1. Conduct research on the Internet to find out what tools can be used to parse an XML document and ensure that the document is well formed and valid.
Parser is an essential tool for reading and modifying XML document. The term ‘parser’ is sometimes interchangeable with 'processor'. Any program that input an XML file and produces the output based on the XML files content is an XML processor. An XML browser is a kind of processor. A parser is software that performs the first step in the processing of an XML document. Parser is almost always used as part of an XML processor. The foundation task of a parser is checking the XML document for well-formed data, and make sure the documents content follows the rules of XML syntax. Most of the parsers can check the document for validity by checking against Document Type Definition (DTD) or Schema. The final task of the parser may perform to make the content of the document, both marks-up and data, available to the processing software. SAX (Simple API for XML) API or Document Object Model (DOM) API does this (Devshed, 2009).
The following are some popular parsers for validating XML documents to be well formed:
• Altova XMLspy (Altova, 2008);
• MSXML - Microsoft XML Core Services (Microsoft Corporation, 2008);
• Expat (Clark, 1999).
2. What are the benefits of adopting a schema standardized for a business sector?
The benefits of adopting schema standards for a business sector are summarized below (Sugamata, 2004):
• to facilitate sharing of information between business;
• to ensure interoperability between corporate systems;
• to improve efficiency in onsite production, core distribution and operation;
• to established a sophistically level of computerization in product traceability and recycle fields;
• to form a seamless information sharing platform.
3. SMIL is an application of XML. What is the purpose of this technology? Where does it apply?
SMIL is Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language and SMIL documents are XML 1.0 documents. Purposes of SMIL are to enable the integration sets of independent multimedia objects into a synchronized multimedia presentation. Functions of SMIL can be summarized as follows (Hoschka, 1998):
• to detail the temporal behaviour of the presentation;
• to detail the layout of presentation’s screen;
• to embed hyperlinks into various media objects.
Providing captions enables media that contains spoken or other audio information (on-or off-screen sound effects, or background music) important to understanding the media’s content to be accessible to anyone who has difficulty hearing, or is unable to hear, the media soundtrack. SMIL is an open standard created by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) - and therefore in theory media player or format-independent - for creating accessible media through combining caption and audio description files with media files and providing information on their synchronisation and display. General Principles
SMIL is based on Extensible Markup Language (XML). Version 1.0 has been around since 1998; the specification for version 2.0 was published at the beginning of 2005. A SMIL file is a simple text file, so like HTML; it can be created using a basic text editor. In practice, though, they are created more effectively and quickly using authoring software like MAGpie.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Exercise 10
1. Go to the website of IBM, Oracle, Microsoft and Sybase.
The followings are some application servers in competition with ZOPE:
• EAServer version 5.2 of SyBase;
• JBoss version 5.0.0 Beta released on 10 Feb 2008;
• IBM WebSphere Application Server V6.1 released on May 26, 2006;
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 released on 3 December 2007.
The development cycle of Internet Software is much shorter than other business software. Those giant internet software companies like Google would conduct real time monitoring on user behaviour to see just which new features are used, and how they are used, thus becomes another required core competency. Some a web developer of online services reckons that they would put new features on their sites every day for users to try. If users like the new features, they would leave them. Otherwise, the new features would be removed. Similarly, Cal Henderson, the lead developer of Flickr remarked that they deploy new build up to half an hour (O’Relly, 2005). Regarding other business software, their development cycle is in years.
2. Why is the perception getting stronger that integration will become a critical factor in coming days? What is the role of AJAX within the enterprise software architecture?
The reasons that IBM website, and found that they do mention data management associated with e-commerce and they even publish a paper “Customer Care Solutions for the Communications Industry - Driving Business Value with Master Data Solutions”.
Regarding open source software, IBM foresees a great potential in their development. That is reason IBM joined EnterpriseDB’s C round of venture financing which in total raises US$10 million for the open source database vendor in March 2008 (Kerner, 2008).
The role of AJAX within the enterprise software architecture, organizations need a usable front-end, or interfaces, that allows business users to fully exploit the full benefits of a service-oriented framework. This is no small issue, as it is critical for users across the extended enterprise to be able to easily access and interact with the resources within a service-oriented architecture (SOA) in order to make a difference in how they work. For that, they need a user-interface that does what they need from a business standpoint, but is also flexible and cost effective from an IT standpoint.
In my opinion, AJAX rich application interfaces are clearly the best tool out there for putting together a front-end that lets companies really go to town with a service based approach to integrating online information.
3. What are the similarities between the object-oriented development using model-view-controller (MVC) in Ruby on Rails 2.0 and Action Script 2.0 (Flash animations)?
The reason that for stronger perception that integration will be a critical factor in coming days are summarized below (Nah & LAU, 2001):
• the growing need to anticipate, response and react the growing demands of marketplace or perish;
• fiercely competition environment among companies globally;
• business success and survival are determined by effective business strategy centres on aggressive and effective use of information technology;
The role of ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning are to:
• automate and integrate business processes in an organization;
• share use of common data and methods across the entire organization;
• generate, update and access information in a real-time mode.
ActionScript 2.0 is an object-oriented is a formal and familiar approach to object-oriented programming (OOP) which including full support for classes, inheritance, interfaces and other common OOP concepts. OOP is an option approach to developing applications by using an additional set of language elements (DeHaan, 2005). But In Ruby everything is an object (Alameda, 2008).
The followings are some application servers in competition with ZOPE:
• EAServer version 5.2 of SyBase;
• JBoss version 5.0.0 Beta released on 10 Feb 2008;
• IBM WebSphere Application Server V6.1 released on May 26, 2006;
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 released on 3 December 2007.
The development cycle of Internet Software is much shorter than other business software. Those giant internet software companies like Google would conduct real time monitoring on user behaviour to see just which new features are used, and how they are used, thus becomes another required core competency. Some a web developer of online services reckons that they would put new features on their sites every day for users to try. If users like the new features, they would leave them. Otherwise, the new features would be removed. Similarly, Cal Henderson, the lead developer of Flickr remarked that they deploy new build up to half an hour (O’Relly, 2005). Regarding other business software, their development cycle is in years.
