A study of the organization of database systems for information storage, retrieval, and security. Examples of relational and non-relational systems are presented.
Students will be exposed to practical and theoretical aspects of database management. Specifically, students will understand:
Students may also be exposed to advanced topics including object-oriented and extended-relational data models, data warehousing, distributed database management, etc.
Through a group-oriented hands-on project students will:
The course will include regular homework and/or programming assignments. Unless otherwise specified, assignments are due 5 minutes before midnight on the due date. There will be no credit given for late assignments (without an excused absence)—turn in as much as you can.
Reading assignments should be completed before the lecture covering the material. Not all reading material will be covered in the lectures, but you will be responsible for the material on homework and exams. Quizzes over the assigned reading may be given at any time.
See the GFU CS/IS/Cyber policies for collaboration and discussion of collaboration and academic integrity. Most students would be surprised at how easy it is to detect collaboration in programming—please do not test us! Remember: you always have willing and legal collaborators in the faculty.
Almost all of life is filled with collaboration (i.e., people working together). Yet in our academic system, we artificially limit collaboration. These limits are designed to force you to learn fundamental principles and build specific skills. It is very artificial but intensional for your own benefit. The only way for you to learn is by doing the work.
To be clear, do not:
I may require an oral defense for any assignment at my discretion. This is a brief meeting where you explain and defend your submitted work. This process mirrors the business world, where professionals routinely present and defend their analyses to supervisors and clients, and ensures your work represents authentic learning. If required, you must schedule and complete your defense within 72 hours of notification to receive a non-failing grade; without the defense, you will receive a zero on the assignment. If the work product is a group submission, all team members must be present at the meeting. Routine scheduling conflicts (work, other classes, social commitments) do not qualify for extensions. Be prepared to summarize your arguments, explain your methodology, defend your conclusions with evidence, and answer questions about your work and your problem solving process. You should be ready to articulate and defend the rationale behind your work.
The mission and vision statement of the Computer Science & Information Systems (CSIS) program states that our students are distinctive by "bringing a Christ-centered worldview to our increasingly technological world."
As one step towards the fulfillment of this objective, each semester, the engineering faculty will collectively identify an influential Christian writing to be read and reflected upon by all engineering faculty and students throughout the term. As part of the College of Engineering, CSIS students participate in this effort, known as Engineering Your Soul (EYS). This exercise will be treated as an official component of every engineering course (including CSIS courses) and will be uniquely integrated and assessed at my discretion, typically as a component of the quiz grade.
Students have three options for satisfying the EYS requirement.
The deadline for all of these options is the Wednesday the week after the group meetings.
All the reflections should be posted to the canvas EYS course. A reflection should be 100 or more words and should consist of your personal thoughts on the book and/or meeting, not simply a summary of the book.
Besides EYS, I am always available to discuss the Christian faith if you have any questions or doubts. Send me an email, come by my office hours, or talk to my after class, Christ is the reason I am at GFU, I always have time to talk about faith.
The final course grade will be based on:
Week 1Introduction; DB Concepts
Reading: Chp. 1 & 2 |
Week 2Relational Model & SQL
Reading: Chp. 5 & 6 |
Week 3SQL
Reading: Chp. 6 |
Week 4More SQL
Reading: Chp. 6 & 7 |
Week 5ER Model
Reading: Chp. 3 |
Week 6Aggregate Queries
Reading: Chp. 7 |
Week 7Nested Queries & Set operations
Reading: Chp 7. |
Week 8More DML/DDL & Midterm exam 10/17
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Week 9Relational Algebra & Functional Dependencies
Reading: Chp. 9 & 14 |
Week 10Normal Forms
Reading: Chp. 14 |
Week 11Data Structures
Reading: Chp. 16 |
Week 12Indexes & Query Processing
Reading: Chp. 17 & 18 |
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Thanksgiving
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Week 13Query Optimization
Reading: Chp. 19 |
Week 14Transactions, Concurrency, & Database Recovery
Reading: Chp. 20, 21, & 22 |
Week 15Distributed Databases & NOSQL
Reading: Chp. 23 & 24 |
TBDFinal exam
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