Course materials
Spring 2026
01 · Syllabus
This course introduces the design and implementation of database systems. Students learn relational modeling, SQL queries, joins and subqueries, indexing, file and buffer management, transactions, concurrency, recovery, and the construction of database-backed applications.
Course development uses PyCharm, MySQL Community Server 8.0.44, and MySQL Workbench 8.0.45. Students also use Python and web technologies to build interfaces that connect application logic with relational databases.
Course work includes programming exercises that require working code and a clear report describing the solution process. Work must be submitted by the stated deadline; late submissions are not accepted.
Assignments constitute 30%, the final project constitutes 30%, and exams constitute 40% of the course grade. Standard letter-grade thresholds begin with A at 93, A− at 90, and B+ at 87.
The classroom must remain respectful and free of discrimination, bullying, and other harmful conduct. Violations are addressed through course and college procedures.
Four hours are devoted to installing and configuring the required software, and ten hours are devoted to an HTML tutorial and related practice. Together these activities account for fourteen structured fourth-hour hours outside regular class meetings.
AI can be a useful assistant when used reasonably, but it must not replace a student’s thinking. Assignments must be completed independently. Students should understand and be able to reproduce and explain all submitted work; significant inconsistencies may require an in-person demonstration and may be reported under academic-integrity procedures.
02 · Contents
Database-system purpose, architecture, users, data models, schemas, instances, and the role of relational database management systems.
Installing and configuring MySQL, MySQL Workbench, PyCharm, Python database connectors, FastAPI, and the supporting web-development environment.
Relational tables and SQL data definition and manipulation, including SELECT, filtering, ordering, grouping, aggregation, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE.
Combining related tables with joins, merging compatible results with UNION, and expressing nested questions through correlated and uncorrelated subqueries.
Physical storage, disk organization, blocks, records, file layouts, and the cost of moving data between persistent storage and memory.
Buffer pools, page replacement, pinning, dirty pages, and the policies used to coordinate database pages in memory and on disk.
Unordered record storage, page and record identifiers, insertion and scanning, and implementation of heap tables over a managed buffer pool.
Search keys, primary and secondary indexes, tree-based indexes, hashing, access paths, and the tradeoffs between query speed and maintenance cost.
Entity-relationship modeling, relational schemas, keys, constraints, functional dependencies, normalization, and systematic schema refinement.
The path from SQL text to tokens, syntax trees, semantic analysis, query plans, and executable database operations.
ACID properties, schedules, serializability, locking, isolation, deadlock, and mechanisms for safe concurrent database access.
Failures, logging, checkpoints, write-ahead logging, undo and redo, and the restoration of a consistent database state.
03 · Exam preparation
The student is expected to conduct himself, at all times, both on and off the campus, as a gentleman and a responsible citizen.
I will complete this exam in a fair, honest, respectful, responsible, and trustworthy manner. This means that I will complete the exam as if the professor was watching my every action. I will act according to the professor’s instructions, and I will neither give nor receive any aid or assistance other than what is authorized. I know that the integrity of this exam and this class is up to me, and I pledge not to take any action that would break the trust of my classmates or professor, or undermine the fairness of this class.
04 · Assignments
05 · Projects