2. Why is the perception getting stronger that integration will become a critical factor in coming days? What is the role of AJAX within the enterprise software architecture?
The reasons that IBM website, and found that they do mention data management associated with e-commerce and they even publish a paper “Customer Care Solutions for the Communications Industry - Driving Business Value with Master Data Solutions”.
Regarding open source software, IBM foresees a great potential in their development. That is reason IBM joined EnterpriseDB’s C round of venture financing which in total raises US$10 million for the open source database vendor in March 2008 (Kerner, 2008).
The role of AJAX within the enterprise software architecture, organizations need a usable front-end, or interfaces, that allows business users to fully exploit the full benefits of a service-oriented framework. This is no small issue, as it is critical for users across the extended enterprise to be able to easily access and interact with the resources within a service-oriented architecture (SOA) in order to make a difference in how they work. For that, they need a user-interface that does what they need from a business standpoint, but is also flexible and cost effective from an IT standpoint.
In my opinion, AJAX rich application interfaces are clearly the best tool out there for putting together a front-end that lets companies really go to town with a service based approach to integrating online information.
3. What are the similarities between the object-oriented development using model-view-controller (MVC) in Ruby on Rails 2.0 and Action Script 2.0 (Flash animations)?
The reason that for stronger perception that integration will be a critical factor in coming days are summarized below (Nah & LAU, 2001):
• the growing need to anticipate, response and react the growing demands of marketplace or perish;
• fiercely competition environment among companies globally;
• business success and survival are determined by effective business strategy centres on aggressive and effective use of information technology;
The role of ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning are to:
• automate and integrate business processes in an organization;
• share use of common data and methods across the entire organization;
• generate, update and access information in a real-time mode.
ActionScript 2.0 is an object-oriented is a formal and familiar approach to object-oriented programming (OOP) which including full support for classes, inheritance, interfaces and other common OOP concepts. OOP is an option approach to developing applications by using an additional set of language elements (DeHaan, 2005). But In Ruby everything is an object (Alameda, 2008).
Exercise 09
1. Design the form
“Retrofix” the form data string would be as follows:
2. Write the script
The PERL script to process html form, and found a power point detailing the main steps in processing the form as follows (Heriot-Watt University, n.d.):
a. Store the form data as variable: $customer = param(”name”);
b. Print the html codes to response to the submitted data using the stored variable values: print “Dear Value Customers: ”.$customer.”
”;
c. Store the order data into database or text file for further processes using the submitted data: print OUT $customer . ” ordered a ” .$order. ” with “.$card. ” no. “.$number.”\n”;
3. Can you modify the script to process the form?
#!/usr/bin/perl
use CGI qw(:standard);
$customer = param(”name”);
$order=param(”order”);
$card=param(”card”);
$number=param(”number”);
print “Content-type: text/html\n\n”;
print “Dear Value Customers: ”.$customer.”
”;
print “Thankyou for ordering a ” .$order.” with us using your “.$card.” card.
”;
print “After payment confirmed, Your order would be delivered within 7 days.”;
open(OUT, “>>outfile.txt”);
print OUT $customer. ” ordered a ” .$order. ” with “.$card. ” no. “.$number.”\n”;
close(OUT);
The output of the Perl script “PlaceOrder.pl” would be as follows:
Content of the output file “outfile.txt” would be as follows:
Evan Burke ordered a French perfume with Visa no. 8433261344895544
“Retrofix” the form data string would be as follows:
2. Write the script
The PERL script to process html form, and found a power point detailing the main steps in processing the form as follows (Heriot-Watt University, n.d.):
a. Store the form data as variable: $customer = param(”name”);
b. Print the html codes to response to the submitted data using the stored variable values: print “Dear Value Customers: ”.$customer.”
”;
c. Store the order data into database or text file for further processes using the submitted data: print OUT $customer . ” ordered a ” .$order. ” with “.$card. ” no. “.$number.”\n”;
3. Can you modify the script to process the form?
#!/usr/bin/perl
use CGI qw(:standard);
$customer = param(”name”);
$order=param(”order”);
$card=param(”card”);
$number=param(”number”);
print “Content-type: text/html\n\n”;
print “Dear Value Customers: ”.$customer.”
”;
print “Thankyou for ordering a ” .$order.” with us using your “.$card.” card.
”;
print “After payment confirmed, Your order would be delivered within 7 days.”;
open(OUT, “>>outfile.txt”);
print OUT $customer. ” ordered a ” .$order. ” with “.$card. ” no. “.$number.”\n”;
close(OUT);
The output of the Perl script “PlaceOrder.pl” would be as follows:
Content of the output file “outfile.txt” would be as follows:
Evan Burke ordered a French perfume with Visa no. 8433261344895544
Exercise 08
1. Start with a simple table in the database:
mysql> SELECT * FROM employees;
A database named my database is created in my Apache Server for testing this Exercise and the corresponding table employees with the following structures are created.
The above is copied from the websites phpMyAdmin installed in my server for management of database.
