The Database Part
This dominates the content of the course, taking 18 of the 28 lectures. It attempts to provide a thorough account of relation database systems and should allow a student graduating from the class to be able to use any standard relational database system as a database designer. It does not go into sufficient detail on storage structures to support the needs of a DBA.
Here are the main sections:
- Database Modelling A fairly standard account of the ER Model.
- The Relational Model Details on the structure of a relational database.
- Mapping ER to Relations
- Relational Algebra This is vital so that students have a chance of understanding what is going on in query processing.
- SQL All aspects of the language.
- Normalisation Up to Boyce Codd. This is always the least understood part of the course.
- Database Facilities By this I mean concurrency, query optimisation, distribution and recovery.
- Database Connections A brief account of how databases can be accessed by programs and form the basis of a dynamic web site.
- Storage Structures One lecture on indexes, trees, etc.
- Conclusion This includes a brief overview of other database models and other database topics.