Web and software engineering the facebook way - an undergraduate mini project

The following paper discusses the experiences of a seven week mini project run twice at the University of Sunderland, designed to teach applied web programming using the Facebook platform and makes the case for the use of Facebook as a suitable platform to teach web programming. First year undergraduate computing students used a broad range of technologies underpinned by a suitable software engineering methodology to design, develop and publish applications to the Facebook Application Directory. Students are able to market and deploy applications easily and benefit from feedback from peers within a familiar, student friendly environment. There is an opportunity to engage with a wider audience and opportunities to develop and refine software development skills whilst consolidating their learning in a challenging project that is accessible to anyone with a Facebook account.