2. Create a web page with the following PHP:
The program codes are modified to suit the version of PHP, MySQL and Apache Server installed in my desktop:
$host=”localhost”;
$user=”root”;
$password=”″;
$db=”mydatabase”;
$cxn = mysqli_connect($host,$user,$password,$db) or die (”Could not connect to Server”);
$sql=”SELECT * FROM employees”;
$result = mysqli_query($cxn,$sql)
or die(”Couldn’t execute select query.”);
$row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result);
echo “First Name: “, $row["First"], “
”;
echo “Last Name: “, $row["Last"], “
”;
echo “Address: “, $row["Address"], “
”;
echo “Position: “, $row["Position"], “
”;
?>
3. This is how we can add a record and is part of a file to create called add_record.html:
The output form of the browser is as follows:
4. The corresponding PHP file is add_record.php used with the POST method:
The PHP file is to add new employee record, modified as follows:
$host=”localhost”;
$user=”root”;
$password=”″;
$db=”mydatabase”;
$cxn = mysqli_connect($host,$user,$password,$db) or die (”Could not connect to Server”);
$first=$_POST['first'];
$last=$_POST['lsat'];
$address=$_POST['address'];
$position=$_POST['position'];
$sql=”INSERT INTO employees (First, Last, Address, Position)
VALUES (’$first’,'$last’,'$address’,'$position’)”;
$result = mysqli_query($cxn,$sql)
or die(”Couldn’t execute select query.”);
if ($result == 1)
{ echo “Thank you! Your information has been entered.”;}
else {echo “Sorry, there’s a problem”;}
?>
The output of the PHP programme after successful adding employee’s record is as follows:
Thank you! Your information has been entered.
mysql_select_db(“mydatabase",$db);
$result = mysql_query("INERT INTO employees (first,last,address,position) VALUES ('$first','$last','$address','$position')");
if ($result == 1) { echo "Thank you! Your information has been entered.";
} else {
echo "Sorry, there's a problem";
}
?>
5. The last code example shows how to get multiple records:
The html file with the following codes is created for initiating actions to list all the employee’s records:
The form would be displayed as follows:
The corresponding PHP file “List_employee.php” with the following program codes is created:
$host=”localhost”;
$user=”root”;
$password=”″;
$db=”mydatabase”;
mysql> SELECT * FROM employees;
A database named my database is created in my Apache Server for testing this Exercise and the corresponding table employees with the following structures are created.
The above is copied from the websites phpMyAdmin installed in my server for management of database.
2. Create a web page with the following PHP:
The program codes are modified to suit the version of PHP, MySQL and Apache Server installed in my desktop:
$host=”localhost”;
$user=”root”;
$password=”″;
$db=”mydatabase”;
$cxn = mysqli_connect($host,$user,$password,$db) or die (”Could not connect to Server”);
$sql=”SELECT * FROM employees”;
$result = mysqli_query($cxn,$sql)
or die(”Couldn’t execute select query.”);
$row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result);
echo “First Name: “, $row["First"], “
”;
echo “Last Name: “, $row["Last"], “
”;
echo “Address: “, $row["Address"], “
”;
echo “Position: “, $row["Position"], “
”;
?>
3. This is how we can add a record and is part of a file to create called add_record.html:
The output form of the browser is as follows:
4. The corresponding PHP file is add_record.php used with the POST method:
The PHP file is to add new employee record, modified as follows:
$host=”localhost”;
$user=”root”;
$password=”″;
$db=”mydatabase”;
$cxn = mysqli_connect($host,$user,$password,$db) or die (”Could not connect to Server”);
$first=$_POST['first'];
$last=$_POST['lsat'];
$address=$_POST['address'];
$position=$_POST['position'];
$sql=”INSERT INTO employees (First, Last, Address, Position)
VALUES (’$first’,'$last’,'$address’,'$position’)”;
$result = mysqli_query($cxn,$sql)
or die(”Couldn’t execute select query.”);
if ($result == 1)
{ echo “Thank you! Your information has been entered.”;}
else {echo “Sorry, there’s a problem”;}
?>
The output of the PHP programme after successful adding employee’s record is as follows:
Thank you! Your information has been entered.
mysql_select_db(“mydatabase",$db);
$result = mysql_query("INERT INTO employees (first,last,address,position) VALUES ('$first','$last','$address','$position')");
if ($result == 1) { echo "Thank you! Your information has been entered.";
} else {
echo "Sorry, there's a problem";
}
?>
5. The last code example shows how to get multiple records:
The html file with the following codes is created for initiating actions to list all the employee’s records:
The form would be displayed as follows:
The corresponding PHP file “List_employee.php” with the following program codes is created:
$host=”localhost”;
$user=”root”;
$password=”″;
$db=”mydatabase”;
Exercise 07
1. The HTML file named as “SUBMIT_FORM.HTML” with the following codes are created:
The output of the html form is as follows:
What’s your name? (Then press RETURN)
2. Then, the PHP file named as submit.php with the following codes are created:
echo "Hello, ", $myname;
?>
The output would be Hello, without printing “myname”.
Insert the line below in order to enable the printing of the submitted name:
$myname=$_GET["myname"];
With the modified submit.php, the output becomes Hello, Lawrence.
The output of the html form is as follows:
What’s your name? (Then press RETURN)
2. Then, the PHP file named as submit.php with the following codes are created:
echo "Hello, ", $myname;
?>
The output would be Hello, without printing “myname”.
Insert the line below in order to enable the printing of the submitted name:
$myname=$_GET["myname"];
With the modified submit.php, the output becomes Hello, Lawrence.
Exercise 06
1. In this exercise with can call up and examine some environment variables on the server.
I have done my exercise at local computer, installed with Apache Server version 2.0.63, MySQL version 5.0.51a and PHP version 5.2.5. I tried to examine the environment variable using the following codes as given in study guide:
The same code by replacing with $REMOTE_ADDR $SERVER_NAME, or $PHP_SELF
The output would be “You are connected from:” without the value of the environment variable of $REMOTE_ADDR. The reason might be due to the difference in OS platform or the version of PHP. I search the internet and able to find out the right programme codes for printing the environment variable as follows:
echo “
”;
?>
The result of the output is: You are connected from: 127.0.0.1.
Then I revise the codes as following:
echo “
”;
?>
The output is: “The Server Name is: localhost”
By examining the environment variable “PHP_SELF”, I then change the code as:
echo “
”;
?>
The output is: “The Name of PHP File is: /ITC594/ex6.php”
2. Create a web application called "hello_world.php" which contains in the body.
The program codes of Hello_World.php are as follows:
$myvar = “Hello World!”;
echo $myvar;
?>
View Hello_World.php using browser with a link:
http://localhost/ITC594/hello_world.php
The output is: Hello World!
