CS 564 / Fall 2008: Database Management Systems
Lectures: Tue/Thu 4-5:15pm,
room 1240 Comp Sci.
Announcements
PA#2 Due Date Postponed: The iMap server has been down more
or less since Thursday. This means that I (and probably the TAs) have been
unable to answer any questions you might have had by email. For this reason I
am postponing the due date until Thursday, Oct. 2. …
Important Dates
- Midterm exam: 4:00pm Thur, Oct 30, in class.
- Final exam: 7:45 am (ouch!)
Wed, Dec 17, Room to be announced
Course Schedule:
Here is a guess at the course schedule.
Project Description
The first assignment is now available. It is a two-point E/R
diagram assignment, due on Sept. 18th. Here is a solution to the assignment. Note
that many solutions are possible for an E/R assignment.
The second
assignment is now available. It is a SQL assignment, worth four points,
due on Oct. 2. Here is a solution to the assignment. Again, many different versions
of the SQL queries are possible.
Staff
Instructor: Jeff Naughton (contact information
on my homepage). Office hours: Thursday 1:30 – 3:30.
TAs:
Zhenxiao Luo zhenxiao@cs.wisc.edu Office hours: Friday 12:30 – 2:00, 1307 CS&S.
Mayssam Sayyadian mayssam@cs.wisc.edu Office hours: MW 4-5:30, 5364 CS&S
.
Class
Mailing List: compsci564-1-f08@lists.wisc.edu. Please use sparingly (only
information of interest to the entire class.)
Course Description
CS 564 is intended to give students a solid background in database management
systems, particularly relational database management systems. Such systems will
be examined from two perspectives: that of a database system user, and that of
a database system implementer. This is a lot to cover in one semester, so we
will likely focus more on the perspective of the implementer than that of the
user. The hope is that by understanding the technical underpinnings of an
RDBMS, the student will be well-positioned to become a “power” DBMS
user (rather than a user who has to view the DBMS as a “black
box.”)
Prerequisites
CS 367 or the equivalent is essential. CS 537 would also be useful but is not mandatory.
One
of the most difficult aspects of this course for many students is the fact that
the DBMS internals portions of the project will be done in C++. If you have
never programmed in C++, this will be a non-trivial challenge. If you are in
this category, it would be a very good idea to start working through the online C++
for Java programmers tutorial.
In
addition, you will need to be willing to learn some PHP for the last part of
the course project. More on this later in the semester.
Course Format
- Two 75-min lectures per
week.
- A midterm exam and a final
exam.
- A programming project with
5-6 stages. Details will be posted as the semester progresses.
Grade:
midterm = 25%, final = 35%, project = 40%.
Textbooks
Strongly recommended: "Database Management Systems", R. Ramakrishnan
and J. Gehrke, third edition, McGraw-Hill. I will be assigning readings out of
this book.
For
a C++ book I recommend the book "A C++ Primer" by Stanley B. Lippman.
If you prefer another C++ book, or don’t think you need one, that is
fine; the book is just for your use to help you with any questions you might
have with C++.