MCA-116
Web Technologies
The web from HTML up through the Microsoft stack — CSS and JavaScript, then C#, ASP.NET Web Forms, ADO.NET, AJAX, jQuery and MVC.
- Semester
- Semester 2
- Credits
- 4
- Scheme
- 3 lectures + 1 tutorial a week
- Contact hours
- 44 across four units
- Category
- Core Elective - I
What the paper is
Web Technologies is a .NET paper with a standards-based introduction. The first two units are platform-neutral — HTML, CSS, JavaScript and the DOM — and the last two commit entirely to Microsoft: C#, ASP.NET Web Forms, ADO.NET and finally ASP.NET MVC.
That makes it a different proposition from Full Stack Development, the other web elective in this slot. This one is heavier on server-side concepts that Web Forms makes explicit — the page life cycle, view state, server controls and validation controls — and those concepts are examinable in a way that framework syntax usually is not.
Units III and IV carry twelve hours each and the bulk of the marks. The comparison between Web Forms and MVC at the end of Unit IV is a standing exam question, and it is best prepared by understanding what problem MVC was introduced to solve.
What to concentrate on
- State management in ASP.NET is the topic that gets asked in every form: view state, session state, application state, cookies, query strings — what each holds, where it lives, and what it costs. Learn it as a comparison table.
- Validation controls are compact, mechanical marks. Know the six of them and what each validates, including the difference between client-side and server-side validation.
- For JavaScript, concentrate on the DOM and form validation rather than the syntax. Unit II is examined through “write a script that validates this form”, which is a small, rehearsable answer.
Syllabus, unit by unit
Summarised from the approved scheme. Hours are the contact hours the scheme allots, which is a fair guide to where the marks sit.
Unit I · The internet, HTML, CSS and web servers
10 hours- Evolution of the internet, the concept of the internet and the World Wide Web, introduction to TCP/IP
- HTML elements, semantic elements and forms
- CSS: selectors and styling — borders, backgrounds, text effects, fonts, transitions, transforms, animation, multiple columns, user interface and filters
- Web servers: system architecture, configuring and accessing IIS, the HTTP request and response
Unit II · JavaScript, DHTML and the .NET framework
10 hours- JavaScript: operators, conditional and looping statements, functions, objects and commonly used objects
- The DOM and web browser environments, forms and validation
- DHTML: combining HTML, CSS and JavaScript, events and buttons, controlling the browser
- The .NET platform and its components — CLI, CTS, CLS and CLR — and the assembly
Unit III · C# and ASP.NET Web Forms
12 hours- C# fundamentals: reference and value types, access modifiers, properties, indexers, arrays, inheritance and polymorphism
- Building an ASP.NET page, using web server controls
- User controls: creating and interacting with them; form validation with validation controls
- ASP.NET state management, caching, application tracking and error handling, authentication and authorisation
- ADO.NET: data-bound controls, XML data binding, encrypting data over the network
Unit IV · AJAX, jQuery and ASP.NET MVC
12 hours- The need for AJAX, ASP.NET AJAX, client-side and server-side technologies, building AJAX applications
- jQuery: selecting elements, modifying elements, event handling, jQuery UI
- ASP.NET MVC: introduction, comparison with Web Forms, the MVC architecture
- Developing interactive web applications
How it is examined
- Question 1 is compulsory, covers the whole syllabus, and is made of objective or short-answer questions. It carries 12 marks.
- The rest of the paper is four units matching the four above. Each unit sets two questions and you attempt one, so there are four more answers at 12 marks each.
- Examiners are asked to map every question to a course outcome using Bloom's taxonomy, which is why questions are phrased as “apply”, “analyse” or “evaluate” rather than only “explain”.
The pass mark is 40 out of 100 in every paper.
Learning objectives
- Concepts of HTML, CSS and JavaScript
- .NET architecture and C#.NET basics
- Creating web applications using ASP.NET Web Forms, jQuery and AJAX
- Creating web applications using ASP.NET MVC, jQuery and AJAX
Assumed beforehand
- Object-oriented programming
- Computer Networks
- Database Management System
Paired in the scheme with MCA-168 Lab based on Core Elective I.
Books it is taught from
- TB1Ivan Bayross, “HTML, DHTML, JavaScript, Perl CGI”, BPB Publications, 4th revised edition, 2010
- TB2Paul Deitel, Harvey Deitel and Abbey Deitel, “Internet & World Wide Web: How to Program”, Pearson, 5th edition, 2018
- TB3Herbert Schildt, “C# 4.0: The Complete Reference”, McGraw-Hill Education, 1st edition, 2010
- TB4Jason N. Gaylord et al., “Professional ASP.NET 4.5 in C# and VB”, Wrox, 1st edition, 2013
Notes for MCA-116
Lecture notes, question papers and assignments filed against MCA-116 are in the library. Everything there has been checked by a moderator before it appears, and an account is free — new ones are approved by hand, which is what keeps the shelf clean.