MAD-1 Theory: Modern Application Development 1 (Theory)

Topics covered

• Introduction to Web Applications

  • What is a web application?
  • Websites vs web applications
  • Static vs dynamic websites
  • Client-server architecture
  • Frontend and backend
  • Browser and web server

• Internet and Networking Basics

  • Internet and World Wide Web
  • IP addresses
  • Domain names
  • DNS
  • Ports
  • TCP and UDP
  • Client-server communication

• HTTP and HTTPS

  • HTTP request and response
  • HTTP methods
  • GET and POST
  • HTTP status codes
  • Request headers and response headers
  • HTTPS and TLS basics

• Web Application Architecture

  • Three-tier architecture
  • Presentation layer
  • Application layer
  • Data layer
  • Separation of concerns

• Web Servers

  • What is a web server?
  • Web server responsibilities
  • Request handling
  • Serving static files
  • Basic server configuration

• URLs and Web Resources

  • URL structure
  • Scheme, host, port and path
  • Query parameters
  • Fragments
  • Resource identification

Expected skills: Understand the basic architecture of web applications, interpret HTTP requests and responses, and distinguish the roles of client, server, and database.

Topics covered

• HTML Fundamentals

  • HTML document structure
  • DOCTYPE
  • html, head and body
  • Elements and attributes
  • Headings and paragraphs
  • Links and images
  • Lists and tables

• Semantic HTML

  • Semantic vs non-semantic elements
  • header, nav, main, section, article and footer
  • Meaningful document structure
  • Accessibility basics

• HTML Forms

  • Form elements
  • Text inputs
  • Radio buttons and checkboxes
  • Select and textarea
  • Buttons
  • Form submission
  • Basic form validation

• CSS Fundamentals

  • CSS syntax
  • Selectors
  • Properties and values
  • Inline, internal and external CSS
  • Colors and backgrounds
  • Fonts and text styling

• CSS Box Model

  • Content
  • Padding
  • Border
  • Margin
  • Width and height
  • Box sizing

• CSS Layout

  • Normal document flow
  • Display properties
  • Positioning
  • Flexbox basics
  • Grid basics
  • Responsive design concepts

• Browser Rendering

  • HTML parsing
  • DOM basics
  • CSS application
  • Browser inspection tools

Expected skills: Create structured, styled and responsive web pages and create forms using HTML and CSS.

Topics covered

• MVC Architecture

  • Model, View and Controller
  • Responsibilities of each component
  • Separation of concerns
  • Request-response flow in MVC
  • Advantages of MVC architecture

• View Layer

  • Purpose of the view
  • Rendering HTML
  • Dynamic content
  • Displaying database data
  • Separating presentation from business logic

• Templates

  • Server-side templates
  • Template variables
  • Template expressions
  • Conditional rendering
  • Loops in templates
  • Template inheritance
  • Reusable layouts

• Introduction to Flask Templates

  • Flask application structure
  • Jinja2 templates
  • render_template()
  • Passing data from routes to templates
  • Static files
  • Template directories

• Forms and Views

  • Displaying forms
  • Reading submitted data
  • GET and POST in forms
  • Displaying validation messages
  • Redirecting after submission

• User Interface Design

  • Consistent page layouts
  • Navigation
  • Reusable components
  • Basic usability and accessibility

Expected skills: Understanding the responsibilities of the view layer in MVC architecture and rendering dynamic HTML pages through Flask and templates.

Topics covered

• Database Fundamentals

  • What is a database?
  • Database Management System (DBMS)
  • Relational databases
  • Tables, rows and columns
  • Primary keys and foreign keys

• Data Modelling

  • Entities and attributes
  • Relationships
  • One-to-one relationships
  • One-to-many relationships
  • Many-to-many relationships
  • ER diagrams

• Relational Model

  • Relations and tuples
  • Candidate keys
  • Primary and alternate keys
  • Referential integrity
  • Constraints

• SQL Fundamentals

  • CREATE
  • INSERT
  • SELECT
  • UPDATE
  • DELETE
  • WHERE
  • ORDER BY
  • Aggregate functions

• Database Design

  • Functional dependencies
  • Normalization
  • First Normal Form (1NF)
  • Second Normal Form (2NF)
  • Third Normal Form (3NF)
  • Reducing data redundancy

• Database Models in Web Applications

  • Model layer in MVC
  • Mapping application data to database tables
  • CRUD operations
  • Connecting application logic to persistent data

• MySQL and SQLite Basics

  • Database creation
  • Tables and constraints
  • Executing SQL queries
  • Database connections
  • Comparing relational database systems

Expected skills: Designing database schemas, defining relationships and constraints, writing SQL queries and understanding the model layer of MVC.

