Overview
The “technology evaluation” will be done in groups of 2–3 people.
The basic idea is: each group takes a different web development technology. They learn about it and find out what it is good and bad at.
Technology Choice
Each group will choose a different technology. [I will use your reports as the basis for some time in lecture talking about the choice of web development technologies. Each group having a different topic will ensure that I have things to talk about.]
I have created a separate page with information about topic choices.
Things You Need To Do
The goal here is to make sure each group actually learns about their technology.
Report
Write a report summarizing the technology you have chosen. This evaluation should be roughly 600–800 words in length. It should be written in valid HTML, and somewhat-valid English.
You should write as if you are explaining your technology to other students in the course, or other senior CS students. (That is, don't assume the reader knows everything about web development, but don't write for a totally non-technical person either.) You should focus on the overall aspects of the tool, as opposed to lists of features.
Assume the reader is generally looking at the technology from the perspective of a developer considering using the tool. That might include answering questions like (but not limited to) these: Why is X useful? What kinds of problems does X solve well? What makes X cool? Does X have surprising features?
You are not trying to sell your technology. It is perfectly reasonable to decide it's not very good at some things.
Briefly compare your technology with a few comparable technology alternatives suitable for similar applications.
The words in the report should be your own. Anything copied (directly or nearly so) from another source will result in a mark of zero.
Demo Site
Construct a web site that illustrates the technology you have chosen in an application of your choice. Your site should demonstrate that your group has actually learned how to work with the technology in a basic way. That may be a mini project using the technology. The results of doing a tutorial on the tool don't count: it's supposed to be your demo site.
If you can deploy your demo to a web server, then submit the URL. If that is not possible, tell us when you submit: you'll have to meet up with the TA somehow to demonstrate the site.
Submitting
We will get the contents of your evaluation from the group's Git repository. In an email to zju.webdev@gmail.com with subject “Technology Evaluation”, include:
- The URL of your group's Git repository (just to make sure we look at the right one).
- The path within your repository to your report (in HTML).
- The path within your repository to the code of your demo site.
- The URL of your deployed demo, or a note about how/when you'd like to meet the TA for marking.
- Names and student numbers of the group members.