CISC 437: Database Systems

Catalog Description:
Physical and logical organization of databases. Data retrieval languages, relational database languages, security and integrity, concurrency, distributed databases.

Current Texts:
Fundamentals of Database Systems
Navatthe & Elmasri
Addison-Wesley, 3rd Edition, 2000

Goals:
The course goal is an understanding of the basic principles and issues involved in the design and use of a database system. After completing this course a student should be able to design modules of a database system, write application programs that operate on a database, and understand the design principles, capabilities, and limitations of database systems. (This course emphasizes design of database systems; it is not a survey of current business models.)

Content:

• Physical organization - file structure, storage allocation, search techniques,
• Logical organization - entity-relationship, hierarchical, network, and relational data models,
• Data Retrieval Languages - ISBL, QUEL, Query-by-Example, DL/1, DBTG proposa l,
• Equivalence and properties of relational database languages,
• Design and optimization of relational databases - decomposition, lossless joins, dependency preservation, normal forms,
• Security and Integrity in databases - statistical databases,
• Concurrency control,
• Distributed databases.

Prerequisites:
CISC 220 and either CISC 310 or CISC 301

Helpful Background: Familiarity with any database system would be helpful background, as would familiarity with the 'C' and C++ programming languages.