CSC 471 – Principles of Database Systems

Course Syllabus, Fall 2009

COURSE INFORMATION

For Whom Planned: Upper undergraduate students
Credits: 3
Prerequisite: CSC 330
Meeting Times: M, W 3:30pm - 4:45pm
Location: Petty Building 223

INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION

Instructor: Dr. Lixin Fu
Office: Petty 162
Office hours: M, W 10:00am - 12:00pm or by appointment
Telephone: (336) 256-1137
E-mail: lfu@uncg.edu
Home page: http://www.uncg.edu/~l_fu

COURSE OBJECTIVES AND TOPICS

In this course students will learn and understand the essential concepts, principles, and techniques for the design, analysis, and use of computerized database systems.  By developing a real world application step by step, the students not only enhance their understanding of the fundamental concepts and theories of databases but also obtain some "hands-on" experience and marketable skills that today's high tech IT industry demands. The topics specifically include:

• Introduction
• Entity-Relationship Model
• Relational Data Model and Relational Algebra
• SQL Query Language
• Relational Database Design Including Functional Dependencies and Normalization
• Application Design and Development
• XML

Click here  to see the tentative schedule. 

TEXTBOOK 

Required textbook:

A. Silberschatz, H. F. Korth, and S. Sudarshan, Database System Concepts, Fifth Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2006. ISBN: 0-07-295886-3.

EVALUATION METHODS AND GUIDELINES FOR ASSIGNMENTS

1. Exams
There will be two closed notes, closed books exams. 

2. Project
The project consists of five inter-related assignments that will be required and graded. The first two are written parts; the rest involve database programming designed to give you some "hands-on" experience with a full fledged database management system. At the end of the semester, there is a demo session for each student. Click here to see more details of the project.

3. Grading Scheme

            Exam I                        35%
            Exam II                       35%
            Project                        30% (5%, 5%, 5%, 5%, 10%)
The letter grade you will receive depends on the numerical scores in the exams and assignments, and your overall performance in this course. Roughly,

90-100      A
80-89        B
70-79        C
60-69        D
< 60          F

ATTENDANCE POLICY

Class attendance is required. 

ACADEMIC HONOR CODE

Academic Honor Policy will be strictly enforced.
Please refer to Academic Integrity Policy  or UNCG Undergraduate Bulletin for more details.

The students who will get most out of the course are the ones who read the material before classes, attend all the lectures, start their project assignments early and be present in all two exams. If you need any help for this course, feel free to contact me by office hour, by appointment or by email. I am more than happy to help you.

Lixin Fu