Introduction to Databases, Fall 2003

[News] [Schedule] [Useful links] [Course description] [Course goal] [Literature] [Prerequisites] [Course format] [Examination] [Lecturer]

News

The exam results are ready and are being processed by the ITU administration. They should be available no later than Friday February 13. See bulletin board in front of the exam office and/or mit.itu.dk for your result.

Exam problems. No solutions will be made public, as the problems are to be used as hand-ins in future editions of the course.

Schedule

Below is a preliminary schedule for the course. Click links to download lecture slides, exercise problems, etc. Literature in square brackets [] is supplementary reading.

Date Time Subject Literature Exercises / hand-ins Place
August 26 9.00-12.00 Introduction. GUW chapter 1 [except 1.3.3 and box on page 16], 2.0 (i.e. the part before 2.1), 3.0, 5.0. [note] For week 2 0.19
Sept. 2 12.30-16.00 Relations and SQL (examples) GUW 3.1, 6.1, 6.2 (except "Conversion to Relational Algebra" which you should read after the Oct. 7), 6.5 (you will understand example 6.35, box on p. 288, and example 6.38 after the Sept. 30 lecture), 6.6 [except 6.6.5, 6.6.6] For week 3 0.10
Sept. 9 12.30-16.00 E/R modeling GUW 2 [except 2.1.10, 2.1.11, and boxes on p. 25 and 37], 3.2, [3.3] For week 4 0.10
Sept. 16 12.30-16.00 Normalization GUW 3.4, 3.5.2, 3.5.5, box on p. 99, [rest of 3.5], 3.6 For week 5 0.10
Sept. 23 12.30-16.00 Normalization II (cancelled). Case studies in database design RG 2.8, 3.8, 19.9, [first 3 links in case 1 and case 2] For week 6 0.10
Sept. 30 12.30-16.00 Normalization II. More on SQL (examples) GUW 3.7, 8.3, 8.7, 6.3 (except 6.3.6, 6.3.7, 6.3.8), 6.7 (postponed) For week 7 0.10
Oct. 7 12.30-16.00 Relational algebra and SQL (examples) GUW 5 [except 5.2.10, 5.2.11, 5.5], 16.2.1, 16.2.2, 16.2.4, 6.3.6, 6.3.7, 6.3.8, 6.4 For week 8 0.10
Oct. 14 12.30-16.00 Autumn break - no lecture     0.10
Oct. 21 12.30-16.00 Constraints and triggers in SQL (examples) GUW 7 [except 7.1.3, 7.1.6] For week 9 1.90
Oct. 28 12.30-16.00 Data warehousing and decision support
Guest lecturer: Torben Bach Pedersen
PJ, Kimball chapter 5 [except p. 180-190 and p. 200-204], Poe p. 3-7, 17-28 For week 10 0.10
Nov. 4 12.30-16.00 XML for data exchange; Transaction processing (examples) GUW 4.6, 4.7, Murray p. 112-115, [rest of Murray]; GUW 1.2.4, 8.6, 7.1.6, [GUW 17.0, 17.1.1, 17.1.2, 17.1.3, 18.0, 18.1.0, 18.1.1, 18.1.2, 18.1.3, 18.8.0, 18.8.1, 18.8.2] For week 11 0.10
Nov. 11 12.30-16.00 Database efficiency (examples) GUW 6.6.5, 6.6.6, 7.1.3, and Greenspun chapter 13: Tuning sections "A simple B-Tree Index", "Tracing/Tuning Case 1", and "Tracing/Tuning Case 2" For week 12 0.10
Nov. 18 12.30-16.00 Some commercial database management systems; exam preparation [SKS chapter 25.0, 25.1, 25.2, 25.5, 26.0, 26.1, 26.2, 26.5, 27.0, 27.2, 27.5, 27.10.]   0.10
Jan. 14 9.00- 1st question hour     0.19
Jan. 19 9.00- 2nd question hour     0.19
Jan. 20 9.00-13.00 Written exam     0.10

Literature:

Useful links

Course description

The course is an introduction to relational databases (the dominant database paradigm), covering their design, implementation, and theoretical foundation. The course focuses in particular on the skills needed to design and implement databases. It covers the following topics: A considerable part of the coursework will consist of practical experience with implementing databases. Also, the connection between practice and the theoretical foundation is emphasized.

Literature

Database Systems: The Complete Book by Hector Garcia-Molina, Jeff Ullman, and Jennifer Widom, 2002. Copies for the course will be on sale from Samfundslitteratur.

Course goal

The goal of the course is to provide students with a firm background in database implementation. After the course, the student should be able to:

Prerequisites

No formal prerequisites. The course may be taken as a first programming course. However, some mathematical background (such as A level high school mathematics or the course "IT Mathematics") is an advantage.

Course format

Teaching consists of lectures plus exercise sessions with teaching assistants present. The course language is English.

Mandatory hand-ins

There will be hand-ins due on most Thursdays/Fridays, starting from the third week of the course. Put your hand-in in your teaching assistant's drawer in front of the exam office no later than Friday 11.59 AM. Satisfactory hand-ins are required to enter the exam!
Hand-ins must be completed individually. You are allowed to discuss hand-ins with fellow students, but you must understand and prepare your own solution.
Put your hand-ins in the drawer of your teaching assistant below the Inergen alarm in front of the student administration.
If you feel tempted to search the Internet for a solution or "inspiration", note that you may very well be cheating yourself: Working independently on hand-ins and other problems is a very important way of learning (more important than attending lectures).
Also, this is what will prepare you for a successful exam.

Examination

Written exam, 4 hours. Satisfactory mandatory hand-ins required to enter exam.

Teachers

Lecturer:
Rasmus Pagh
Office: 1.23
Phone: 38 16 89 34
Email: pagh@itu.dk
Teaching assistants:
Lars Bengtsson, larsb@itu.dk.
Tøger G. Nørgaard, tgn@ostervold.dk.