Syllabus for UNCA CSCI 343 -- Spring 1998

The instructor for CSCI 343 is Dean Brock. The course will meet on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 1:15 PM to 2:05 PM in Karpen 113. The textbook for the course will be Database Systems: A Practical Approach to Design, Implementation and Management written by Thomas Connolly, Carolyn Begg, and Anne Strachan, and published by Addison Wesley Longman (ISBN 0-201-42277-8). Plan on reading the entire book during the semester. CSCI 202, Introduction to Data Structures, is the prerequisite for this course.

Course Objectives

To gain an understanding of database theory in general, and relational database theory in particular.
To learn methods in designing, loading, manipulating and maintaining a database.
To gain some basic experience in the use of relational database query languages, in particular, SQL.
To learn of the administrative methods and problems of large scale database and distributive systems.
To see how database techniques are used in other areas of computer science, in particular in the design of file systems for modern operating systems.

Grades

Grades will be based on a combination of graded homework, two in-class tests, and one final exam. The weights given to the various forms of graded material for students who are not graduating seniors are:

40% Homework
30% Final exam
30% Two in-class tests

The weights given to the various forms of graded material for students who are graduating seniors are:

40% Homework
60% Three in-class tests

The final exam will be given to students who are not graduating seniors on Friday, May 15, from 1:15 PM to 3:45 PM.

Yes	That is the last day of finals.
No	You cannot take the final early.

The third in-class exam for graduating seniors will be given in the last week of class.

Many homework assignments will involve writing database access and update statements in SQL. SQL is fairly portable, and you should be able to use any of the popular PC database management systems to test your assignments. We are in the process of installing miniSQL on the departmental Unix computers. I hope to use this system for some shared database assignments.

For more information

My office is Robinson 221A, my office hours are Tuesday and Thursday from 11:00 to 12:00, and my phone number is 232-5161. However, I do frequently read electronic mail and sending a message to my computer account, brock@cs.unca.edu, is generally the best way to get a fast response.

Copies of all handouts for CSCI 343 are available via the internet at

http://www.cs.unca.edu/classes/343.0/

Obligatory Dilbert database cartoon

I think mauve has the most RAM
Clearly included without permission.

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