Topics covered

• Controller Fundamentals

  • Role of a controller
  • Receiving user requests
  • Processing input
  • Calling models
  • Selecting views
  • Returning responses

• Routing

  • URL routing
  • Route parameters
  • Query parameters
  • Mapping URLs to controller functions
  • Route methods

• Flask Controllers

  • Flask routes
  • View functions
  • Request objects
  • Response objects
  • Redirects
  • URL generation

• Business Logic

  • Application rules
  • Input processing
  • Data validation
  • CRUD workflows
  • Error handling
  • Separation of business logic and presentation

• Form Processing

  • Reading form values
  • Validating inputs
  • Handling missing fields
  • Database operations from form submissions
  • Showing success and error messages

• Database Integration

  • Connecting controllers with models
  • Creating records
  • Retrieving records
  • Updating records
  • Deleting records
  • Handling database errors

• Application Flow

  • Request lifecycle
  • Controller-model interaction
  • Controller-view interaction
  • Redirect-after-POST pattern

Expected skills: Write Flask routes and controller functions, process user requests, and integrate with models to implement complete CRUD workflows.

Topics covered

• API Fundamentals

  • What is an API?
  • API as an interface
  • Client-server interaction
  • API consumers and providers
  • API endpoints

• HTTP Methods

  • GET
  • POST
  • PUT
  • PATCH
  • DELETE
  • Idempotency
  • Safe methods

• REST Architecture

  • REST principles
  • Resources
  • Resource identifiers
  • Stateless communication
  • Uniform interface
  • Client-server separation

• REST API Design

  • Endpoint naming
  • Resource-based URLs
  • Request bodies
  • Query parameters
  • Pagination basics
  • Filtering and sorting
  • Consistent API responses

• HTTP Status Codes

  • 2xx success
  • 3xx redirection
  • 4xx client errors
  • 5xx server errors
  • Common codes such as 200, 201, 400, 401, 403, 404 and 500

• JSON

  • JSON syntax
  • Objects and arrays
  • Serialization
  • Deserialization
  • JSON request and response bodies

• API Implementation

  • Building endpoints with Flask
  • Returning JSON responses
  • Handling API requests
  • Connecting APIs to database models
  • Testing APIs using command-line tools

• API Testing

  • curl
  • Request headers
  • Request bodies
  • Response inspection
  • Testing different HTTP methods

Expected skills: Designing REST APIs, understanding HTTP methods and status codes, handling JSON data, and implementing API endpoints in Flask.

Topics covered

• Backend Architecture

  • Backend responsibilities
  • Application server
  • Database server
  • Request processing
  • Backend components
  • Separation of layers

• Web Application Backend

  • Flask application structure
  • Routing and controllers
  • Models and database integration
  • Configuration
  • Application initialization

• Database Connectivity

  • Connecting Python applications to databases
  • Database drivers
  • Connection management
  • Executing queries
  • Transactions
  • Handling database errors

• Server-Side Processing

  • Request parsing
  • Input validation
  • Business logic execution
  • Database interaction
  • Response generation

• Application Configuration

  • Environment variables
  • Development and production settings
  • Configuration files
  • Managing secrets
  • Debug mode

• Backend Error Handling

  • Exceptions
  • Error responses
  • Logging
  • Handling invalid requests
  • Database failure scenarios

• Application Structure

  • Modular code
  • Reusable functions
  • Separating routes and database logic
  • Maintaining application code

Expected skills: Understanding backend architecture, developing Flask applications in a structured way, and creating database-integrated server-side workflows.

Topics covered

• Frontend Fundamentals

  • Frontend responsibilities
  • Client-side rendering basics
  • Browser-server interaction
  • Frontend-backend communication

• HTML Forms and User Interaction

  • User input
  • Form submission
  • Client-side validation
  • Handling user actions
  • Displaying feedback

• Dynamic Web Pages

  • JavaScript fundamentals
  • DOM manipulation
  • Event handling
  • Updating page content
  • Interactive UI elements

• Asynchronous Requests

  • AJAX concepts
  • Fetching data without full page reload
  • XMLHttpRequest basics
  • Fetch API concepts
  • Handling asynchronous responses

• Frontend and API Integration

  • Sending HTTP requests
  • Receiving JSON responses
  • Updating the UI from API data
  • Handling request failures
  • Loading and error states

• Frontend Architecture

  • Presentation and application logic
  • Reusable UI elements
  • Separating frontend and backend responsibilities
  • Managing static assets

• User Experience

  • Navigation
  • Feedback messages
  • Form usability
  • Responsive layout basics
  • Accessibility considerations

Expected skills: Creating interactive frontend pages, handling user events through JavaScript and updating the UI by retrieving data from APIs.

