Welcome to ICS 215, Introduction to Scripting

Carleton (Cam) Moore

cmoore@hawaii.edu

Department of Information and Computer Sciences

The University of Hawaii, Manoa Course Catalog describes ICS 215 as:

 Introduction to scripting languages for the integration of applications and systems. Scripting in operating 
 systems, web pages, server-side application integration, regular expressions, event handling, input validation, 
 selection, repetition, parameter passing, Perl, JavaScript, and PHP.   

This course explores various scripting languages and regular expressions.

Prerequisites: A grade of “B” or higher in 211 or currently taking 211 or instructor’s consent.

Computer Requirements: You must have have the following computer technology:

• A laptop computer, less than two years old, with at least a 15″ screen and 10 GB of available disk space.

  If you don’t have or cannot get a suitable laptop computer, please don’t take ICS 215.

Goals

The primary goal of ICS 215: Introduction to Scripting is to teach you about regular expressions and different scripting languages and their applications.

Pedagogy

ICS 215 is structured as a set of modules. Each module has the following structure:

• One or more learning outcomes, describing the major goals for the module.
• One or more readings and other online resources, providing background material for you to study.
• One or more experiential learning activities, providing a structured set of challenges enabling you to acquire mastery of material.
• One or more assessments, measuring your success in achieving the learning outcomes.

This course is mostly student directed. You have to work on the Regular Expressions module first and pass 10 quizzes. After that you get to choose the order and areas you want to focus on.

There are five modules:

• Regular Expressions: In theoretical computer science and formal language theory, a regular expression (abbreviated regex or regexp) is a sequence of characters that forms a search pattern, mainly for use in pattern matching with strings, or string matching, i.e. “find and replace”-like operations.

  This is the core module. It is used by all the other programming language modules.

Scripting Languages

• Perl is a a high-level general-purpose programming language used especially for developing Web applications. Perl was developed by Larry Wall in 1987.
• JavaScript is an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers.
• PHP is a server-side scripting language designed for web development but also used as a general-purpose programming language.
• Python is a widely used general-purpose, high-level programming language. Its design philosophy emphasizes code readability, and its syntax allows programmers to express concepts in fewer lines of code.

Each module has a set of reading to help you, the student, learn about the subject. They will have practice experiences (Easy, Medium, and Difficult) to help you gauge your mastery of the subject. Each module will have 5 Difficult, 5 Medium, and 5 Easy quizzes used to assess your learning success. During the class periods, I will be administering quizzes to you in any of the five modules. You can take up to two (2) assessments per class period and you get to choose the difficulty and module for the quizzes. You must take and pass 10 quizzes in the Regular Expression module. The rest of the choice of assessments and modules are completely up to you.

• See Course Preparation for the computer requirement, prerequisites, and some helpful tips on how to get a head in ICS 215.
• See The Rules for the rules for getting Points. To get an A in this class you will have to earn 100 Points^*.