CS561 - Advanced Database Systems
Course Syllabus - Spring 2003
http://www.cs.wpi.edu/~cs561/s03
Professor:
Elke A. Rundensteiner
Office: WPI, Fuller Bldg, number 238.
Homepage:
http://www.cs.wpi.edu/~rundenst
Email:
rundenst@cs.wpi.edu
Course homepage:
http://www.cs.wpi.edu/~cs561/s03
Class meetings: Wednesdays at 6:00 pm - 8:50 pm, in WPI,
Fuller 320.
Office hours: Directly after class on
Wednesdays at 9:00 pm, i'll stay as long as you may need me.
Also, by appointment. And, I will add other office hours as the semester
starts, so check here.
How To Contact Me And Office Hours:
-
Contact me via email at "rundenst@cs.wpi.edu"
with CS561 in the subject line. I get lot's of email every day,
but I'll look out for that subject line and
then will aim to respond to your messages within
24 hours, whenever possible.
- Second, I will be available directly after class
on Wednesdays at 9pm until no questions remain.
- Third, I'll be in my office at WPI all day 9am-5pm
on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and most days as well on Fridays.
If it is some small question that you need
an answer for, pleae do feel free to drop
by my office at any time and interrupt me and I'll
try to answer your question.
- Or, if you prefer, please make an appointment by
emailing or by dropping by, so that we can set aside
a longer meeting time;
if none of above works for you.
-
I may also post additional office hours HERE,
once the semester is in full swing and I find that
there is demand for it.
Mailing List for Course
Note that an cs561 email mailing list
for this course has been set up.
You need to subscribe
yourself to this list asap in order to receive messages related
to the course (by sending an email message to "majordomo@cs.wpi.edu"
with message "subscribe cs561").
Goals and Intended Audience
This course will provide you with an overview of a selected set of the
advanced topics in database systems. The goal is to expose you to the
current active areas in databases of interest to both
academia and industry by reading book chapters as well as papers from the
recent literature and discussing them in class. You will also get an
in-depth look into one set of technologies by conducting a team
project in an area of your choosing (as long as related to
databases in some form and agreed to by the instructor)
and into a second topic by preparing
a tutorial on a second database topic and
then presenting this to the students in the course
(again selection of topic with guidance and approval by the instructor).
This course is for you if you are either interested in learning about
the state-of-the-art in database systems.
This course could also
serve as starting point for you to begin to conduct
research in the field of databases.
Your course project, if selected carefully, could in
some cases be extended to lead to a publication, though
typically after further effort beyond the class timeperiod, and
hence to a start for a Master's thesis or a first
step towards Ph.D. level research work.
Recommended Background
You should have a basic familiarity with relational databases, the
equivalent of a beginning course in databases. Instead if you have
used a database system before in practice, you may also have
sufficient basic understanding required for the course. If you are in
doubt, you get permission from the instructor.
Some programming experience in a high-level programming
language (such as java or C++ or C)
will be necessary for the course in order to pursue a course project.
Text Book
There will not be an assigned textbook in the course, since
there is no good book available covering this diversity of current
DBMS topics. Instead, we will be reading selected papers from the
literature. I will hand copies of these papers out directly in class, or
link them onto our course webpage,
or make them available for copying as needed in the department.
Optional Readings
If you need to brush up on your basic relational database knowledge,
then below are some books (some have newer editions)
you may want to look over:
-
Raghu Ramakrishnan, Database Management Systems,
McGraw-Hill. 2000.
-
Fundamentals of Database Systems, R. Elmasri, and S. Navathe, Benjamin Cummings.
-
Principles of Data and Knowledge Base Systems, Volume 1, J.D. Ullman, Computer Science Press.
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Database System Concepts, 2nd Edition, H.F. Korth and A. Silberschatz, McGraw-Hill.
-
A First Course in Database Systems, J. Widom and J. D. Ullman, Prentice-Hall.
Information about Database System at WPI (Oracle).
This link
Getting-started-with-Oracle contains information to get
you started with Oracle as prepared by several folks at
Stanford University, including setting up connections
to oracle,
Web interfaces to Oracle, Java interfacing to Oracle with JDBC,
etc. This would be one potential platform to
try out your course projects out.
Topics
There will be a core collection of readings
in selected topics in databases around which
our discussions will be centered.
These may include:
-
Database models
(relational, object-oriented models, web models).
-
Object-oriented databases.
-
Active database systems (i.e., databases and rule management).
-
View materialization
-
Data warehousing.
-
On-line Analytic Processing (OLAP).
-
Database Mining and Knowledge Discovery.
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Information integration and mediation.
-
New data types: unstructured, textual, etc.
-
Databases and the WWW.
-
Web Site Management Systems.
-
Multimedia database systems.
-
Stream management systems
-
Continuous query processing
-
Advanced database tools, such as schema evolution managers,
middle layer engines, etc.
-
Heterogeneous, distributed databases and
client-server systems.
-
Data management problems and solutions
for non-traditional
applications, such as E-commerce,
engineering, internet, intranet, etc.
Grading Policy
Final grades are computed based on 100 points:
- 15 points: Assignments (Brief written critiques of our readings,
and possibly other written homework)
- 20 points: Student Presentations
- 15 points: Mini Course Projects (2 are planned, and 3rd one may be added)
- 25 points: Final Course Project ( Implementation, Demonstration, Report, and Presentation)
- 25 points: Examination.
If you are between two grades, then active participation
in the course discussions will be weighed positively,
possibly helping you to reach the higher of the two grades.
In general, each assignment will have a basic objective for
the majority of the assignment points and an extended objective for
demonstrating additional work and understanding.
Final grades will reflect the extent to which you have demonstrated
understanding of the material, and completed the assigned projects. The
base level grade will be a ``B'' which indicates that the basic
objectives on assignments and exams have been met. A grade of ``A'' will
indicate significant achievement beyond the basic objectives and a grade
of ``C'' will indicate not all basic objectives were met, but work was
satisfactory for credit. No incomplete grades will be assigned unless
there exist exceptional extenuating circumstances.
Late Policy
You are strongly encouraged to turn in any assignments
on-time.
Unless otherwise noted for a particular assignment,
the following late policy holds.
Late assignments will be penalized by subtracting
20% of the total achievable points of that deliverable,
if turned in within the first 24 hours
after the due date.
Between 24 to 48 hours late turnin will result in
a reduction of 50% of the total achievable points.
Certain deliverables may not have ANY LATE day,
as announced.
Most importantly, late point reductions cannot be made up by later improvements.
A Note on Plagerism and Cheating
Unless explicitly noted, all work is to be done on an individual basis.
Note in particular that copying of any material,
may it be a single sentence or a figure, from any location
(including the internet) without proper
acknowledgement of the source constitutes plagerism. Any
violation of the WPI's guidelines for academic integrity will result in
no credit for the course and referral to the Student Affairs Office for
disciplinary action.