Jonas Mellin wrote:
> Now, one of the program directors essentially wants the students to 
> write a PHP program accessing an XML source and display as HTML. He 
> considers this to be sufficient for a pass. So, we have a slight 
> difference in opinion of what is required to pass an XML API course.
>
> So, what is your opinion?
Agree.  Just from what you described, I'd say I'm in agreement with the 
writing of PHP program accessing XML source to pass an "XML API course".

If the course objective is to understand and apply XML API, then 
students should be examined based on the knowledge required or expected 
of a graduate of the course.  PHP is certainly not low-level enough when 
compared with writing Java or C programs to  parse XML source.  So in 
terms of "difficulty level", it has been reduced and gives students time 
to understand the API aspects instead of nitty gritty aspects of 
programming languages.

If writing a simple program to access XML source is deemed too difficult 
for the non-CS students, then perhaps the course title needs to be 
changed to something like "XML Appreciation Course", where simple 
exposure to XML, what it can do, pros and cons, economical benefits and 
business modeling aspects could be some ingredients for the course material.

regards,
Chin Chee-Kai