CS 453: Electronic
Commerce Technologies
Summer 2009
1
Staff


Instructor
 Tom Horton
 Office: Olsson Hall 228B
 Email: horton [at] cs.virginia.edu
 Phone: 982-2217
 Office hours:
 Immediately after class each day
 Other times: ask!
Teaching Assistant:
 See above!
2
Some Basic Course Info


UG Record Description
 History of Internet and electronic commerce on the
web; case studies of success and failure;
cryptographic techniques for privacy, security, and
authentication; digital money; transaction
processing; wired and wireless access
technologies; Java; streaming multimedia; XML;
Bluetooth. Defining, protecting, growing, and
raising capital for an e-business.
Counts as:
 CS or CpE elective (or tech elective)
 For the SEAS Engin. Business minor
3
What This Means….




CS453 is taught by CS staff for computing students
Addresses business and commerce issues
 But not a business course
 Some “business-light”, gain ability to work with those in that
world
Addresses technologies needed to make e-commerce happen
 Mostly broad coverage, illustrative technologies
 Not a deep focus on many areas
 Not a course in DBMS, web services, web design,
security
 Technologies that support business needs and issues
 E.g. session management, secure transactions
Goal: to see how it all fits together
4
Business Issues



Focus on Internet commerce
 more narrow than e-business
Topics and issues
 What does the Internet offer a business?
 Business models, strategies, goals
 Successes and failures
 Issues facing new companies, startups
 What business needs drive technical solutions?
 Legal and ethical issues: IP, patents, privacy, etc.
Sources:
 Readings, articles, etc. (Maybe speakers)
5
Technical Topics








Some history and fundamentals about the Internet and the Web
Presentation topics (HTML, CSS, Javascript)
Web interactions (CGI, PHP, etc.)
Web servers: some basic Apache
(maybe) XML, Web services
(maybe) Javascript libraries
Cryptography; Security; Reliability
Payment systems; Shopping carts; Order Management
 XML and Web Services; Cryptography; Security; Payment
Systems; etc.
6
Course Philosophy



Maybe you’re near the end of your studies here
This course has an applied, real-world focus in a
rapidly-changing area.
Therefore:
 Focus on real-world issues and technologies
 Give you choices to let you be more motivated
 Treat you like mature and independent
students/professionals
 Student input and participation in the day-to-day
course
 Allow and motivate you to be more self-directed
learners
 Have fun
7
Applying the Course Philosophy (1)



Learning as exploration
 As opposed to marching through a set of required
topics and skills
Self-motivated learning
 Focus on important, interesting, authentic, realworld technologies and problems
 You’ll get choice and flexibility in
 HW focus (e.g. business vs. technology)
 Tools and techniques you learn
I’ll treat you as independent and mature computing
students and professionals (next slide)
8
Applying the Course Philosophy (2)

I’ll treat you like independent and mature computing
students and professionals
 No hand-holding needed
 You’re able to learn-languages, tools, etc. on your
own from good sources
 With help from your team (staff and other
students) when needed
 You can install and administer your own SW tools
and environments
 E.g. WAMP, etc
 You are able to define goals, manage your time,
report findings/problems, communicate
9
Applying the Course Philosophy (3)


Together let’s address CS453 as a team
 Students know things I don’t know—embrace that
 Learning together is more fun than working alone
 My goal is to turn this into a course good for me
and for students
 Your help needed (and required)
And let’s not forget we want to:
 Learn useful things
 Deal with authentic real-world problems and
technologies
 Have fun
10
Class Sessions




Some lecture
 More than there should be
Some presentations (maybe not in summer)
 Industry, commerce experts
 E-commerce research:
 Auctions, search engines, etc.
More discussion than other classes
Some active learning activities
 Problem discussions, debates
 Quick research and report at next class
 Quick team-up/think/opine
 Quick quiz or survey
11
Class Input: Business


How many of you are business minors?
 What engin. business courses have you taken?
How many of you have worked in e-business?
12
What Business or E-business Topics should be
addressed?


