Open Source Software for Humanity: HW Week 5

Due Monday, 2/25

 * Read Chapter 6 of Learning PHP/MySQL (pages 99-112) and answer the questions at the end of the chapter. For questions 6-3 and 6-4, write a PHP script that tests your answers.


 * Exercise 5-1 . Write and test a PHP function that takes a numeric array as a parameter and calculates and returns the sum of the numbers in the array.

Due Wednesday, 2/27

 * Read the Thompson article on Open source spying. This article provides a compelling example of individuals applying the open source model in a productive manner. Find an example in some other field (besides ones we've already discussed, such as news reporting, encyclopedia writing, and other topics already on our syllabus) and write a short essay (~250 words) describing how the open source model is used productively in that field. Identify specific similarities and differences between the Thompson story and the field that you have chosen, and comment about how widely applicable this approach is and/or any limitations that you find in this approach. Post your essay to our assignment page.


 * Exercise 5-2. Challenge: Write and test a PHP function that takes an associative array of month names and number of days (as in question 6-3) and displays a table showing for each month how many days it has.