Administration

Instructor
Sharon Salveter
Office: RY 161b. Phone: 834-2773.
E-mail: salveter "at" uchicago "dot" edu
Office Hours: Tuesday 1:30 - 2:15 pm, Thursday 10 -11 am, and whenever else you can find me.

TA
Borja Sotomayor
Office: RY 257-C
E-mail: borja "at" uchicago "dot" edu
Office Hours: Open door policy (see Asking questions below)

Class Time
Lecture: Tuesday & Thursday 12:00 - 1:20 RY 276
Discussion (optional, strongly recommended):
Week 1: Thursday 3 April, 3:00 - 3:50 in RY 255
Weeks 2 - 9: Monday, 4:00 - 4:50 in RY 251 or Maclab, as announced

Course Overview

This course is an introduction to database design and programming using the relational model. Topics include DBMS architecture, entity-relationship and relational models, relational algebra, relational calculus, functional dependencies and normal forms, web DBs and PHP, query optimization, and physical data organization. Tentative syllabus.

We will use the DBMS sqlite3 and scripting language PHP, which are available in the CS Labs. You can download a free copy of sqlite3 here and PHP here. An introduction to the CS Labs is online at: http://www.maclab.cs.uchicago.edu/

The required text for the course is Fundamentals of Database Systems, 5^th Edition, Elmasri and Navathe, Addison Wesley 2007. ISBN 0-321-36957-2. The website for the text is here.

Grading for the course will be based on: homework assignments (30%), midterm (30%), final (30%), and subjective evaluation (10%).

Assignments

You will have a homework assignment every week. Homework will be available by Thursday morning, and be due at 7:00 pm the following Wednesday.

Make sure you have read and understood the page How to hand in assignments.

Discussion Groups and Labs

Discussion groups and labs take place every Monday from 4:00pm to 4:50pm, in Ry251 or in the Maclab (the location will be announced beforehand in the mailing list and in class).

Handouts and files

Exams

• Midterm Test: Thursday 1 May in class.
• Final Exam: Tuesday 10 June 10:30 am - 12:30 pm.
  

Asking questions

The TA for this course has an open door policy for asking questions. Instead of setting fixed office hours, you are welcome to consult with the TA at any time. Nonetheless, you should try to give the TA, whenever possible, some advance warning of your visit (by e-mail) to make sure that he will be in his office at that time.

The preferred form of support for this course is though the course mailing list, which can be used to ask questions and share useful information with your classmates. In fact, we encourage that all questions about homework assignments, discussion sessions, and databases in general be sent to the mailing list, and not directly to the instructor or the TA. This way, all your classmates will be able to benefit from the reply to your question.

You can subscribe to the mailing list in the following web page: http://mailman.cs.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/cmsc23500.

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