DB CS145 - Introduction to Databases
Autumn Quarter 2003

Index

Class Resources Assignments Final Exam Oracle System Notes
  1. Important; Read This Document! Course Information (HTML). Note that this is a ``living document''; it will change as new information about the course is known.

  2. Course Outline (HTML). Likewise, this outline may change if the schedule requires it.

Resources

Slides. Here, you can find slides from last year, with voiceover. We shall not be using the voiceover this year, but we shall post similar "silent" slides just before each class. You can also obtain GIF slides that are equivalent to last year's slides without the voiceover or the animation. There will be several topics covered this year for which no previous slides exist, so only the PPT slides without voiceover will be made available.

You can get handouts and exams from previous years through the web page of the textbook A First Course in Database Systems. For the latest information on errata, go to The Errata Sheet for the text.

For solutions to *'d exercises in the text, go to The Solutions Pages for the text.

If you haven't taken CS103 and are unsure whether you have the material, you may look at Class Notes for CS109 (109 was the old number for what is now 103).

Assignments

  1. PDA Assignment #1, due Thursday 10/9/03, before class.
  2. The First OTC Assignment is now ready. It is called er-f03, and its due date is Tuesday 10/7/03, before class. Please complete this assignment before then. You have as many chances as you like to see how you are doing and learn the material if you are getting questions wrong. In most cases, submitting work with wrong answers will result in your getting hints. Only your final score counts.
  3. The OTC Assignment due 2:45PM Tuesday 10/14/03 is now available. It consists of two parts: errel-f03 and fds-fall03.
  4. PDA Assignment #2, due Thursday 10/16/03, before class.
  5. The OTC Assignment due 2:45PM Wednesday 10/22/03 is now available. It consists of two parts, with 5 and 4 questions, respectively, under the usual Homework link; these are norm-mvd-f03 and ra-f03.
  6. PDA Assignment #3, due Thursday 10/23/03, before class.
  7. The OTC Assignment due 2:45PM Tuesday 10/28/03 is now available. It consists of three parts. One part, cons-f03, is an ordinary homework on constraints, and is reached via the Homework tab on the frame. The other two, called "SQL Queries 1" (4 queries) and "battleships"(3 queries), are SQL labs, obtained through the Laboratories tab in the frame. We recommend that you do these by writing the queries off-line and then pasting them into the boxes that OTC provides. It may also help to work on the queries in each lab one-at-a-time, and only when all have been debugged, submit the form with all queries pasted in. You can also use the back button to avoid losing what you have typed.
  8. PDA Assignment #4, due Thursday 10/30/03, before class.
  9. The OTC Assignment due Nov. 4, 2:45PM is now available. Note: Deadline extended to Friday 11:59PM. It consists of a single SQL Lab of four queries, called Sales. However, these queries are quite tricky. You should try them before the midterm to hone your SQL skills, but we are not going to expect that everyone will get them correct. Remember a general rule for composing SQL queries: Start with the FROM --- decide what relations you need in order to get the data you need. Then, work on the WHERE clause --- what about the tuples of these relations is needed to get only the combinations of tuples you want? If necessary, do GROUP BY, HAVING. Finally, fill in the SELECT clause to get the output you desire.
  10. The OTC Assignment due Nov. 11, 2:45PM is now available. It consists of two homeworks of four questions each, called psm-host-f03 and obj-rel-f03.
  11. PDA Assignment #5, due Thursday Nov. 13, before class.
  12. The OTC Assignment due Nov. 18, 2:45PM is now available. It consists of a single set of six questions, called datalog-f03.
  13. PDA Assignment #6, due Thursday Nov. 20, before class, but optionally may be handed in as late as Tuesday Nov. 25, before class, without penalty.
  14. The OTC Assignment due Dec. 2, 2:45PM is now available. It consists of a single set of six questions, called uml-odl-f03.
  15. PDA Assignment #7, due Thursday, Dec. 4, before class. Please try to get this done in time, but if you haven't yet used your late days, and you really want to cut into finals-study time, you may use them now.

Final Exam

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