We start our web programming with the simple exercise of protecting parts of a web site with passwords. For this exercise I want you to protect the web page you are using to submit your 432 assignments. Every student has access to a mason cluster account for 432 submissions; hence, the following instructions will work. If you are not using a mason cluster account, then you are on your own in terms of setting up password protection. (Or, you can switch to your mason cluster account...) Note that you do not need to block your entire mason cluster account with a password - just the 432 web page section.
Start by reading up on password protection for web sites. There is a fair amount of information on the web; I suggest you start with Free Webmaster Help. This site includes a link to the KxS password encrypter. Another possibility is the Apache Authorization Tutorial. This site suggests a command line utility for generating passwords. You can also try Jeff Offutt's line by line directions for his SWE 642 class on this topic. You might be interested to read Apache's usage suggestions for .htaccess and decide whether this exercise fits Apache' guidelines.
Important: For this project, you are required to work individually. Make sure the following pair is in your password file:
There is nothing to submit for this assignment. The GTA will attempt to access your 432 web page, and will expect to find the appropriate password access. I strongly suggest you test your setup prior to the due date.