If you are ready to get into Web application development, take this book along as your guide
Written by Jim Buck
While there’s no shortage of Web programmers, not all are proficient in building business Web applications. And then there are the experienced business app developers, some in the IBM i world, who haven’t done Web development but would like to add it to their coding repertoire. Developing Business Applications for the Web—With HTML, CSS, JSP, PHP, ASP.NET, and JavaScript has been written especially with these two groups in mind, as well as novice programmers who want to get familiar with Web-based business app development.
The book, by Laura Ubelhor and Christian Hur, fills a void in technical programming books, and will help those who need a “manual” understand and apply Web application programming concepts and get familiar with building business applications in Web environments. The book is also an excellent text to introduce the new developer to business Web development. As a former longtime college-level programming instructor, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it adopted by colleges for a business-oriented Web application class!
The book breaks down the topic of business Web application development into three main sections. The first section covers static Web pages and the techniques used to develop these pages. The second section covers four popular programming languages in use today: JavaScript, PHP, ASP.NET, and JavaServer Pages (JSP). The third section covers topics that a Web developer needs to understand to develop successful Web applications.
First Section: Getting Acquainted with Basic Web Technologies
The first chapter starts with an introduction to Web technologies and to Belhur Publishing, a fictitious business used throughout the book to illustrate the Web development concepts presented. Through the Belhur Publishing examples, readers see how a business website and applications are built “from the ground up.” The example company aptly demonstrates how different Web technologies are used to develop a business application, and provides continuity between chapters.
Second Section: Web Application Programming
Chapter 7 leads off this section with a discussion of Web application server technology, describing how application servers function to provide access to a company’s databases.
The book then covers four popular programming languages that allow a programmer to create dynamic Web pages. Each chapter has a section that describes the pros and cons of using each programming methodology as well as robust programming examples.
Third Section: Beyond Developing Web Pages
The first two sections of the book focus on developing static and dynamic Web pages. The final section discusses other important topics in business Web application development—useful knowledge for making a website appear correctly on a variety of browsers, stand out, and draw traffic.
Over the years I’ve worked with numerous application programmers, many of whom were endeavoring to develop new skills by moving from traditional business application development to Web and mobile applications, as well as students who were new to developing business applications. This book will be an invaluable resource to both types of developers. I also highly recommend it to instructors who are teaching a business Web development class.