Credits: Three
Section: 7776
Prerequisite: CIS 3020 or CIS 3023, COT 3100
Instructor: Alejandro Pauly (apauly at cise)
Meeting Times: Tuesday 5:10 to 6:00, Thursday 5:10 to 7:05
Where: TUR L011
This course is the first in a two-course sequence that serves as an introduction to modern database systems. This first course provides an in-depth view of databases from a sophisticated user's perspective. Essentially, when you are done with this class you will know the right way to design and implement software that uses a database as a back end to store and manage data. Even if you think that you know the right way to do this because you have played with MySQL previously, the simple fact is that you probably do not know the right way. We will not cover database internals or how to tweak them in order to get them to run fast; that is the topic of the next course in the sequence.
Even though we are only looking at database technology from a user's perspective, there are still a lot of topics to cover:
Required Textbook: A First Course in Database Systems, Second or Third Edition, by Jeffrey Ullman and Jennifer Widom (Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-035300-0).
Alejandro's office hours and location:
When: Tuesday and Thursday after class (6-7:30PM Tuesday, 7-8PM Thursday)
Where: TBA
Contact Info: phone 352-392-TBA, email: apauly@cise.ufl.edu
Class web page:
This will be at http://www.cise.ufl.edu/class/cis4301sp09/. You should check the web page a couple of times a week (at least) for important announcements and updates. All assignments will be posted to the web page for download, and the due dates for assignments and dates for the quizzes will also be posted as come near. Please note that the course outline is posted on the website for reference purposes only but you can expect it to change as we go forward. This should serve as notice that you should not print it and hold it as your guide because quiz dates and assignment due dates might change as the course progresses.
Teaching Assistants:
Saeed Moghaddam (saeed at cise). Office hours Tuesday and Thursday from 11:45 to 12:35 in CSE309
Attending class is the easiest way to study for the examinations and to understand the material. Although attendance won't be checked and it won't count towards the grade, attending and participating in class will definitely give you a better chance to do well in the course.
Failure to attend on days when we have quizzes, tests, or demos will result in a failing grade on that quiz, test, or assignment. Unless of course an appropriate excuse is provided (preferably prior to the absence, see Section 7 of the syllabus).
Your grade in this course is determined as a combination of five quizzes and five assignments. I might also periodically assign homeworks that are not turned in or graded, but will help you better understand the course material and will help you study for the quizzes. We will discuss the HWs solutions in class as time permits.
The quizzes account for 70% of the grade, the assignments for 30%. You can take all five quizzes and the final during finals week and have the opportunity to drop the lowest grade. Each of the five quizzes (or 4 quizzes + final) have the same weight. Keep in mind that the quizzes will only cover the material that has not been covered in other previous quizzes whereas the final exam will cover all the material. It is your choice whether you want to take the final or not, but if you do well and keep up with all the five quizzes prior to the final, you will be in good standing with your grade and not even have to take the final.
Please check the course outline to get an idea of when the quizzes will happen and the assignment will be due and what material they will cover.
The grade in this class is NOT curved and will follow the standard grading scale: A=90%, B+=85%+, B=80%+, C+=75%+, C=70%+, D=60%+, E..60% (failing grade)
It is your responsibility to check your graded quizzes and assignments and your right to discuss any grading issues with me or the TAs. If we determine that we made a mistake or that the grade in question is not consistent with the rest of grading, then you will definitely get the grade you deserve. Note however that this can possibly mean that you will get a lower grade if we determine you were given a grade higher than you should have on the item in question. Although this is highly unlikely (that your grade will be lowered), please make sure to analyze your regrade request and have good reason to request it.
If you miss a quiz or do not submit an assignment on time you will get no grade for that item unless you can provide appropriate excuse for missing the date. If you know in advance that you will miss a quiz then you must provide a written excuse at least one week in advance. If you have an emergency and cannot provide one week advance notice then you must provide an official written excuse from a doctor, priest, police officer, or anyone who can verify the emergency. I will be definitely be understanding of such situations but I must ensure that no one takes advantage of this in order to be fair to the rest of the students.
An academic honesty offense is defined as the act of lying, cheating, or stealing academic information so that one gains academic advantage. As a University of Florida student, one is expected to neither commit nor assist another in committing an academic honesty violation. Additionally, it is the student's duty to report observed academic honesty violations. In this class, unless otherwise stated, it is expected that all work will be your own and will not be taken from any outside source without my explicit approval. All incidents of academic dishonesty will be pulled prosecuted.
Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when requesting accommodation. Your documentation and specific needs must be given as soon as possible, so that appropriate arrangements are made.