COURSE NUMBER AND TITLE: COP 4720, Information and Database Systems II


OVERVIEW: 
This is the second part of a two-course sequence, which provides students with a basic 
understanding of the internals of a modern database system. Basically, students will
learn how a database management system stores large amounts of data in an efficient
and safe manner, how queries are processed, and how the data can be recovered under
various failure scenarios. By providing a balanced view of ÒtheoryÓ and Òpractice,Ó the 
material covered should allow the student get a deeper appreciation for the complexity 
of a DBMS as well as an indication of the current research approaches that are likely 
to provide a basis for tomorrowÕs systems.

Although the course is not a programming course, students are expected to
implement and experiment with storage and index structures which requires prior
programming experience and knowledge of the Java programming language.


PREREQUISITES: 
COP 3530, CIS 4301
This means, familiarity with the relational data model, relational algebra,
and SQL; basic knowledge of algorithms, data structures (stacks, lists, queues, trees
etc.), and discrete math.


TEXTBOOK: 
H. Garcia-Molina, J. D. Ullman, and J. Widom, Database Systems - The Complete Book, 
1st Edition, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2001. ISBN: 0-13-031995-3

This book covers the material in CIS 4301 and COP 4720.


OUTLINE OF COURSE TOPICS: (subject to change!) 

Topics covered during the course of the semester include: 
¥ Architecture of a modern Database Management System
¥ Data storage 
¥ Indexing 
¥ Query processing and optimization 
¥ Transaction management including concurrency control and recovery 
¥ Advanced applications such as data warehousing and data mining 


EXAMINATIONS AND GRADES: 
Your course grade will be based on two exams which count for roughly 50% (~25% each) and 
6 assignments consisting of written or programming parts. 

For the written assignments, a Web-based database lab offered by Gradiance will be used. 
The one-time lab fee for each student will be $20. 

Please note that you MUST TAKE BOTH EXAMS and DO ALL THE ASSIGNMENTS TO PASS THE COURSE.

Letter grades will be assigned based on your normalized, total scores using the following approximate cutoffs: 
A Ð 90's and above, B Ð 80's and above, C Ð 70's and above, D Ð 50's and above. 


WORKLOAD and FINAL ADVICE: 
Based on the student feedback I have received over the years, the workload is moderate to heavy compared to 
other elective courses. The course is designed to prepare students interested in databases or a related 
field for a career in graduate school. It is also very useful for those students who are looking to work
for a database company or for a job in the IT sector that involves the installation, configuration, and tuning
of a database system.