presentation style, and approach are consistent throughout.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is very "modular," and the table of contents serves as an excellent map to the demarcation between major sections. Since the book needs to touch such a broad spectrum of technologies, modularity is essential. However, the author does an excellent job of ensuring that the reader is not abandoned anywhere - the modules are nicely integrated and threaded together, one with another.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book is organized around the components of Web solutions, touching on client-side and server-side technologies. Five major sections are entitled: "Web Development," "Document Markup," "Scripting languages," "Persistent Data Storage," and "Tying it Together." Chapters in each section develop the topics with code snippets and practical examples. Links at the end of some chapters provide additional references, resources, and occasionally links to online tutorials. The author explains that this book purposefully integrates broad technologies - and I feel that he has done so very well. To be successful, a Web developer needs to know more than only HTML, or JavaScript, she or he must master a lot of technologies and be able to weave them into a solution. This book provides a blueprint for that integration.

Interface rating: 5

I did not find any interface issues that might distract or confuse a reader.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text contains no grammatical errors that I noticed.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive.

Comments

I anticipate adding this book as a resource in several Web Development, Web Design, Client-Side Programming, Server-Side Programming, and MIS classes. Without any reservation, I recommend this book to those seeking a resource that provides a thoughtful and complete overview of the essential components in Web development.

Reviewed by Chi-Cheng Lin, Professor, Winona State University on 8/21/16

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book is very comprehensive. It covers all the key functional components in the modern multi-tier Web architecture that includes HTML+CSS, client-side scripting, server-side scripting, and data storage. It also discusses other important aspects, including accessibility such as visually impaired considerations, security, and design process. The resources provided in LEARN MORE boxes are useful for readers to study more about topics of interest on their own. Also, the book does have an effective index.

There are a few issues associated with Glossary of Terms:
1. The terms in “Glossary of Terms” should be listed in the alphabetical order.
2. The Glossary of Terms should be expanded to at least include essential terms such as HTTP, IP, TCP, and URL.
3. UDP is defined as “User Datagram Protocol. Similar communication method to HTTP, but differs in ...” UDP is a transport layer protocol and should not be compared to HTTP, an application layer protocol. TCP should be used in place of HTTP in the definition.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The book is quite accurate. Some technical inaccuracies, however, do exist as described below.
1. On Page 3, “Transfer Control Protocol/Internetwork Protocol (TCP/IP)” should be “Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)”.
2. On Page 21: “each piece of the message, or payload, is wrapped in a header” Payload is not wrapped in a header. A payload is wrapped (or encapsulated) inside a packet together with a header.
3. On page 62, “In the beginning, back to the first days of the Internet and ARPA, the primary purpose of creating a page was to share research and information. HTML tags were only meant to provide layout and formatting of a page.” should be “In the beginning, back to the first days of the World Wide Web, the primary purpose …” The Internet and ARPANET started in 1969 way before HTML was born in 1993 for the Web. The Internet is not the Web, and vice versa.
4. On Page 108: “, , ” should be “, , ”. The tag is not a tag to avoid.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

It is challenging for a book of this topic to stay current for a long time. The book nonetheless is organized in a way that its content could evolve with the technology effectively.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is written in a very clear fashion and is not difficult to follow. Terminology used are explained well at large.

Consistency rating: 4

The book is consistent in general. The only significant inconsistency is that "Learning Objectives" is used in the first three Sections while "Learning Goals" is used in the last two Sections.

Modularity rating: 5

The book meets this criterion without a doubt.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization, structure, and flow of the book are all good.

