TU/e logo 2ID05: Data Modeling and Databases

Lecturer: Prof. dr. Paul De Bra
Instructors: dr. Alexander Serebrenik, dr. Marc Voorhoeve , dr. George Fletcher

Note about this course: Although this is a Bachelor course at the TU/e it is also part of a mandatory preparation program for Master students and is therefore taught entirely in English. However, during instructions you can ask questions in some other languages (possibly including Dutch, Flemish, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Hebrew, etc.).

Course material:

This course uses parts of the following book: Database System Concepts, Fifth Edition, written by Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan, ISBN 0-07-295886-3. (Note that there exists a paperback and a hardcover version, having a different cover photo but content-wise identical.)

Any other material, such as (slide) presentations, exercises and (mandatory) tests is available through the Sakai Learning Management System. When you go to wwwis.win.tue.nl/sakai this site for the very first time you have to create a new account.

Note: The Sakai site will be available starting August 31, 2009.

The planned course schedule is as follows: Each week there are 2 hours of lectures and 4 hours of instructions. These are as follows:

Below is a list of planned topics for each week. (Actual topics may differ.)

Week 1 Introduction (what are the topics: database design, optimization/constraints/schema modification, data manipulation)
First basics of the Entity-Relationship Model (and on doing database design using ER modeling).
Week 2 The Relational Database Model: definitions and relational algebra.
Week 3 Advanced ER-Modeling topics (cardinality constraints, generalization/specialization, translation to relational model)
Week 4 Basic SQL: simple and nested queries
Week 5 Constraints: functional dependencies (definition, inference rules, introduction to soundness, completeness, redundancy)
Week 6 Other query languages: Query by Example and Tuple Calculus
Week 7 Constraints: completeness of Armstrong rules, "representative" or Armstrong instances
Week 8 Advanced SQL: aggregation, null values, views, "with" construct, etc.
Exam period Mandatory partial exam.
Week 9 Decomposition based on FDs: Boyce-Codd Normal Form and Third Normal Form
Week 10 Equivalence of query languages (RA, TC, SQL) in theory and in practice
Week 11 Multivalued dependencies (definition, inference rules, Fourth Normal Form), Join Dependencies
Week 12 Datalog (definition, examples, aspects of recursion and negation)
Week 13 Schema modification (how to translate changes in requirements to changes in database structure)
Week 14 Trial exam
Week 15 Question and Answer session
Week 16 currently no activity planned
Exam period Mandatory final exam