CS33 S00: Basic Information

Course Information - Topics

• Database System Architecture: ANSI/SPARC Architecture; data abstraction; external, conceptual, and internal schemata; data independence; data definition and data manipulation languages.
• Data models: Entity-relationship and relational data models; data structures, integrity constraints, and operations for each data model; relational query languages: SQL, algebra, calculus.
• Theory of database design: Functional dependencies; normal forms; dependency preservation; information loss.
• Query Optimization: Equivalence of expressions, algebraic manipulation; optimization of selections and joins.
• Storage Strategies: Indices, B-trees, hashing.
• Transaction Processing: Recovery and concurrency control.
• Advanced topics: Object-oriented data model; object-relational data model; distributed databases, data mining, multimedia databases, query by content, etc.

Instructor

• Vasileios Megalooikonomou, email: vasilis@cs.dartmouth.edu
• Office: 118 Sudikoff Laboratory, phone: 646-3266
• Office Hours: Tu 4-5pm, W 10-12noon, or by appointment

TA

• Geeta Chaudhry, email: geetac@cs.dartmouth.edu
• Office: 222 Sudikoff Laboratory, phone: 646-1639
• Office Hours: Tu 5-7pm, F 3-5pm

Class

• Meets: Tu Th 2-4pm, room: 102 Bradley, X-hour:W 4:15-5:20pm

Prerequisites

• This course requires a facility with programming. Because of this, you are expected to have had CS 23 or equivalent. If you have not taken these courses, please see me asap.

X-hours

• You should keep the X-period open throughout the term. It is VERY likely that I schedule problem sessions or special lectures in some of them. Be prepared to attend X-hours at short notice.

E-mail

• The mailing list cs33-S00 has been created for the class and it will be used to send messages about the homework, project, and other topics. I expect that you read your email regularly. Otherwise you may miss important information.

Web Page

• The web page for the course is http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~vasilis/Courses/CS33. This page will contain homework assignments, handouts, and other information related to CS 33.

Text

• Required:
  A. Silberschatz, H.F. Korth, and S. Sudarshan, Database System Concepts, 3nd edition, McGraw Hill Inc.
  Available at the Dartmouth Bookstore.
• Optional:
  Jeffrey Ullman: Principles of database and knowledge-base systems
  Michael Stonebraker: Readings in database systems
  Patrick O'Neil: Database Principles Programming Performance, Morgan Kaufmann
  Raghu Ramakrishnan: Database Management Systems, McGraw Hill
  Raymond Lorie and Jean-Jacques Daudenarde: SQL and Its Applications
  

Project

• The course load involves a project. Through this project you will get hands-on experience, designing and implementing an application on a database system. Please be sure you have access to the Linux machines in Sudikoff 005 and an appropriate computer account. Access cards can be obtained from Kelly Clark, M-F 9-12 and 1-4. A $20.00 cash deposit is needed. For graduate students or for extra credit (for undergraduates) there will be a second project. The goal of this project is to give graduate students the opportunity to tackle a large, interesting problem, which may lead to a publication.

Exams, Project and Grading

• Homeworks: 15%
• Project: 30%
• Midterm: 25%
• Final: 30%
• Graduate students will make a 40 minute presentation to the rest of the class, covering about 3 research papers. The grading scheme for graduate students is: homeworks: 10%, midtrem: 10%, project: 40%, presentation: 10%, and final: 30%.

Late Policy: The project parts and homework assignments are due in class, on the specified due date. No late submissions will be accepted. For fairness, this policy will be strictly enforced.

Exams: All aids are allowed (open books, open notes, calculators, etc).

Honor Code

• All work submitted for credit must be your own.
• You may discuss the homework problems with your classmates, the teaching assistant, and the instructor. You must acknowledge the people with whom you discussed your work, and you must write up your own solutions and code. Any written sources (apart from the text) used must also be acknowledged; however, you may not consult any solutions from previous years' assignments whether they are student or faculty generated. Any software given to you (by us or by other sources) must also be acknowledged.
• Please ask if you have any questions about the Dartmouth Honor Code. Violations of the honor code will be treated seriously.

Disabilities

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