ESP Biography



JAMES SULLIVAN, ESP Teacher




Major: Computer Science

College/Employer: University of Massachussets

Year of Graduation: 2018

Picture of James Sullivan

Brief Biographical Sketch:

Not Available.



Past Classes

  (Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

C9984: Build an Enterprise Grade Network with Linux in Splash 2015 (Nov. 21 - 22, 2015)
Enterprise grade networks often conjure up images of expensive hardware, fancy software licenses and datacenter's full of servers. While much of that is true, we'll be showing you how it's possible to build your own (Mini!) enterprise grade network using only Linux virtual machines and a bit of basic networking hardware. We'll start by covering some networking basics including network structure, IP assignment, virtual networks and routing terminology. We'll also go over a bit of simple networking in Linux and some of the commands we can use to do so. Then we'll dive into a variety of services and cover as many as time allows. We'll try to talk about pfSense, DNS, DHCP, Samba and Apache2. If you've never heard of any of those, fear not!


C9991: Building M.E.A.N Web Applications in Splash 2015 (Nov. 21 - 22, 2015)
No, we're not going to build applications that are actually mean, however, we will talk about building web applications on the M.E.A.N stack! What is the M.E.A.N stack you ask? Why it's a amazing collection of software that lets you build sleek, modern web applications with amazing speed. M.E.A.N stands for Mongo (A really awesome database), Express (A framework for assembling web applications in Node), Angular (A front end framework for web applications in Javascript) and NodeJS (A JavaScript engine for JavaScript in the backend). Sound like a lot? It sure is! We'll start with the basics of setting up Node and gradually move up the chain, touching on Express, Angular and Mongo as well as talking about what makes each so unique. By the end of the class, we'll have covered all you need to know to start building you own web apps on the M.E.A.N stack.


C9998: An Introduction to Penetration Testing in Splash 2015 (Nov. 21 - 22, 2015)
Is your network secure? Can you test it? How? We'll attempt to answer these questions and more by introducing the art of penetration testing, a method of scanning and testing networked machines for security issues. We'll start by covering some networking basics and eventually move our way up to discussing the anatomy of a security vulnerability. From there we'll go over some common tools of penetration testing and discuss how you can apply these when diagnosing security risks on your own devices. To wrap up, we'll demonstrate what a security vulnerability looks like from a series of networked virtual machines.


C8707: Web Application Development (Part 1) in Splash 2014 (Nov. 22 - 23, 2014)
Come and experience the wonderful world of web apps! What's a web app you ask? It's a fancy website that pretends to be a desktop application. Sound weird? It's actually awesome and we'd love to tell you about them. In this section, we’ll try to run through everything from servers and databases to certificates and web sockets. Seem like a lot? Indeed it is, but that’s the goal. We won't cover everything in a ton of detail, but we'll go over the core concepts of Amazon EC2, MySQL, PHP, WebSockets and apache2. At the end of the class, you'll leave with a new and shiny Amazon EC2 instance running the fruits of your labor, ready to use when you get home.


C8708: Web Application Development (Part 2) in Splash 2014 (Nov. 22 - 23, 2014)
Come and experience even more in the wonderful world of web apps! What's a web app you ask? It's a fancy website that pretends to be a desktop application. Sound weird? It's actually awesome and we'd love to tell you about them. In this section, we'll focus on the frontend. We'll talk about CSS3, jQuery, Angular JS and some of the super cool features in HTML5 that make websites act like apps. We’ll go over how to make a user interface that stands out while fitting in and looks good doing it. If you didn't take part one of the class, it's still fine to come in, though you won't be able to see your project online. At the end, you'll leave with a working concept user interface (hosted on Amazon EC2 if you were in part one).