Interface rating: 5

The interface of the book is very good. Links in the PDF file link to internal parts of the book and external resources. However, on Page 92's Post section, a link after “see” as in “The data is sent in the headers (see) …” seems missing.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

There are no significant grammatical errors. It does have some acronym issues and typographical errors.
1. Several acronyms are spelled out only after they are introduced for the first time. UDP is only spelled out in Glossary of Terms.
2. On Page 3, 10 to the 15th power is described as “(10 with 15 zeroes after it)” and it should be “(1 with 15 zeroes after it)”.
3. On Page 21, “These new addresses might look like 2001:0db8:85a3:0042:1000:8a2e:0370:7334, and can support roughly 4 billion unique addresses.” 4 billion is the number of unique addresses supported by IPv4 as stated earlier on the same page. The number of addresses supported by IPv6 should be 2 to the 128th power, roughly 3.4 x 10 to the 38th power.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The discussions of historical aspects and security are cultural relevant. Using music and artists in the database example is also a good idea in this aspect.

Comments

The book does a good job at adopting the full stack approach and emphasizing on the best practice. Also, listing learning objectives at the beginning of each Section is commendable.

Reviewed by Susan Pfeifer, Associate Professor, Valley City State University on 1/7/16

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The textbook is very comprehensive and covers all aspects of web development including possible technologies needed to make it work. High level content is provided in all areas with recommended resources available to those who want to learn more detail about each topic.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The textbook seems accurate and provides information regarding a variety of technologies.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The historical and generic chapters are grouped together separately from the technology specific chapters. This would allow updates to the technical chapters without impacting the entire book.

Clarity rating: 4

The textbook is written in a very laid-back manner but gets to the point of what is needed. Terminology is defined.

Consistency rating: 4

The text is consistent in the amount of information and level of detail provided through the book.

Modularity rating: 4

Professors could easily use this textbook in a modular fashion by pulling chapters as needed to fit the context of the course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

This would be a difficult book to read from front to back. However, in the context of an academic course, it provides great flexibility to the professor to structure a course in a manner that teaches the appropriate concepts to students, and uses this textbook as reference material or supporting reading. It can be used as reference similarly to online resources and provides students with one place to look for this content.

Interface rating: 4

The PDF version was very portable to various devices and allowed note taking and review of comments.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

There were no significant grammatical errors noted.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The book focuses greatly on technology leaving little room for insensitive interpretations. The database examples use artist and musical industry examples with a fairly diverse variety in musical selections. If anything, the musical selections are older and may be less engaging to current undergrads.

Comments

I would use this textbook as a reference book while teaching students concepts in web development. This would allow me to structure my course in a way that makes sense for my students and still provides some content to support the learning in the context needed. I like the flexibility this book provides to professors to use what is needed. There are also questions and examples that may be useful. I could also see this textbook used for students with advanced web development knowledge to complete a final project or capstone experience course.

Reviewed by Martin Frické, Professor, University of Arizona on 6/10/15

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book is reasonably comprehensive. It covers the html5 suite of html, css, and javascript, and augments that with PHP and MySQL for databases. Quite what should be in a book of this kind is a question with answers that drift into subjectivism and taste. This book has database normalization, which probably should not be there, and omits Content Management Systems (CMSs e.g. Drupal) and Drag-and-drop website builders such as Wix, Weebly, Square Space, etc. which should be there. It would also have been good to see some Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) for web development and programming (such as Eclipse, Netbeans, IntelliJ, JetBrains, etc.) and version control (such as GIT).

The book has a Glossary and an Index.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The book is largely accurate. It is certainly accurate in its general assertions (but a single read detects half a dozen or so slips or mistake e.g. the z-index code on page 130).

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The book is reasonably relevant. No book in this field will have much longevity.

Clarity rating: 4

The clarity is very good, and the book is well written. Sometimes the author uses the first person when it is not really appropriate, for example, ‘I discourage the use of MD5, as its hashes are comparatively shorter than many others in use today’ (p.252) This would be better as ‘Experts discourage (or something similar)’

Consistency rating: 4

The book is consistent.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is modular.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The structure and presentation are good.

Interface rating: 5

The interface is excellent.

Grammatical Errors rating: 3

Some of the grammar is not the best. There a number of ‘sentences’ which are not sentences e.g. 'Never say never, but never give root.' (p.254)

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

There are no problems or issues of this kind.

Comments

No.