| Assignments | Contact Info | Computer Club |

   
Herbert J. Bernstein Professor of Computer Science
Dept. of Mathematics and Computer Science, 1300 William Floyd Parkway, B205, Shirley, NY 11967

23551 CSC 3072A Database Systems
Spring 2013
On Line Course


This web page is http://www.bernstein-plus-sons.com/.dowling/CSC3072S13/CSC3072_Syllabus.html
Copyright © 2005, 2011 -- 2013 Herbert J. Bernstein and other parties. All rights reserved.


This is the syllabus for CSC 3072 for Spring 2013. As the course moves forward, students should return to this page frequently for updated material.

Catalog description:

CSC 3072A - Database Systems 3 credits
An introduction to the theory and practice of relational database systems. Topics include storage structures, the relational model, database concurrency, database recovery, and query optimization. May not be taken for credit in addition to CIS 2102N.

Prerequisite: CSC 1024N or permission of the Mathematics and Computer Science Department chair.

The Spring 2013 section is:
Database Systems - 23551 - CSC 3072A - 0
Associated Term: Winter/Spring 2013
Registration Dates: Nov 08, 2012 to May 13, 2013
Levels: Undergraduate
Attributes: Liberal Arts
Instructors: Herbert J. Bernstein (P)

Dowling On Line Campus
Lecture Schedule Type
On Line Instructional Method
3.000 Credits
View Catalog Entry

Scheduled Meeting Times
Type Time Days Where Date Range Schedule Type Instructors
On line TBA   Internet teaching on line LINE Jan 28, 2013 - May 13, 2013 Lecture Herbert J. Bernstein (P)E-mail




Instructor:

Office Hours:

Students have the option of meeting with the instructor either on-site or via Skype. In order to avoid conflicts with other students and other obligations of the instructor, if possible please make an appointment via email.

Note that, in general, Dr. Bernstein will be at the Brookhaven campus on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons and on the Oakdale campus on Wednesday afternoons. Meetings on the Oakdale campus will be in KSC 103.

For more information see http://www.bernstein-plus-sons.com/.dowling/HJB_Contact_Info.html.

Required Texts:

Much of the material required for this course will be on-line material. In particuar, you must work your way through all 44 hours of the IIT Madras lectures on Database Design by Prof. D. Janaki Ram at http://freevideolectures.com/Course/2280/Database-Design.

Required Materials

Students are expected to have their text books no later than the second week of class, but are to start on the IIT videos immediately.

Required Computer Accounts:

Each student has a Dowling College email account. In addition, each student is required to sign-up for a Google gmail account, so that they will have access to Google Sites and Google Blogger (blogspot.com). There will be a common course blog at http://yayahjbcsc3072s13.blogspot.com. In addition, each student is required to maintain their own blog for the course. Once you have a gmail account, you should create a blog for the course using your gmail user name followed by CSC3072S13. You will use the blog to discuss your own progress and to maintain useful brief notes for the course.

You will also need a Google Sites account to post your assignments and to maintain notes that are not appropriate for your course blog. Each student is required to maintain their own course web site, to which they will post their assignments, avoiding the need for attachments in email. Once you have a gmail account, you should create a Google Sites course web page using your gmail user name followed by CSC3072S13. In addition, you should create a second Google Sites course web page using your gmail user name followed by CSCPorfolio. For example, if your gmail name is mugwump, then you assignments site should be named mugwumpCSC3072S13 and your portfolio site should be name mugwumpCSCPortfolio.

ou are required to do a project to add to your permanent portfolio to complete this course. See the new Dowling College Computer Science Portfolios policy. The portfolio project for this course is: STUDENTS WILL DO A BACKEND DATABASE FOR A WEB APP. IS AND IT TRACK STUDENTS MUST DO A BUSINESS-RELATED BACKEND DATABASE. STUDENTS WILL POST THEIR BACKEND DATABASE SOFTWARE. CS AND SE STUDENTS MAY DO ANY OF A WIDE RANGE OF DATA BASE BACKENDS, INCLUDING SUPPORT DATABASES FOR GAMES. IS AND IT STUDENTS SHOULD DO A BUSINESS-SYSTEMS RELATED DATABASE BACKEND, SUCH AS AN ADVISEMENT DATABASE, A ROOM ALLOCATION DATABASE, AN INVENTORY DATABASE OR A HELP-DESK SUPPORT DATABASE.

The project posted must be new and original. All students, whether intersted in CS, SE, IS or IT should do a database. You should think terms of a project you would like to show to a prospective employer or graduate school. Your name will be on it, and everybody in the world will be able to see it and try it. Your skills will be on display for everybody to see. Do a good job.

I regret the need to remind all students that Dowling policy does not condone plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty. Be very careful to clearly identify and credit all work that you use that comes from sources other than your own creative efforts. Failure to follow this requirement will result in the zeroing of all credit for all work done for this course and the requirement to redo all the work over again from scratch.

Attendance:

This is an online class, with no on-site meetings. The major risk in taking an on line course is in failing to make steady progress through the semester. Therefore, all students are required both to demonstrate their progress with on-line quizzes and to attend at least one online meeting every 2 weeks with the instructor to discuss the work they are doing for this class. Students are encouraged to schedule these online meetings in groups via Skype, but they may meet the requirement with individual Skype meetings or by on-site meetings during office hours.

Students who fail to maintain regular contact with the instructor prior to the midterm will get a midterm warning and be advised to withdraw from the course.

Grading Policy:

Many assignments will be given for drill. All completed assignments must be posted on the student's web page by the due date. Students will be required to "turn in" some of those assignments for grading by sending an email with the appropriate URLs. Students will be given weekly brief quizzes related to, but not necessarily identical to, earlier assignments.

The weekly quizzes are open-web, open-book, open-notes quizzes, but that won't work in your favor if you don't do the reading.

Every student must maintain a full set of notes for this course using their blog ans a hardbound notebook. All activities and material studied must be recorded. The blog and the notebook will be the primary resources you will need for exams. The notebook and blog should record the major topics discussed, questions about the subject matter of the course and the answers when they are found, and all activities related to the course project (see below).

You will be required to show your notebook and blog to the instructor.

An open open-notes, open computer midterm and an open-notes, open computer final will be given. In general, no assignments will be accepted late and no makeups will be given for missed quizzes or examinations. Requests for exceptions to this policy will be considered only for the most pressing reasons (illness requiring hospitalization, death in the family, reserve call-up, etc.), must be submitted in writing or by email in a timely manner, and will be granted only if the instructor has sound reason to believe that the student is highly likely to master the material of the course within the current semester.

The only way to learn technical material such as this is to work with it.

Students must do the assignments steadily throughout the semester, not just to show that they know the material, but to give them the practice they need to learn the material well. Therefore, students are encouraged to submit all assignments on time.

Course Syllabus

The course will begin with administrative matters and some issues not covered in the texts.

Course Objectives

Assignments

Please consult the course assignments page frequently, but the basic assignment that applies at all times is to read every page of the assigned readings and to do every problem, even though not all problems will be required to be submitted.

Dowling Computer Club

If you're interested in joining with your fellow students in developing and maintaining a web site, or pursuing your exploration of computer hardware or software, you might want to consider joining the Dowling Computer Club. Just follow the link for further details:

Dowling College Computer Club Web Site


Updated 29 January 2013.