Previous Weeks in the Database Course

This file will contain the week-to-week reading and lecture schedules.  At the end of the week the "this week" will be modified to reflect what actually happened and will be appended to this file.

Week 1:  Monday, January 17

• Topics:
  • Introduction
• Reading:
  • Date, chapters 1, 2
• PowerPoint Slides
  • INTRO.PPT
  • Week01.PPT

Monday:

• Martin Luther King day (no classes)

Wednesday:

• Introduction to the course

Thursday:

• Basic definitions and ideas

Friday:

• Basic definitions and ideas

Other Notes:

Week 2: Monday, January 24

• Topics:
• File Organizations and access methods
• Database models
• An introduction to the relational algebra
• Reading:
• Date, chapter 3
• Sunderraman, chapter 1

Monday:

• A survey of file organizations and access methods

Wednesday:

• What a data model is
• Hierarchical DataBase management systems

Thursday:

• Some technical details - child-sibling pointers, networks, and the implementation of CODASYL sets
• The network/CODASYL data model.

Friday:

• The relational data model
• Relational Algebra (a first look with a short exercise)
• An introduction to SQL

Other Notes:

Week 3: Monday, January 31

• Topics:
• Introduction to Oracle
• Introduction to SQL
• Entity-relationship diagrams
• Reading:
• Date, chapters 3, 4, 12
• Sunderraman, chapter 2

Monday:

• The relational data model
• Relational Algebra (a first look with a short exercise)
• An introduction to Oracle and to SQL

Wednesday:

• SQL and the relational algebra

Thursday:

• No class (instructor ill)

Friday:

• No class (instructor ill)

Other Notes:

Week 4: Monday, February 7

• Topics:
• Entity-relationship diagrams
• More on SQL
• Reading:
• Date, chapters 3, 4, 12
• Sunderraman, chapter 2

Monday:

• Introduction to Oracle and to SQL
• An introduction to the term project

Wednesday:

• Entity-relationship diagrams and top-down design

Thursday:

• Group meeting day

Friday:

• Moving from entity-relationship diagrams to a relational schema
• ER diagrams in the UML
• Informal group assignments and project proposals due (email)

Other Notes:

• Starting with this week, Thursdays will be reserved for group meetings.  I will be in my office during class times on Thursday, with priority given to groups.  Please do not schedule other activities into this slot as we may need it for an extra lecture.
• The first hour exam will be next Friday.

Week 5: Monday, February 14

• Topics:
• Entity-relationship diagrams
• Tables, views, and indexes
• Reading:
• Date, chapter 10
• Sunderraman, chapter 2

Monday:

• Creating tables, indexes, and views

Wednesday:

• Creating tables and indexes
• Review for exam #1

Thursday:

• Group meeting day

Friday:

• Exam #1

Other Notes:

Week 6: Monday, February 21

• Topics:
• The database loader
• Reading:
• Date, chapters 11,12

Monday:

• Creating views and indexes
• When to create indexes
• Return of exam (I hope)

Wednesday:

• A group exercise in top-down design (attendance is strongly recommended)

Thursday:

• Group meeting day

Friday:

• The database loader
• Insert/Delete/Update
• Formal project proposal due

Other Notes:

• Formal project proposal due Friday, in class

Week 7: Monday, February 28

• Topics:
• Introduction to bottom-up design
• Reading:
• Date, chapters 11,12

Monday:

• Forms-based design:  an introduction

Wednesday:

• Functional Dependencies and Data Normalization

Thursday:

• Group meeting day

Friday:

• A systematic approach to bottom-up design
• First and second normal forms
• Group exercise set due..

Other Notes:

• Requirements document due Friday, March 11.  We will not have a class meeting that day (History of Science conference)
• No office hours Tuesday, March 1 (Dydd Dewi Sant!)

Week 8: Monday, March 7

• Topics:
• Bottom-up design
• Resolving top-down and bottom-up design
• More SQL
• Reading:
• Date, chapters 11,12

Monday:

• Bottom-up design continued
• Data normalization (through BCNF)
• Resolving top-down and bottom-up designs

Wednesday:

• Further work on SQL (a series of topics)

Thursday:

• Group meeting day.  I will not be on campus that afternoon (Travel to the history of science conference), though I will be able to make regular office hours Thursday morning.

Friday:

• No class or office hours (History of Science conference).  The requirements document should be placed in my mailbox.