First, from “student business experts”
Then, from anyone
13
14
Technologies
Some are required
(at a basic level):







HTML, CSS
JavaScript
PHP
Some security
technologies
SQL and mySQL
Client/server
applications
Maybe a
framework like
symfony
Some are “optional”:









Web services
.NET, ASP, C# etc.
JSEE
Flash, multimedia
Perl, Python, Ruby
More security
XML
Web 2.0, Ajax
Ruby on Rails
15
Class Input
1.
2.
3.
What else might be on this list that’s not?
How many know a lot or some about any of these?
What do you want to learn?
16
17
Back to that Course Description




UG Record Description
 History of Internet and electronic commerce on the
web; case studies of success and failure;
cryptographic techniques for privacy, security, and
authentication; digital money; transaction
processing; wired and wireless access
technologies; Java; streaming multimedia; XML;
Bluetooth. Defining, protecting, growing, and
raising capital for an e-business.
OK, maybe not the things in red
And can we really do justice to things in that last
sentence?
Comments?
18
Demonstration of Learning






Yeah, there are homeworks and exams :-(
 More on this in a few slides
What about “optional topics”? Do you have to do them?
 Not all. Some. You choose.
 Know some of these already? Learn something new in
CS453!
From what and from where do you learn about these?
 Not from lectures (other than overview) or the book
 From Virtual Labs (see next slides), the web, books
How much do you have to learn? How do you show this?
Answer: An E-portfolio governed by a Learning Contract
Answer: HW5
19
Virtual Labs




Virtual labs offer anywhere/anytime instruction and
practice with our technical topics
We are eager for you to derive a substantial benefit
from all this invested effort
Labs are highly recommended but not required
 Except that they are a great resource for your EPortfolio
iis.cs.virginia.edu/webweavers/ec
20
Virtual Labs
21
Homeworks: 60% of grade




Some flexibility in later homeworks
Some assignments can be in groups of two or three
(may require extra things)
Topics and weights (provisional)
1.
Case study of an e-commerce enterprise: 10%
2.
JavaScript programming: 10%
3.
PHP, Forms, Encryption: 10%
4.
Choice of larger technical problem/project: 20%
5.
Choice of technical problem or e-commerce
problem: 10%
Some comments on HW4 and HW5 in next slides…
22
HW4: larger technical project





In the past…
Themes:
 a fully functioning e-store
 a fully functional web-based e-service
 a fully functional m-commerce system
Develop applications for medicine, education,
gaming, social networking, government (e-voting),
convenience, something experimental or
revolutionary
Use toolsets appropriate to the project
Possibly partner with a professor’s research, etc.
23
HW5: examples from the past






a super-in-depth e-commerce case study
a high-quality, realistic, achievable business plan for
a legitimate e-commerce venture
high-quality presentation or tutorial on an
sophisticated technical topic
something we decide to add to this list as we go
along
Variations / projects are possible
 Propose something to me if you wish!
[Not this term!] mock trial for patent infringement
24
Grading





Class participation: 10%
Midterm exam: 15%
Final exam: 15%
Homeworks: collectively 60%, as follows:
 E-commerce company case study: 10%
 JavaScript: 10%
 HW3: 10%
 HW4 (larger technical project): 20%
 HW5 (choose e-business or technical): 10%
Subject to minor alterations (say +/- 5%) with advance notice
to the class
25
Exams



Topics from lectures, from “required” technologies
May have in-class and out-of-class portion
 Out-of-class may be coding etc.
Dates on syllabus (subject to change)
26
Fixed Grading Scale













A+
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
DF
100
97
92
89
86
82
79
76
72
69
66
62
59
98
93
90
87
83
80
77
73
70
67
63
60
0

Rounding: Final grades will be
rounded to the nearest whole
number


E.g. 91.50 --> 92
91.499999 --> 91
Curving: Curves may be
applied to exam scores etc.
27
Honor System



All homeworks and exams will contain explicit
language regarding what is or what is not permissible
I will assume that everyone abides by the tenets of
the honor system
In all your work, cite all your sources (whether in
code or prose)
28
Textbooks and References




Textbook
nd
 Designing Systems for Internet Commerce. 2
edition. By G. Winfield Treese and Lawrence C.
Stewart
Google or your favorite search engine
Recommendations for additional references on
individual topics as we go
 Free books on the Safari system
Our website will have discussion forums and resource
lists and wiki’s
 Help each other.
29
Names




It is my personal goal to learn everyone’s name
You need to help by identifying yourself to me
until I can reliably call you by name
Name badges
 Don’t be surprised if we use these for a few
weeks
At least initially, please identify yourself by name
when asking/answering questions so everyone
can learn all our names
30
Questions?
31
Activity




Two debates:
1.
Is Google Evil?
2.
Should Yahoo release personal info to the
Chinese government?

Do you know about these issues?
Eight groups of 5 or so.

Half on Google, half on Yahoo
Report a conclusion for your group with reasons

Minority opinions allowed afterwards
Go!
32
(Notes from discussion)


Google: many services (mail, blogs, search, docs,
code, phones/android, netbooks
 Google analytics
Companies and governments
33