Version of 25 September 2007

Course description, from the catalogue:

CSU430 Database Design (4 SH)
Studies the design of a database for use in a relational database management system. The entity-relationship model and normalization will be used in example problems. Relational algebra and then the SQL language will be presented. Advanced topics include triggers, stored procedures, indexing, elementary query optimization, and fundamentals of concurrency and recovery. Students will implement a database schema and short application programs on one or more commercial relational database management systems. Prerequisites: CSU212.

Institution:

Northeastern University, and the College of Computer & Information Science, Boston, MA.

Instructor:

Professor Robert P. Futrelle   Email me at: futrelle@ccs.neu.edu,
but note the important emailing instructions at the end of this page.

Futrelle's Office:

450 West Village H (WVH). Also check my lab 460 WVH.

Hardcopy mailbox:

202 WVH

Telephone:

Futrelle's office: 617-373-4239, Lab: 617-373-4607

Textbook:

Database (Principles, Programming and Performance)
O'Neil, Patrick, and Elizabeth, O'Neil.
2nd edition 2001. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann.

Personal Help:

Regular office/advising hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 2pm-3pm.
IM hours below.
If you need help at any other time, find Prof. Futrelle or call or send email, or ask in class to set up an appointment.

Teaching Assistant:

Lin Zhao, 472 WVH. Office hours Wednesdays, 2pm-4pm. Office phone: 617-373-5280. linzhao at the domain: ccs.neu.edu

Instant Messaging office hours:

Google Chat: bob.futrelle@gmail.com Tuesday and Wednesday evenings 8:30-9:30pm.
You'll need a free Google account. But simply phoning me at home during the chat hours is an OK option - don't be shy - 617-244-8261.

On-line help:

There is a ton of information on the Web about database theory and implementations. Various URLs will be added to the course pages as the semester proceeds.

Professor Futrelle's teaching blog:

Read his blog here.

Classes:

Mon, Wed, Thurs 10:30 AM-11:35 AM (Seq. 3) Room: 108 WVH.

Course Key Number:

62873

Projects:

Information will be available on the Projects page.

Exams:

Information will be available on the Exams page.

Course homepage:

http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/futrelle/teaching/csu430f2007/index.html

Grading:

Points of credit out of 100 points for the course:

• Quiz #1 on the chapters 2 and 3 (closed book) - 10 points
• Midterm Exam (closed/open book) on chapters 6 and 8 - 20 points
• Quiz #2 on chapters 6 and 8 (closed book) - 10 points
• Assignments - totaling 10 points
• Your project - totaling 20 points for two reports plus final report
• Final Exam covering the entire course (closed/open book) - 30 points

The course mailing list and archives:

The subject line in all non-mailing list mail to me regarding the course
must begin with csu430f07, or else it will be returned.
All students in the course must sign up for the mailing list immediately in order to receive important notices. Sign up right away at https://lists.ccs.neu.edu/bin/listinfo/csu430-f07-rpf. Be sure to include both your email address and your name - otherwise it may be impossible for me to figure out who you are from your email address alone. You can only post mail to the list using the email address(s) you're signed up with, though you may sign up with more than one address - and receive mail sent to one, the other, or both. Group membership is private. All mail to the list is publicly archived and available here: https://lists.ccs.neu.edu/pipermail/csu430-f07-rpf/. Post away -- your questions and information may well be of interest to other students in the class. Post mail to the list from your registered email address(s) to this address: csu430-f07-rpf@lists.ccs.neu.edu (Mail to the list will automatically be prefaced with the course label for you.)

Return to CSU430 Fall 2007 homepage. or RPF's Teaching Gateway or homepage