I have done my exercise at local computer, installed with Apache Server version 2.0.63, MySQL version 5.0.51a and PHP version 5.2.5. I tried to examine the environment variable using the following codes as given in study guide:
The same code by replacing with $REMOTE_ADDR $SERVER_NAME, or $PHP_SELF
The output would be “You are connected from:” without the value of the environment variable of $REMOTE_ADDR. The reason might be due to the difference in OS platform or the version of PHP. I search the internet and able to find out the right programme codes for printing the environment variable as follows:
echo “
”;
?>
The result of the output is: You are connected from: 127.0.0.1.
Then I revise the codes as following:
echo “
”;
?>
The output is: “The Server Name is: localhost”
By examining the environment variable “PHP_SELF”, I then change the code as:
echo “
”;
?>
The output is: “The Name of PHP File is: /ITC594/ex6.php”
2. Create a web application called "hello_world.php" which contains in the body.
The program codes of Hello_World.php are as follows:
$myvar = “Hello World!”;
echo $myvar;
?>
View Hello_World.php using browser with a link:
http://localhost/ITC594/hello_world.php
The output is: Hello World!
Exercise 05
1. Investigate a simple chat client/server system. Look at some program code and describe how it works with multiple users.
To find a webpage detailing the creating a multithread client/server chat system using Java. Multiple users are handled in the following manner:
• A socket would be opened for each specified host and port connected to the server; an object ChatClient would be created for each host with their specified input and output socket stream;
• The server would keep a list of active connections in a static Vector and would synchronize the static Vector for new connections and closed connections;
• The server would monitor each ChatClient for any input socket stream. Once there are input socket stream, the server would read the stream and rebroadcast the string to output stream all the connected ChatClient.
2. Describe the important and distinguishing properties of Peer to Peer computing and the Grid. How is this peer to peer and the Grid architecture changing work flow and service-oriented applications?
Grid Computing is a parallel distributed system which facilitate the sharing, selecting, collaboration of resources distributed across different networks whereas Peer to Peer network consists of number of computers connected together to facilitate sharing of resources much data in form of files.
Main goal of Grid computing is to merge resources distributed over the connected networks to perform massive computation whereas Peer to Peer network is take advantage of the idle cycles and storage of distributed computers to enable mainly file sharing purposes (Ledlie, Shneidman, Seltzer & Huth, 2003; Cope, 2002).
With service orientated applications implemented in Grid or Peer to Peer networks, the work flow of service orientated application need to address the following requirements (Harold, N. D.):
• the mobility of objects, transaction, applications and data storage;
• to implement security measure for their components regardless of their physical location;
• to maintain referential integrity of all data regardless of their state and physical locations;
• to cope of active changes of their components at any time with the transaction integrity being maintained;
• to support multiple instance of the components;
• to facilitate real time view on details of the components at all time;
• to support failover and real time recovery of the components;
• to enable multi devices such as servers, PC and wireless appliances to access data, application logic and storage of complex transaction.
3. Frameworks for development. Compare and contrast any TWO of:
Compare Java and .Net (Wikipedia, 2008)
Item Java .Net
Market Presence Java is opening sourced and can be implemented in various operation systems and environment. Although Common Language Runtime of .Net is a cross-platform standards. The primary platform with .NET is still Windows. That is why Java’s popularity in open-sourced project is much higher than other languages.
Standardization To date, no part of Java has been standardized by Ecma, the ISO, and the ANSI. Part of the .NET executable environment (known as the Common Language Infrastructure, or CLI), and .NET executable format (known as Common Intermediate Language, or CIL) are standardized by international Standardization bodies such as Ecma, the ISO, the ANSI.
License Java’s class libraries are completely open-source except those licensed by SUN from 3rd parties. Only part of the .NET CLI executable environment and some of the corresponding class library have been standardized and can be freely implemented without a license. Other parts of the executable environment of .Net would still require license.
Community Sun’s accepts third-party contributions. Microsoft has developed C# and .NET without a formal community contribution system,
To find a webpage detailing the creating a multithread client/server chat system using Java. Multiple users are handled in the following manner:
• A socket would be opened for each specified host and port connected to the server; an object ChatClient would be created for each host with their specified input and output socket stream;
• The server would keep a list of active connections in a static Vector and would synchronize the static Vector for new connections and closed connections;
• The server would monitor each ChatClient for any input socket stream. Once there are input socket stream, the server would read the stream and rebroadcast the string to output stream all the connected ChatClient.
2. Describe the important and distinguishing properties of Peer to Peer computing and the Grid. How is this peer to peer and the Grid architecture changing work flow and service-oriented applications?
Grid Computing is a parallel distributed system which facilitate the sharing, selecting, collaboration of resources distributed across different networks whereas Peer to Peer network consists of number of computers connected together to facilitate sharing of resources much data in form of files.
Main goal of Grid computing is to merge resources distributed over the connected networks to perform massive computation whereas Peer to Peer network is take advantage of the idle cycles and storage of distributed computers to enable mainly file sharing purposes (Ledlie, Shneidman, Seltzer & Huth, 2003; Cope, 2002).
With service orientated applications implemented in Grid or Peer to Peer networks, the work flow of service orientated application need to address the following requirements (Harold, N. D.):
• the mobility of objects, transaction, applications and data storage;
• to implement security measure for their components regardless of their physical location;
• to maintain referential integrity of all data regardless of their state and physical locations;
• to cope of active changes of their components at any time with the transaction integrity being maintained;
• to support multiple instance of the components;
• to facilitate real time view on details of the components at all time;
• to support failover and real time recovery of the components;
• to enable multi devices such as servers, PC and wireless appliances to access data, application logic and storage of complex transaction.
