CSCI 371 Fall 2005 Databases Michael H Goldwasser Saint Louis University Handout 1 Monday 29 August 2005 CSCI 371 Databases Contents 1 Overview 1 1 Catalog Description 1 2 Prerequisites 2 2 2 2 Course Administration 2 1 The Staff 2 2 Class Meetings 2 3 Textbook 2 2 2 3 3 Online Resources 3 1 CSCI 371 Web Page euler slu edu goldwasser 371 3 2 Electronic Assignment Submission 3 3 Email with Instructor 3 4 Graded Work 4 1 Homework Assignments 45 4 2 Exams 55 4 3 Course Grades 4 4 Academic Integrity 4 5 Late Policies 4 4 4 4 5 6 5 Additional Information 5 1 Students with Disabilities or Special Needs 6 6 3 3 3 2 CSCI 371 Fall 2005 Handout 1 1 1 1 Overview Catalog Description Fundamentals of Database systems the relational model file organization and indexes relational algebra structured query language the entity relationship model normalization object databases 1 2 Prerequisites The official prerequisite is CSCI 180 Data Structures or the equivalent 2 2 1 Course Administration The Staff Instructor Email Web Office Telephone Office hours Dr Michael Goldwasser goldwamh slu edu http euler slu edu goldwasser Ritter Hall 006 314 977 7039 Mondays 2 10 3 00pm Wednesdays 9 30 10 30am Fridays 2 10 3 00pm or by appointment Please make sure to take advantage of office hours as they offer a wonderful opportunity for individual attention 2 2 Class Meetings The Lectures The material will be presented in three weekly lectures Though attendance in class is not explicitly required it is certainly expected Lectures are designed to be interactive and class participation is most welcome These meetings will offer learning opportunities that cannot be recreated purely from readings That said for those who miss a lecture information on the lecture topic can often be found on the course schedule web page Time Mon Wed Fri 3 10 4 00pm Place McDonnell Douglas Hall 1003 CSCI 371 Fall 2005 Handout 1 2 3 3 Textbook The required textbook for this course is Title Authors Publisher ISBN Website Database Systems An Application Oriented Approach Second Edition Introductory Version Michael Kifer and Arthur Bernstein and Philip M Lewis Addison Wesley 2005 0 321 22838 3 www aw bc com kifer The text should be available through the campus bookstore as well as various online book vendors 3 Online Resources This course will take advantage of the Internet and the departmental network in many ways 3 1 CSCI 371 Web Page euler slu edu goldwasser 371 With the exception of the first day s printed handouts most of the information for this course will be distributed only by means of the course web page This web site will contain all assignments a schedule of lectures detailed lecture notes and links to many other sources of information The web page contains some information e g solutions submitted assignments individual grades which is more sensitive and therefore which will be available to students in the class only after they have identified themselves properly To gain access to these parts of the web page a student must first complete an online questionnaire creating a unique identity and password 3 2 Electronic Assignment Submission All assignments for this course must be submitted electronically The submission procedure will be done through the course web page and allows students to submit from any computer connected to the Internet Each student in this class will be selecting a unique username password combination solely for use in identifying the student when using the course web page 3 3 Email with Instructor Face to face contact in class and in office hours is most desirable Yet email is a convenient form of communication as well I try to respond to email promptly including at least 4 CSCI 371 Fall 2005 Handout 1 once each evening when possible If your question involves your progress on a current programming assignment my response will be more informative if you can point out the specific problem you have encountered and if I am able to see all of your source code Threfore I strongly suggest that you either attach all relevant files to the email or submit preliminary versions of such files through our online system 4 Graded Work 4 1 Homework Assignments 45 We expect there to be a total of 6 8 homework assignments during the course which will be a mix of written exercises and computer based assignments Unless otherwise specified all assignments will be equally weighted At the end of the semester we will throw away your lowest of the homework grades with the remaining assignments contributing equally to this portion of the grade Homework will often contain one or more practice problems which are not to be turned in and which can be discussed freely between classmates The problems which are to be submitted for a grade however must be done entirely individually A more complete explanation of our policy towards Academic Integrity is given in Section 4 4 4 2 Exams 55 First Exam 15 Friday 7 Oct 2005 3 10 4 00 p m Second Exam 15 Friday 11 Nov 2005 3 10 4 00 p m Final Exam 25 Wednesday 14 Dec 2005 2 00 3 50pm 4 3 Course Grades Letter grades will be based on each students overall percentage of awarded points according to the following formula Student Student Student Student Student Student Student Student Student percentage percentage percentage percentage percentage percentage percentage percentage percentage above above above above above above above above above 90 87 83 80 77 73 70 67 60 will will will will will will will will will result result result result result result result result result in in in in in in in in in a a a a a a a a a grade grade grade grade grade grade grade grade grade of of of of of of of of of A AB B BC C CD or or or or or or or or or better better better better better better better better better CSCI 371 Fall 2005 Handout 1 5 Student percentage below 60 will result in a grade of F Any modification to this scale at the end of the year will be in favor of the students That is we may later decide to award an A to a student who is slightly below the above cutoff but we certainly will not deny an A from someone who is above the cutoff 4 4 Academic Integrity Students are expected to have read and abide by the University statement on Academic Integrity available on page 56 of the Saint Louis University s Undergraduate Catalog A more detailed policy statment is given by The College of Arts Science http www slu edu colleges AS academichonesty html which apply to this course as well In addition to those general