The primary objective of this course is to make you acquainted with the design and utilization of DBMSs and the environment necessary for their implementation. You will gain hands-on experience with the relational query languages SQL and Query by Example, microcomputer databases DBase IV and Paradox, and also with implementing a simple DBMS in a structural programming language such as C or Pascal. In addition, you will practice working in a team, a skill that is very useful for your future endeavors.
All students in the course should have taken both INFSCI 0015 (Data Structures and Programming Techniques) and INFSCI 0018 (File Processing). Everybody should know a structural programming language, preferably C. Most important concepts will be briefly reviewed in class as needed, but this should not be seen as a substitute for formal preparation.
The principal textbook for this course, available in the bookstore, is:The book is chosen because it provides a well written and up-to-date introductory treatment of the area of database management systems.
- Philip J. Pratt and Joseph J. Adamski "Database Systems Management and Design (third edition)." Boyd & Fraser Publishing Company, Danvers, Massachusetts, 1994, ISBN 0-87709-115-3
The book by Pratt and Adamski is more than sufficient for the course. In case you want to read more or if you do not like Pratt and Adamski's style, you can use any database textbook for supplementary reading. The following two are well written database textbooks:
- C.J. Date "An Introduction to Database Systems, Volume I." Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1990, ISBN 0-201-51381-1
- Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Nawathe "Fundamentals of Database Systems," second edition, The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc., 1994, ISBN 0-8053-1748-1
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