Tim Habersack

Where I put my things..

Enrolled in CS253 on Udacity

Apr 20th 2012

I enrolled in CS253 on Udacity.com. I can't get to the course content yet, because apparently their site it slammed?

Anyway, I'm interested in what the course offers:

Description: Web applications have the power to provide useful services to millions of people worldwide. In this class, you will learn how to build your own blog application starting from the basics of how the web works and how to set up a web application and process user input, to how to use databases, manage user accounts, interact with other web services, and make your application scale to support large numbers of users.
WEEK 1: How the Web Works
Introduction to HTTP and Web Applications
WEEK 2: How to Have Users
Getting and processing user input
WEEK 3: How to Manage State
Databases and persistent data
WEEK 4: Whom to Trust
User authentication and access control
WEEK 5: How to Connect
Web applications as services, using APIs
WEEK 6: How to Serve Millions
Scaling, caching, optimizations
WEEK 7: Changing the World
Building a successful web application, project

A lot of this I know, though I'm mostly self-taught. I try to find standards compliant places to learn from, but I always fear there is a better way out there to do certain things; this should help with that.

Week 6 looks the most interesting, as I don't have experience with scaling. I have lots of things I implement to handle scaling, but haven't gotten the traffic to really put them to the test.

I'll keep posting about my experience.