3. Frameworks for development. Compare and contrast any TWO of:
Compare Java and .Net (Wikipedia, 2008)
Item Java .Net
Market Presence Java is opening sourced and can be implemented in various operation systems and environment. Although Common Language Runtime of .Net is a cross-platform standards. The primary platform with .NET is still Windows. That is why Java’s popularity in open-sourced project is much higher than other languages.
Standardization To date, no part of Java has been standardized by Ecma, the ISO, and the ANSI. Part of the .NET executable environment (known as the Common Language Infrastructure, or CLI), and .NET executable format (known as Common Intermediate Language, or CIL) are standardized by international Standardization bodies such as Ecma, the ISO, the ANSI.
License Java’s class libraries are completely open-source except those licensed by SUN from 3rd parties. Only part of the .NET CLI executable environment and some of the corresponding class library have been standardized and can be freely implemented without a license. Other parts of the executable environment of .Net would still require license.
Community Sun’s accepts third-party contributions. Microsoft has developed C# and .NET without a formal community contribution system,
Exercise 04
1. Describe the IP protocol. What is DNS?
IP Protocol is one of the protocols working in the Internet Layer of the OSI Model. Function of the protocol is to provide routing function across multiple networks. IP Protocol is implemented not only at the end systems but also at router where data is routed across different networks from source to destination (Stallings, 2005).
DNS is Domain Name System. Individual machines/devices are connected to Internet via LAN switches/ routers or directly. Each of the devices/host machines connected to Internet must have a unique IP address in 32-bit numeric format for identification. IP address consists of two parts, network number and host number. Network number identifies the network on the internet whereas host number identifies a unique host on that network. However IP addresses in numeric format are hard to be memorized. The Domain Name System (DNS) is to translate the IP address of devices from human-readable hostnames to numeric addresses. Host/device are grouped together as domains and assigned with domain names. Domains are organized hierarchically (Stallings, 2005, p.88)
IP Protocol is one of the protocols working in the Internet Layer of the OSI Model. Function of the protocol is to provide routing function across multiple networks. IP Protocol is implemented not only at the end systems but also at router where data is routed across different networks from source to destination (Stallings, 2005).
DNS is Domain Name System. Individual machines/devices are connected to Internet via LAN switches/ routers or directly. Each of the devices/host machines connected to Internet must have a unique IP address in 32-bit numeric format for identification. IP address consists of two parts, network number and host number. Network number identifies the network on the internet whereas host number identifies a unique host on that network. However IP addresses in numeric format are hard to be memorized. The Domain Name System (DNS) is to translate the IP address of devices from human-readable hostnames to numeric addresses. Host/device are grouped together as domains and assigned with domain names. Domains are organized hierarchically (Stallings, 2005, p.88)
Exercise 03
Describe the steps involved with the Rapid Evolutionary Prototyping Approach as it applies to developing a Web application. How is it related to agile development?
The prototype to be developed should be functional, flexible in term of modification and developed with minimum effort but representing all key parts of the proposed web applications.
The steps involved with rapid evolutionary prototyping approach can be summarized below:
a. Collect initial user requirements;
b. Develop the prototype based on initial user requirements;
c. Test the prototype with real data by users;
d. Collect and record testing results on the prototype;
e. Collect modified/additional user requirements after testing the prototype;
f. Modify the prototype taking into accounts information collected in Step d and e;
g. Repeat Steps d, e and f until all the user requirements are incorporated;
h. Develop the production version of the prototype. Sometimes the latest version of the prototype would become the production version of the application.
The prototype to be developed should be functional, flexible in term of modification and developed with minimum effort but representing all key parts of the proposed web applications.
The steps involved with rapid evolutionary prototyping approach can be summarized below:
a. Collect initial user requirements;
b. Develop the prototype based on initial user requirements;
c. Test the prototype with real data by users;
d. Collect and record testing results on the prototype;
e. Collect modified/additional user requirements after testing the prototype;
f. Modify the prototype taking into accounts information collected in Step d and e;
g. Repeat Steps d, e and f until all the user requirements are incorporated;
h. Develop the production version of the prototype. Sometimes the latest version of the prototype would become the production version of the application.
Exercise 02
Web quest: Find a range of five sites each offering different business options: online shopping, electronic payments, database access, and WAP sites for mobile phones.
The range of five sites each offering different business options:
Site: O2
Link: http://www.o2.co.uk/
Description: Site of mobile phone communication service provider
Online Shopping: Available for mobile phones, mobile communication service plans including broadband services.
Electronic Payment: Available accepting major credit cards for online payment.
Database Access: Available for accessing information regarding setting up of mobile phones and mobile phones manuals. Download sections for wall paper, true tones, themes and games are available.
WAP site for Mobile Phone: WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) access for mobile phones available.
Site: IPlay
Link: http://www.iplay.com/
Description: Site selling mobile game products
Online Shopping: For buying different mobile game products.
Electronic Payment: Electronic payment available for major credit cards.
Database Access: Available for accessing support information and details of products.
WAP site for Mobile Phone: Downloading mobile games require WAP access by mobile phones.
Site: Chatterbox.com
Link: http://ringtones.chatterbox.com/terms.php
Description: Downloading sites for mobile phones.
Online Shopping: For buying ringtones, songs, pictures, video and themes associated with mobile phones.
Electronic Payment: Electronic payment against mobile phones’ credit.
Database Access: Available for accessing databases of ringtones, song, themes and video.
WAP site for Mobile Phone: Downloading mobile phones media requires WAP access by mobile phones
Site: i138
Link: http://www.i138.com/
Description: Website providing worldwide sms services.
Online Shopping: Solely for buying credit for sms services.
Electronic Payment: Available via PayPal or Moneybrooker accounts.
Database Access: Available for accessing messages records at Inbox and Outbox.
WAP site for Mobile Phone: WAP access for mobile phone available for downloading music, themes and ringtones.
Site: T Mobile
Link: http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/
Description: Similar to O2 selling mobile communications services, mobile phones, mobile phone accessories and internet broadband services
Online Shopping: Available for mobile phones, mobile communication service plans including broadband services.
