Relational Database Systems CSC 425

Syllabus

OBJECTIVES: To define and illustrate the design and implementations of the various database structures; to examine the logical and physical data structures necessary to support these designs; and to examine the logical abstractions necessary to understand their significance. The student will  use relational algebra, relational calculus and SQL to setup and maintain typical database structures. The student  will use database theory of dependencies and normalization to properly design  and implement typical database applications.

• Understand fundamental database concepts and the different database systems.
• Understand methodologies to conceptualize and design database systems.
• Understand advanced database concepts such as file systems, query optimization, distributed database systems and data mining .
• Develop applications involving advanced database systems, in particular Web-based applications, and embedded SQL

1. Fundamental concepts of files and databases
2. The different database models – hierarchical, relational, network
3. Relational databases
4. Conceptual data models – Entity-Relationship model, UML model
5. Normalization
6. Database system development methodology
7. SQL language commands and queries, query optimization
8. Development of Web-based database systems
9. Transaction management and concurrency control
10. Distributed database management systems
11. Text databases
12. Multimedia databases
13. Data warehousing concepts
14. Data mining concepts
15. Object-oriented databases

TEXT:required

Database Systems, A Practical Approach to Design, Implementation, and Management, Thomas M. Connolly and Caroline E. Begg, 4/e Pearson, 2005, ISBN: 0-321-29401-7

Reference texts: not required
Fundamentals of Database Systems. Elmasri and Navathe, Benjamin Cummings, Second Edition, 1994

Database Systems Concepts., Henry F. Korth and Abraham Silberschatz, McGraw Hill , 3/e 1997

EVALUATION: There will be 3 exams including the final. Each exam will count 25% of the final course grade, 10% will come from periodic homework problems/assignments, 15% will come from a database project. The final grade will be based on the above grades as follows:

 A >= 90%
 B >= 80%
 C >= 70%
 D >= 60%
 F < 60%

 CONTENT: Chapters 1 - 13.

Class Attendance:Mandatory. Refer to Mississippi College Policies and Procedures  for details. Since this is a MWF class, you may not miss more than 25%, 12 classes, without penalty of an automatic grade of  F. When a student must miss class for whatever reason, it is his/her responsibility to present a valid excuse to the instructor as soon as possible. All previously assigned work, exams, and quizzes are to be made up within one week. If missed assignments or exams or tests are not made up within the week , then the student will get a grade of  0 on the requirement. Should the student find it impossible to make up the requirements within one week upon returning to normal class attendance, then a mutual agreement with the instructor of the class must be obtained as soon as reasonable regarding times for completion of the  delinquent course requirements. The last day to drop this course is Monday, March 28, 2005 . Courtesy dictates that when a planned absence is known in advance,  the instructor should be apprised as soon as possible and a mutual agreement on make-up work can be set. Failure to do so can result in a grade of 0 on missed work and exams.

Academic Integrity:(Academic Honesty) While collaborative work outside class is beneficial, even encouraged, the student should be careful to note that using someone else's work is cheating. All problem sets/ programs submitted for grading must be your own intellectual property. Discussion of ideas, concepts, understandings is acceptable. Working together directly or jointly to complete graded assignments , programs or problems, is the same a cheating on an in class exam.

 Graduate Credit: Any student taking CSC 425 for graduate credit (Z) will be expected to read selected papers (4-5) provided by the instructor. The student will be required to answer two to three questions concerning each paper. All answers must be done using word processing software (typed). In addition, each student will do a research paper on a selected topic from database systems. This paper will be from 10 - 15 pages in length, double-spaced and include appropriate references. The research should be restricted to scholarly journals, papers, and books on current trends in database systems.

The following syllabus is designed for a course where the goal is to teach students how to use databases to construct applications. Details of database internals are kept to the minimum. 

The course shall be supplemented by assignments or a project. The project will involve the design and implementation of a practical application using SQL (and other development tools such as graphical user interfaces or forms packages) on a relational database system. Such as Oracle, PostgreSQL, or MySQL. Guidelines for the project can be found here.

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Last updated Jan 9, 2005.