Other Notes:

• Requirements document due Friday, March 11.  We may not have a class meeting that day (History of Science conference)
• There will be no afternoon office hours on Thursday
• Exam #2 will be the Friday we return from break.

Week 9: Monday, March 14

• Spring Break!  No classes or office hours

Week 10: Monday, March 21

• Topics:
• More SQL
• Reading:
• Date, chapters 11,12
• Sunderraman chapter 2

Monday:

• An in-class exercise in bottom-up design is expected
• Further work on SQL (a series of topics)

Wednesday:

• Further work on SQL (a series of topics)
• We did tuple variables
• Review for exam #2

Thursday:

• Group meeting day.

Friday:

• Exam #2

Other Notes:

• The preliminary design document is due Friday, April 1.

Week 11: Monday, March 28

• Topics:
• More SQL
• Reading:
• Date, chapters 11,12
• Sunderraman chapter 2

Monday:

• Further work on SQL:  Relational algebra operations in SQL

Wednesday:

• Further work on SQL:  Nested queries

Thursday:

• Group meeting day.  No morning office hours.

Friday:

• More SQL:  built in functions, aggregate functions, GROUP BY, HAVING
• Preliminary design document due

Other Notes:

• There will be no morning office hours Thursday, March 31
• The preliminary design document is due Friday, April 1.

Week 12: Monday, April 4

• Topics:
• More SQL
• Reading:
• Date, chapters 11,12
• Sunderraman chapters 3 - 4

Monday:

• More SQL: 
• Relational Calculus
• A review of basic logic
• NOT EXISTS

Wednesday:

• "For all" queries in SQL (nested NOT EXIST statements)

Thursday:

• Group meeting day. 

Friday:

• Outer joins and null values
• Report Writer An introduction to SQL Forms
• An introduction to PL/SQL

Other Notes:

• The full design document will be due April 15.

Week 13: Monday, April 11

• Topics:
• The full relational algebra
• A formal relational calculus
• An example of a domain calculus query language
• Reading:
• Date, chapters 11,12
• Sunderraman chapters 3 - 4

Monday:

• More on Forms
• A final SQL exercise

Wednesday:

• The full relational algebra

Thursday:

• Group meeting day. 

Friday:

• No class (instructor ill)
• Final design document due (but not picked up due to instructor illness)
• A final exercise (short, but cancelled)

Other Notes:

• Exam #3 will be on Wednesday, April 27.  Please note that this is in the last full week of classes.  Thursday and Friday of that week will be group meeting days in preparation for final presentations in the following week.

Week 14: Monday, April 18

• Topics:
• What is relational?
• Object oriented database systems (see note below)
• Reading:
• Date, chapters 25, 26
• Sunderraman section 2.9

Monday:

• A brief overview of PL/SQL
• A quick (and unscheduled) discussion of transactions, COMMIT and ROLLBACK.  A discussion of those two commands can be found in Date, section 15.8 and in Sunderraman, sections 2.6.4 and 3.9 (in the context of embedded SQL, which we have not covered).  Transactions in general are covered in Date in section 15.2 and following.

Wednesday:

• The mathematical basis for the relational model
• What is relational?
• Object-oriented database systems

Thursday:

• Group meeting day. 

Friday:

• Relational algebra - the DIVIDEBY operator (The relational algebra should be as powerful as the relational calculus and SQL.  The DIVIDEBY operator gives us the capability to answer ForAll queries in the relational algebra).

Notes:

• We will skip the scheduled discussion on the full relational algebra and the tuple/domain calculus languages to give us some more time with the notion of object oriented database systems.  Both are important topics, but the full algebra/calculus can wait until your first graduate course in DBMS.
• Well, that was the plan.  As it happened, I was unable to get the OODBMS features of Oracle to work. 
• Exam #3 will be on Wednesday, April 27.  Please note that this is in the last full week of classes.  Thursday and Friday of that week will be group meeting days in preparation for final presentations in the following week.

Week 15: Monday, April 25

• Topics:
• Wrap-up and exam #3
• Reading:

Monday:

• Wrap up
• Review for exam #3

Wednesday:

• Exam #3

Thursday:

• Group meeting day. 

Friday:

• Group meeting day

Other Notes:

• Exam #3 will be on Wednesday, April 27.  Please note that this is in the last full week of classes.  Thursday and Friday of that week will be group meeting days in preparation for final presentations in the following week.