Electronic Payment: Available by internet banking, phone banking, via text sent via mobile phones or via PayPoint.
Database Access: Available for accessing product information, supporting information for mobile phones including setting up instructions and manuals. Download section for ringtones, wall paper, themes and games are available.
WAP site for Mobile Phone: WAP access for mobile phones available.
The range of five sites each offering different business options:
Site: O2
Link: http://www.o2.co.uk/
Description: Site of mobile phone communication service provider
Online Shopping: Available for mobile phones, mobile communication service plans including broadband services.
Electronic Payment: Available accepting major credit cards for online payment.
Database Access: Available for accessing information regarding setting up of mobile phones and mobile phones manuals. Download sections for wall paper, true tones, themes and games are available.
WAP site for Mobile Phone: WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) access for mobile phones available.
Site: IPlay
Link: http://www.iplay.com/
Description: Site selling mobile game products
Online Shopping: For buying different mobile game products.
Electronic Payment: Electronic payment available for major credit cards.
Database Access: Available for accessing support information and details of products.
WAP site for Mobile Phone: Downloading mobile games require WAP access by mobile phones.
Site: Chatterbox.com
Link: http://ringtones.chatterbox.com/terms.php
Description: Downloading sites for mobile phones.
Online Shopping: For buying ringtones, songs, pictures, video and themes associated with mobile phones.
Electronic Payment: Electronic payment against mobile phones’ credit.
Database Access: Available for accessing databases of ringtones, song, themes and video.
WAP site for Mobile Phone: Downloading mobile phones media requires WAP access by mobile phones
Site: i138
Link: http://www.i138.com/
Description: Website providing worldwide sms services.
Online Shopping: Solely for buying credit for sms services.
Electronic Payment: Available via PayPal or Moneybrooker accounts.
Database Access: Available for accessing messages records at Inbox and Outbox.
WAP site for Mobile Phone: WAP access for mobile phone available for downloading music, themes and ringtones.
Site: T Mobile
Link: http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/
Description: Similar to O2 selling mobile communications services, mobile phones, mobile phone accessories and internet broadband services
Online Shopping: Available for mobile phones, mobile communication service plans including broadband services.
Electronic Payment: Available by internet banking, phone banking, via text sent via mobile phones or via PayPoint.
Database Access: Available for accessing product information, supporting information for mobile phones including setting up instructions and manuals. Download section for ringtones, wall paper, themes and games are available.
WAP site for Mobile Phone: WAP access for mobile phones available.
Exercise 01
1. Visit http://yahoo.com and http://zope.org as examples of online communities.
a. What is meant by an online community and how is it important for e-commerce?
An online community gathers together groups of people with common interests which facilitates e-commerce in the following aspects:
• Online contacts between potential customers, buyers and suppliers;
• Increase the business opportunities with e-commerce.
Some typical online communities provide e-commerce opportunities are list below:
• Auction sites which auction items on the Internet and make profits by taking some commission from the sales.
• Affiliate sites which contain a link to a normal retailing site and are paid when a visitor from the affiliate site makes a visit to the retail site to make a purchase. The affiliate site will usually attract visitors by offering some information such as providing links to resources and tutorials on some specific topic or technology such as Java.
• Bulk-buying sites where a site collects a number of user’s together all of whom want to buy some item; the site negotiates a discount with the supplier and takes a commission.
• Shopping malls where a number of e-commerce sellers congregate together on the same Web site; often these sellers will be related to each other, for example they may all sell luxury goods. The mall owner takes a percentage of their profit.
• Portals which contain massive amounts of material on a particular topic, for example a portal devoted to fishing. Such sites will contain thousands of resource links, tutorials and indexes.
• Digital publishing sites which are effectively magazines on the Web. They make profits in a number of ways including advertising and charging vendors for references to their Web site.
• Licensing sites which make some software available to other sites, for example search engines which allow a visitor to the site to search for material more easily.
b. Visit the three auctions sites at http://ebay.com, http://ebay.co.uk and http://ebay.com.au:
i. Are there a common thread and a local community sense in action?
The three auctions sites are in similar format and structure. Users need to subscribe to the websites before buying and selling products. The websites included forum, discussion groups and news to generate an online community among the members. The default users and members are local residents i.e. US citizen for ebay.com site, UK residents for ebay.co.uk sites and Australia residents for ebay.com.au sites. The prices of the products are expressed in local currencies.
The products are default locally and similar assumptions are applied for the delivery location for the sellers as well. However products can choose to be shown worldwide. Therefore local community senses are expressed in the ebay websites.
ii. What electronic payment systems are used? Are they globally acceptable?
PayPal electronic payment systems are adopted by all the three auction sites. PayPal is an electronic payment system processing online payment via internet. PayPal is acquired by eBay since 2002. Users open an account with PayPal and register their credit card or bank account into their PayPal account. Payment via PayPal can avoid the need for the buyer to give financial information to the seller. PayPal is accepted globally.
iii. What are the benefits to of an online auction sale to a buyer, a seller and E-bay owners?
The buyer can access products and contact seller directly national wide or even world wide without physical boundaries. The direct transaction can minimize the overhead profits charged by middle traders resulting in a cheaper price.
Similarly, the sellers’ products can be shown to all potential buyers national wide or even world wide without physical boundaries. The direct contact between the buyers and sellers can minimize the overhead profit charged by middle traders resulting in a higher seller price for sellers.
For the eBay owners who can make profit by charging commission on the transactions, advertisement via banners, links to other commercial sites and handling charges via PayPal electronic systems.
c. Find three others examples of an online business using an online community approach.
There are three examples of an online business an online community approach:
1. PCWorld is the most widely computer or business magazine website at http://www.pcworld.com/shopping/?tk=cxpfdr is an online business using an online community approach. Members would receive daily mails regarding software download for trial uses or freeware or sharewares. Through the mail and their websites, PCWorld provide links to other retail websites and display advertisement banners.
