The Web Track

Interested in web programming?

Loyola's Web Programming track provides an opportunity to learn web implementation by gaining a deep understanding of its foundations and emerging technologies.

The Web track is centered upon Java technologies such as JavaServer pages (JSP) and servlets, but students learn the principles applicable to all web programming and deployment, ASP.NET included.

The track is overseen by Yaakov Chaikin, an architect and developer of web solutions. Yaakov is co-author of a book, Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages: Advanced Technologies, with Marty Hall and Larry Brown, part of the Sun Microsystems Core series. The book receives five overall stars from Amazon reader reviews (as of this writing). It covers topics for those who are already familiar with servlets and JSP, including security, custom tags, deployment, event handling, the JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL), and the Struts framework.

Many developers produce and deploy web pages and applications every day. Only a fraction of those developers understand the principles necessary to truly make their products secure, scalable, high-performance, and reusable. Even simple web pages must meet increasingly rigorous standards, notably the ability to be accessible to the visually impaired. To work correctly, they should be "well-formed," a phrase indicating that their XHTML or other language meets internationally-recognized standards. Their underlying use of cascading style sheets (CSS) needs to be accurate, consistent, and complete. Topics such as XHTML, CSS, and JSP are covered in depth in the web-specific courses which comprise the track. Techniques such as obtaining high performance are founded on material presented in the core computer science curriculum, in which areas like concurrency and system architectures are covered, then they are reinforced with web specifics in the web-track.

Courses in the track include Fundamentals of Web Design (CS710), Web Application Development with Servlets and JavaServer Pages (CS712), Java Design Patterns and Best Practices (CS713), and XML Technologies and Applications (CS714). New courses being introduced into the track include Developing Rich Internet Applications with AJAX (CS715) and Modern Web MVC Frameworks (CS716). The graduating student receives an M.S. in Computer Science with the added distinction of having completed the web track.