Undergraduate Course: Database Systems (INFR10055)

Course Outline
School	School of Informatics	College	College of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate)	Availability	Available to all students
SCQF Credits	10	ECTS Credits	5
Summary	Databases are essential to maintaining the information base in almost all modern business enterprises and to electronic commerce. They are also becoming increasingly important as a fundamental tool in much scientific research. Some knowledge of databases is now essential in any of these areas. The study of databases draws on several areas of computer science: logic, algorithms, programming languages and operating systems. This course is an introduction to the principles underlying the design and implementation of databases and database management systems. It will cover the languages that have been developed for relational databases, their implementation and optimisation. It will also introduce some recent developments in databases including object-oriented, object-relational systems, semistructured data and the relationship between databases and XML. The bare essentials of transaction processing will also be covered.
Course description	* Relational Model and Relational Algebra * SQL and SQL DDL * Designing databases: E-R diagrams and functional dependencies * Datalog, recursive queries and graph queries * Comprehensions and OQL * XML: types and languages for XML * HTML and PHP programming * Query optimization and indexing * Implementation of relational operations * Transaction processing, concurrency and serialization Relevant QAA Computing Curriculum Sections: Databases

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations	Students MUST NOT also be taking Database Systems (INFR09011)	Other requirements	This course is open to all Informatics students including those on joint degrees. For external students where this course is not listed in your DPT, please seek special permission from the course organiser. Students are expected to have taken a basic course in logic and discrete mathematics.

Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites	Visiting students are required to have comparable background to that assumed by the course prerequisites listed in the Degree Regulations & Programmes of Study. If in doubt, consult the course lecturer.

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2014/15, Available to all students (SV1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Semester 1
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 20, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 8, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 68 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 75 %, Coursework 25 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	Three exercises, two small pen-and-paper ones (each worth 5% of the final mark) and a larger programming one (worth 15% of the final mark). You should expect to spend approximately 30 hours on the coursework for this course. If delivered in semester 1, this course will have an option for semester 1 only visiting undergraduate students, providing assessment prior to the end of the calendar year.
Feedback	Not entered
Exam Information
Exam Diet	Paper Name		Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)			2:00
Resit Exam Diet (August)			2:00

Academic year 2014/15, Part-year visiting students only (VV1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Semester 1
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 20, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 8, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 68 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 75 %, Coursework 25 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	Three exercises, two small pen-and-paper ones (each worth 5% of the final mark) and a larger programming one (worth 15% of the final mark). You should expect to spend approximately 30 hours on the coursework for this course. If delivered in semester 1, this course will have an option for semester 1 only visiting undergraduate students, providing assessment prior to the end of the calendar year.
Feedback	Not entered
Exam Information
Exam Diet	Paper Name		Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S1 (December)			2:00

Learning Outcomes
1 - Demonstrate knowledge of relational database schema design by employing the concepts of normal forms and entity-relationship diagrams. 2 - Demonstrate the ability to declare, define, and access relational database schemas in relational database management systems using the data definition language subset of SQL. 3 - Demonstrate knowledge of querying relational databases by using SQL and the ability to convert relational algebra queries to SQL. 4 - Demonstrate knowledge of query evaluation by describing and implementing database processing algorithms. 5 - Demonstrate the ability to programmatically map other data models to the relational one. 6 - Demonstrate knowledge of concurrency control by describing transactional semantics. 7 - Apply transactional semantics to reason about the correctness and consistency of database interaction among multiple users. 8 - Demonstrate knowledge of recent advances in database systems by identifying the connection between traditional relational databases and other data models and/or query languages. 9 - Demonstrate a basic knowledge of serial data expressed in XML. 10 - Demonstrate understanding and the ability to implement tools for structuring and querying XML.

Reading List
Raghu Ramakrishnan and Johannes Gehrke, Database Management Systems (Third Edition) McGraw-Hill 2000.

Additional Information
Course URL	http://course.inf.ed.ac.uk/dbs/
Graduate Attributes and Skills	Not entered
Keywords	Not entered

Contacts
Course organiser	Prof Leonid Libkin Tel: (0131 6)51 3816 Email: libkin@ed.ac.uk	Course secretary	Mrs Victoria Swann Tel: (0131 6)51 7607 Email: Vicky.Swann@ed.ac.uk