2. Intercontinental.com is one of the world’s best hotels and resorts website at http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/intercontinental/en/gb/home/ a worldwide accommodation booking websites. Subscribed members would receive e-mails containing special offers of hotel accommodations. Intercontinental.com makes profits by charging commissions and by referring to the concerned hotels.
3. Netvigator.com is the most popular website at http://www.netvigator.com/ a portal includes massive information on promoting their add-on services of their internet broadband. It also contains links to their customers services WebPages and webmail services and also other commercial websites.
2. Visit the famous online store front at http://www.amazon.com
a. Why has it been a successful site? How does the purchase of a book work?
Amazon has been a successful site over the years since it launched online in 1995 due to it is large range of products, and ease of use, because it was first in the market, first to get sufficient funding, and first to achieve scale. Amazon is satisfy the criteria in e-commerce such as efficiency, user friendly, open non-stop, globalization and competitive. The success of Amazon as she able to meet the consumers needs, and fully integrated of demand chain and supply chain stated by (Pereira & Fife 2000).
Amazon offers a range of products and services, facilitated by strong brand recognition. Amazon could facilitate readers to seek other and authors to discuss ideas. Amazon builds browsing and searching capabilities in its site, and provides product information, reviews, recommendations, and searches on the technology and personalization on a broad selection of products. Amazon was one of the first sites to customize pages for each registered customer, using collaborative filtering.
The following steps of a book purchase at
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_navbox_lnor_new?nodeId=524700
1. Find the book. Browse or search the book. Type keyword in search box and located it in the page.
2. Add the book into shopping cart. Click 'Add to Shopping Cart' button on the book detail page.
3. Proceed to Checkout. Review all books in the shopping cart and click 'To Buy Now' button to checkout process.
4. Sign in or Create a new accounts. Enter e-mail address and click 'Sign in' button.
5. Enter a shipping address. Enter the correct address.
6. Choose a shipping method. Items requiring special shipping and handling.
7. Provide payment information and password. Accept credit cards such as American Express, Diners Club, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa.
8. Review and submit the order. Check the accuracy all of the information and make any necessary adjustments.
9. Check order status. Review or change about the order that placed before it enters the shipping process.
b. Is there any secure transactions not involving money?
There is a secure transaction is a transaction that is founded on a security agreement. A security agreement is a provision in a business transaction in which the obligor, or debtor, in the agreement gives to the creditor the right to own property owned or held by the debtor.
Create a customer account record for maintenance, access and view purchase history are a secure transactions process that is not involving money. Those Web pages are protected by Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) communications protocol, indicated by the 'https:' show at the beginning of Web page address.
Day-to-day use of SSL:
• Financial institutions who implement online-banking so their customers can conveniently view their own account details from their homes.
• Business partners, who need access to Universities enabling their students to view statement or online payments, like my.csu.edu.au.
• Most e-commerce sites, like PayPal and which collect personal details and credit card numbers through the net is protected under SSL.
c. What is the range of items that you can buy?
The ranges of items that can be buy in Amazon, including on the main page:
• Books
• Movies, Music & Games
• Digital Downloads
• Computers & office
• Electronics
• Home & Garden
• Grocery, Health & Baby
• Apparel, Shoes & Jewellery
• Sports & Outdoors
• Tools, Auto & Industrial
i. List the steps involved and comment.
The above list is showed in the 'Shop All Departments' on the left hand side of the menu bar and changed into a pull down menu in other pages. It is a quite easy way for users to locate what their want on any pages in the site. Select the department by moving the pointer to it, the sub-category list will be show at http://www.amazon.com homepage. For example of shop all departments:
The same as buying books and games from them, which is very normal and many commercial websites used nowadays. So this was the list of steps involved in buying any item from the site http://www.amazon.com.
3. What happens with new models such as price comparison sites?
Price comparison sites are the service on Internet and allow individuals to see different lists of prices for specific products. Most price comparison services do not sell products themselves, but source prices from retailers from whom users can buy.
Price comparison sites typically do not charge users anything to use the site. Instead, they are monetized through payments from retailers who are listed on the site. Depending on the particular business model of the comparison shopping site, retailers will either pay a flat fee to be included on the site or pay a fee each time a user clicks through to the retailer web site or pay every time a user completes a specified action (Wikipedia, 2009).
a. What is meant by an online community and how is it important for e-commerce?
An online community gathers together groups of people with common interests which facilitates e-commerce in the following aspects:
• Online contacts between potential customers, buyers and suppliers;
• Increase the business opportunities with e-commerce.
Some typical online communities provide e-commerce opportunities are list below:
• Auction sites which auction items on the Internet and make profits by taking some commission from the sales.
• Affiliate sites which contain a link to a normal retailing site and are paid when a visitor from the affiliate site makes a visit to the retail site to make a purchase. The affiliate site will usually attract visitors by offering some information such as providing links to resources and tutorials on some specific topic or technology such as Java.
• Bulk-buying sites where a site collects a number of user’s together all of whom want to buy some item; the site negotiates a discount with the supplier and takes a commission.
• Shopping malls where a number of e-commerce sellers congregate together on the same Web site; often these sellers will be related to each other, for example they may all sell luxury goods. The mall owner takes a percentage of their profit.
• Portals which contain massive amounts of material on a particular topic, for example a portal devoted to fishing. Such sites will contain thousands of resource links, tutorials and indexes.
• Digital publishing sites which are effectively magazines on the Web. They make profits in a number of ways including advertising and charging vendors for references to their Web site.
• Licensing sites which make some software available to other sites, for example search engines which allow a visitor to the site to search for material more easily.
b. Visit the three auctions sites at http://ebay.com, http://ebay.co.uk and http://ebay.com.au:
i. Are there a common thread and a local community sense in action?
The three auctions sites are in similar format and structure. Users need to subscribe to the websites before buying and selling products. The websites included forum, discussion groups and news to generate an online community among the members. The default users and members are local residents i.e. US citizen for ebay.com site, UK residents for ebay.co.uk sites and Australia residents for ebay.com.au sites. The prices of the products are expressed in local currencies.
