CS3200: Introduction to Databases

MTWR 11:40a-1:20p ET/Boston (Online. See Canvas for connection information.)

John Rachlin

Associate Teaching Professor

Teaching Assistants

See Piazza for TA office hours and zoom locations.

Nauria de Oliveira	Yomi Addey	Aarushi Attray	Laura Boelsterli
Fenghao Cui	Ashsmith Khayrul	Kathryn Tran

Course Information

Course Description

This course will give you a working knowledge of designing and building database-backed data driven applications. We cover advanced querying with SQL, data modeling, normalization, and the ACID properties of a relational database management system. We will also cover database programming using triggers, stored procedures, functions, and events. Advanced topics include indexing, transactions, concurrency and recovery, and building APIs and Dashboards for application development. The course will also provide an introduction to non-relational (NoSQL) databases. Students will carry out an individual data integration and analysis project. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Design, implement, and query a relational database
• Write complex SQL queries, SQL functions, SQL triggers and SQL procedures
• Connect a computer application to a commercial relational database (MySQL) and access and manipulate data from the database within the application
• Build data-driven applications, including the database, middleware API, and front-end user-interface.
• Describe ACID properties and the inner workings of transactions
• Describe the strengths and the weaknesses of both the SQL and NoSQL DBMS

Recordings, Attendance, and Participation

Lecture recordings will be available on Canvas usually within a few hours after the class ends. Recordings are for backup purposes and are not intended to replace the lectures. In fact, I will be taking attendance every day and attendance and participation will count for a portion of your grade. I strongly recommend you attend every class and that you ask questions regularly. Be active and engaged! Be present in all senses of the word. In the event you need to miss class, I will be posting lecture notes and coding examples that evening. (Materials should be available by 8pm.) I very much welcome active discussion in my classrooms. To ask a question, feel free to virtually raise your hand or post your question on chat.

Please turn your cameras ON

Textbooks

Recordings

Most classes will be recorded. Recordings are available through Canvas....Zoom Meetings....Cloud Recordings. Recordings should not be used as a substitute for coming to class. This is a synchronous course with live lectures. Attendance is not only expected, it is required.

Advice for taking an online class

I understand that taking a class online can be a challenge for some students. I will do everything in my power to make the class as personalized and engaging as possible. This course was not designed for 100,000 anonymous strangers. I will tailor the material to your questions and feedback and your assignments will be individually evaluated by the instruction team. You can make this class more interesting and fun by asking questions, expressing opinions, and having a voice. Turning on your camera, while not required, will help me to get to know you and to know how you are reacting to the material. You may also find it helpful to have a second small monitor set up so you can follow along when I give technical demonstrations.

Homework

There will be one "mini-project" programming assignment about every week. The detailed dates are listed on the schedule below. Homeworks should be completed largely on your own unless I specifically allow for group submissions. Informal discussions or seeking general help from fellow students is ok so long as you cite your sources. Do not simply copy another student's submission!

Strict Homework Late Policy:

• Up to 48 hours late: 10% penalty
• After 48 hours: Not accepted.

Academic Integrity (Please Read!)

Database design and formulating SQL queries is a creative process. Individuals must reach their own understanding of problems and discover paths to their solutions. Verbal discussions with fellow students is fine, but I expect each student to do their own work. If you share code, files, queries, or if you provide or receive help on a quiz, you are breaking the rules. Do not, under any circumstances, share code, queries, or designs with your fellow students. This is a direct violation of the course collaboration policy. Please be aware that I take the issue of academic integrity very seriously. The consequences of cheating in my class are at my discretion and may include receiving a zero for the assignment or quiz, a full letter grade reduction in your final grade, or failing the course altogether. Please contact me if you have any questions about acceptable conduct. And if you are stuck on an assignment, the TAs and I are here to help, or you can pose your question on Piazza. The university's academic integrity policy discusses actions regarded as violations and consequences for students: http://www.northeastern.edu/osccr/academic-integrity

Evaluation

The final grade for this course will be weighted as follows:

• Weekly Homework Assignments: 65%
• Database group project (Design, Implementation, Presentation and Report): 25%
• Attendance / Participation: 10%

Final grades will be assigned based on the following scale. Computed grades are rounded to the nearest integer, e.g., 93.4999 is an A-. 93.5000 is an A.

Letter	Range
A	94 - 100
A-	90 - 93
B+	87 - 89
B	83 - 86
B-	80 - 82
C+	77 - 79
C	73 - 76
C-	70 - 72
D+	67 - 69
D	63 - 66
D-	60 - 62
F	<60