This course is the fifth in the Certificate in Web Applications Development. The Open Source movement has had a significant and lasting impact on the way that software can be engineered, distributed and used. This course introduces the origins and aims of the Open Source movement, and its principles of software development and distribution. The course also examines the ‘distributed team’ nature of open source development and how versioning tools, such as CVS, can be used to help manage source. The course highlights the characteristics of Open Source components for use in web applications, and provides an appreciation of the range of tools available with some experience of applying one such scripting tool (PHP) to application development. There will be an online conference where you can ask for help and advice.
Due to start in May 2007, wish me luck!