The products are default locally and similar assumptions are applied for the delivery location for the sellers as well. However products can choose to be shown worldwide. Therefore local community senses are expressed in the ebay websites.
ii. What electronic payment systems are used? Are they globally acceptable?
PayPal electronic payment systems are adopted by all the three auction sites. PayPal is an electronic payment system processing online payment via internet. PayPal is acquired by eBay since 2002. Users open an account with PayPal and register their credit card or bank account into their PayPal account. Payment via PayPal can avoid the need for the buyer to give financial information to the seller. PayPal is accepted globally.
iii. What are the benefits to of an online auction sale to a buyer, a seller and E-bay owners?
The buyer can access products and contact seller directly national wide or even world wide without physical boundaries. The direct transaction can minimize the overhead profits charged by middle traders resulting in a cheaper price.
Similarly, the sellers’ products can be shown to all potential buyers national wide or even world wide without physical boundaries. The direct contact between the buyers and sellers can minimize the overhead profit charged by middle traders resulting in a higher seller price for sellers.
For the eBay owners who can make profit by charging commission on the transactions, advertisement via banners, links to other commercial sites and handling charges via PayPal electronic systems.
c. Find three others examples of an online business using an online community approach.
There are three examples of an online business an online community approach:
1. PCWorld is the most widely computer or business magazine website at http://www.pcworld.com/shopping/?tk=cxpfdr is an online business using an online community approach. Members would receive daily mails regarding software download for trial uses or freeware or sharewares. Through the mail and their websites, PCWorld provide links to other retail websites and display advertisement banners.
2. Intercontinental.com is one of the world’s best hotels and resorts website at http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/intercontinental/en/gb/home/ a worldwide accommodation booking websites. Subscribed members would receive e-mails containing special offers of hotel accommodations. Intercontinental.com makes profits by charging commissions and by referring to the concerned hotels.
3. Netvigator.com is the most popular website at http://www.netvigator.com/ a portal includes massive information on promoting their add-on services of their internet broadband. It also contains links to their customers services WebPages and webmail services and also other commercial websites.
2. Visit the famous online store front at http://www.amazon.com
a. Why has it been a successful site? How does the purchase of a book work?
Amazon has been a successful site over the years since it launched online in 1995 due to it is large range of products, and ease of use, because it was first in the market, first to get sufficient funding, and first to achieve scale. Amazon is satisfy the criteria in e-commerce such as efficiency, user friendly, open non-stop, globalization and competitive. The success of Amazon as she able to meet the consumers needs, and fully integrated of demand chain and supply chain stated by (Pereira & Fife 2000).
Amazon offers a range of products and services, facilitated by strong brand recognition. Amazon could facilitate readers to seek other and authors to discuss ideas. Amazon builds browsing and searching capabilities in its site, and provides product information, reviews, recommendations, and searches on the technology and personalization on a broad selection of products. Amazon was one of the first sites to customize pages for each registered customer, using collaborative filtering.
The following steps of a book purchase at
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_navbox_lnor_new?nodeId=524700
1. Find the book. Browse or search the book. Type keyword in search box and located it in the page.
2. Add the book into shopping cart. Click 'Add to Shopping Cart' button on the book detail page.
3. Proceed to Checkout. Review all books in the shopping cart and click 'To Buy Now' button to checkout process.
4. Sign in or Create a new accounts. Enter e-mail address and click 'Sign in' button.
5. Enter a shipping address. Enter the correct address.
6. Choose a shipping method. Items requiring special shipping and handling.
7. Provide payment information and password. Accept credit cards such as American Express, Diners Club, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa.
8. Review and submit the order. Check the accuracy all of the information and make any necessary adjustments.
9. Check order status. Review or change about the order that placed before it enters the shipping process.
b. Is there any secure transactions not involving money?
There is a secure transaction is a transaction that is founded on a security agreement. A security agreement is a provision in a business transaction in which the obligor, or debtor, in the agreement gives to the creditor the right to own property owned or held by the debtor.
Create a customer account record for maintenance, access and view purchase history are a secure transactions process that is not involving money. Those Web pages are protected by Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) communications protocol, indicated by the 'https:' show at the beginning of Web page address.
Day-to-day use of SSL:
• Financial institutions who implement online-banking so their customers can conveniently view their own account details from their homes.
• Business partners, who need access to Universities enabling their students to view statement or online payments, like my.csu.edu.au.
• Most e-commerce sites, like PayPal and which collect personal details and credit card numbers through the net is protected under SSL.
c. What is the range of items that you can buy?
The ranges of items that can be buy in Amazon, including on the main page:
• Books
• Movies, Music & Games
• Digital Downloads
• Computers & office
• Electronics
• Home & Garden
• Grocery, Health & Baby
• Apparel, Shoes & Jewellery
• Sports & Outdoors
• Tools, Auto & Industrial
i. List the steps involved and comment.
The above list is showed in the 'Shop All Departments' on the left hand side of the menu bar and changed into a pull down menu in other pages. It is a quite easy way for users to locate what their want on any pages in the site. Select the department by moving the pointer to it, the sub-category list will be show at http://www.amazon.com homepage. For example of shop all departments:
The same as buying books and games from them, which is very normal and many commercial websites used nowadays. So this was the list of steps involved in buying any item from the site http://www.amazon.com.
3. What happens with new models such as price comparison sites?
Price comparison sites are the service on Internet and allow individuals to see different lists of prices for specific products. Most price comparison services do not sell products themselves, but source prices from retailers from whom users can buy.
Price comparison sites typically do not charge users anything to use the site. Instead, they are monetized through payments from retailers who are listed on the site. Depending on the particular business model of the comparison shopping site, retailers will either pay a flat fee to be included on the site or pay a fee each time a user clicks through to the retailer web site or pay every time a user completes a specified action (Wikipedia, 2009).
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