See also: SyllabusSyllabus
See also: Lectures · Grading · AI Policy
Course Title: Tech 1 — Web & Mobile Ecosystem Fundamentals
Course Objective: Gain a foundational understanding of the core technologies, p... · GradingGrading
See also: Syllabus · Lectures
Tech 1 Grading Plan
Assessment and Grading Breakdown
#
Component
Weightage (%)
1
Attendance and Class...
One 2-hour session per week. Dates may shift — treat the week numbers as canonical.
Lecture 1Lecture 1
Hello, Internet
The premise of this course, stated out loud: you can build and ship real things on the web today, and we will spend the rest of the semester understanding what you did.
Hour 1 — W... - Hello, Internet
Week 1 — 3 August 2026 — Ship a personal webpage before you understand it.
Lecture 2Lecture 2
Anatomy of a Web Page
Last week you shipped a page. This week we open the hood.
Hour 1 — The three languages
View Source: what the AI actually wrote for you
HTML — structure and meaning (hea... - Anatomy of a Web Page
Week 2 — 10 August 2026 — HTML, CSS, JavaScript — dissected via what you built.
Lecture 3Lecture 3
Talking to Servers
Your page lives somewhere. What happens when someone types your URL?
Hour 1 — The journey of a request
Client-server architecture — the fundamental shape of the web
What h... - Talking to Servers
Week 3 — 17 August 2026 — HTTP/HTTPS, DNS, IP addresses, client-server architecture.
Lecture 4Lecture 4
Front-End in Practice
From "a page that works" to "an interface that's designed."
Hour 1 — The front-end as a design material
Responsive design: one design, every screen (viewports, breakpoint... - Front-End in Practice
Week 4 — 24 August 2026 — Responsive design, design systems, Figma to code.
Lecture 5Lecture 5
Back-Ends and Databases
Everything before this week disappeared when you refreshed. Let's fix that.
Hour 1 — Where data lives
What a back-end is: code that runs on someone else's computer, not... - Back-Ends and Databases
Week 5 — 31 August 2026 — Servers, SQL vs NoSQL, where your data actually lives.
Lecture 6Lecture 6
APIs
How software talks to software — and why every product you design is really a bundle of APIs.
Hour 1 — The contract
What an API is: a menu of things you can ask another program to do
RE... - APIs
Week 6 — 7 September 2026 — REST, GraphQL, keys, and how software talks to software.
Lecture 7Lecture 7
AI in the Stack
You've been using AI to build all semester. Now: AI as an ingredient inside the products you design.
Hour 1 — Models as materials
LLMs demystified: prediction machines, not dat... - AI in the Stack
Week 7 — 14 September 2026 — LLM APIs, what models can and can't do, AI features.
Lecture 8Lecture 8
Mobile Ecosystems
Why the app on your phone is a different animal from the site in your browser.
Hour 1 — The two kingdoms
iOS vs Android: platforms, philosophies, and what it means for design... - Mobile Ecosystems
Week 8 — 21 September 2026 — iOS vs Android, native vs hybrid vs web, app stores.
Lecture 9Lecture 9
Cloud Computing
"The cloud" is someone else's computer — but which one, and what are you paying for?
Hour 1 — Layers of someone else's computer
IaaS, PaaS, SaaS explained with one running exam... - Cloud Computing
Week 9 — 28 September 2026 — IaaS, PaaS, SaaS; hosting, deployment, domains.
Lecture 10Lecture 10
How Software Gets Built
The people part: how ideas become products, and how teams avoid chaos.
Hour 1 — The lifecycle
The SDLC: idea → requirements → design → build → test → ship → maintain
... - How Software Gets Built
Week 10 — 5 October 2026 — SDLC, agile, version control. Final project kickoff.
Lecture 11Lecture 11
Studio 1 — Build Sprint
Full working session for Project - Final Project.
Format
First 15 min — standup: each team states what's built, what's next, what's blocked
Working time — build w... - Studio 1
Week 11 — 12 October 2026 — Build sprint and crits.
Lecture 12Lecture 12
Studio 2 — Ship-Ready
Second working session for Project - Final Project — from "works on my machine" to "works for everyone."
Hour 1 — What "done" means (short lecture)
Performance basics... - Studio 2
Week 12 — 19 October 2026 — Ship-ready: performance, security, privacy basics.
Lecture 13Lecture 13
Demo Day
Final presentations for Project - Final Project.
Format
Each team: 7 minutes — live demo of the deployed product (no slides for the demo itself), followed by the story: problem, p... - Demo Day
Week 13 — 26 October 2026 — Final project presentations.