Topics covered

• Web Security Fundamentals

  • Security goals
  • Confidentiality, integrity and availability
  • Common web application threats
  • Attack surface
  • Secure development principles

• Authentication

  • Authentication vs authorization
  • User identity
  • Login and logout
  • Password-based authentication
  • Sessions and cookies

• Password Security

  • Password hashing
  • Salting
  • Secure password storage
  • Password verification
  • Why plain-text password storage is unsafe

• Session Management

  • HTTP's stateless nature
  • Session identifiers
  • Session cookies
  • Session expiration
  • Secure session handling

• SQL Injection

  • How SQL injection occurs
  • Unsafe query construction
  • Parameterized queries
  • Prepared statements
  • Input handling
  • Preventing injection attacks

• Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

  • Reflected XSS
  • Stored XSS
  • Injected scripts
  • Output encoding
  • Safe rendering

• Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

  • CSRF attack concept
  • Forged requests
  • CSRF tokens
  • SameSite cookie concepts
  • Protection mechanisms

• Secure HTTP Communication

  • HTTPS
  • TLS basics
  • Secure cookies
  • Sensitive information in transit
  • Security-related HTTP headers

Expected skills: Identifying common web security vulnerabilities, understanding authentication and session handling, and explaining methods of protecting applications from attacks such as SQL injection.

Topics covered

• Software Testing Fundamentals

  • Purpose of testing
  • Verification and validation
  • Manual and automated testing
  • Test cases
  • Expected vs actual results

• Testing Levels

  • Unit testing
  • Integration testing
  • System testing
  • End-to-end testing
  • Regression testing

• Web Application Testing

  • Testing routes
  • Testing form submissions
  • Testing API endpoints
  • Testing database interactions
  • Testing user workflows

• Python Testing Tools

  • unittest
  • pytest basics
  • Assertions
  • Test functions
  • Test fixtures
  • Test organization

• Flask Application Testing

  • Flask test client
  • Simulating HTTP requests
  • Testing responses
  • Testing status codes
  • Testing JSON output
  • Testing form behaviour

• Test Data and Mocking

  • Test databases
  • Sample data
  • Mock objects
  • Isolating application components
  • Managing test environments

• Debugging and Error Analysis

  • Reading error messages
  • Logging
  • Reproducing bugs
  • Identifying failure points
  • Fixing and retesting

Expected skills: Write test cases, execute automated tests, and identify bugs for web applications' routes, APIs, and user workflows.

Topics covered

• Evolution of HTML

  • Early HTML versions
  • HTML4
  • XHTML
  • HTML5
  • Modern HTML standards

• HTML5 Features

  • Semantic elements
  • Audio and video
  • Canvas
  • SVG integration
  • Form enhancements
  • New input types

• Web APIs

  • Browser-provided APIs
  • DOM APIs
  • Storage APIs
  • Geolocation API concepts
  • Browser capabilities

• Beyond Traditional HTML

  • Progressive web application concepts
  • Client-side application architecture
  • Single-page application basics
  • Modern frontend frameworks
  • Web components overview

• Responsive and Accessible Web Design

  • Responsive layouts
  • Media queries
  • Semantic structure
  • Accessible controls
  • Keyboard navigation
  • Accessibility basics

• Modern Web Standards

  • Standards-based development
  • Browser compatibility
  • Progressive enhancement
  • Graceful degradation
  • Modern web platform concepts

Expected skills: Understanding the evolution of HTML and modern browser capabilities and explaining the basic principles of modern web development approaches.

Topics covered

• Deployment Fundamentals

  • Development vs production environments
  • Deployment lifecycle
  • Application hosting
  • Server configuration
  • Deployment requirements

• Web Server and Application Server

  • Web server responsibilities
  • Application server responsibilities
  • Reverse proxy
  • Request forwarding
  • Serving static files

• Flask Deployment

  • Production configuration
  • WSGI concepts
  • Running Flask applications in production
  • Application server setup
  • Managing dependencies

• Database Deployment

  • Production database configuration
  • Database connection settings
  • Schema creation and migration concepts
  • Backup and restore
  • Database access security

• Environment and Configuration

  • Environment variables
  • Secret management
  • Configuration separation
  • Debug mode restrictions
  • Dependency management

• Deployment Security

  • HTTPS configuration
  • Secure cookies
  • Restricting database access
  • Protecting credentials
  • Production security practices

• Monitoring and Maintenance

  • Application logs
  • Error monitoring
  • Server resource usage
  • Troubleshooting
  • Updating deployed applications

• Deployment Workflows

  • Manual deployment
  • Version control integration
  • Basic deployment automation
  • Application updates
  • Rollback concepts

Expected skills: Deploying Flask-based web applications to a production environment, managing configuration, and performing basic maintenance of the deployed application.