This course explores a problem-solving methodology that employs computer programming. Emphasis is placed on identifying the capabilities and limitations of programming languages in modeling and solving typical business problems. Students will learn skills and techniques to build computer models and solve such structured problems through a series of steps that involve identification of problems, design of the solution logic, formal representation of program specifications, implementation of it using selected programming languages, and documentation of such a programming project. Students will explore the object-oriented programming paradigm and learn to program in Visual Basic for developing applications in the Graphical User Interface (GUI) environment. Finally, principles of Web page design and programming in HTML (HyperText Markup Language) will be studied.

This course will identify the technologies necessary to develop an Electronic Commerce (EC) business model; the technologies necessary to develop an EC application including distributed processing, security, Web-to-legacy database connectivity, etc.; and then how to evaluate the effectiveness of a transaction-based Web site. The course will also include EC business models. The course will include a case study approach, examining successful sites such as CISCO, Amazon, FedEx, etc. The students will work in teams to design and implement an electronic commerce site.