CSCI 5333.2
DBMS
Fall 2021
General Information and Policies

by K. Yue

1. General Information

CSCI 5333.2 Class number: 25575 T 1:00-3:50pm Delta 237

1.1 Instructor

Dr. Kwok-Bun Yue, Professor of Computer Science and Computer Information Systems
Delta 163, 281-283-3864, yue at uhcl.edu; URL: http://dcm.uhcl.edu/yue/
Office hours: MW 2:20PM to 4:00PM, 5:20-6:00pm, Tuesday 4:15pm-5:35pm or appointment. Office hours will be conducted via Zoom meeting: 616 099 762.

1.2 Teaching Assistant

Puneeth Pavan Desineni:

All homework should be submitted through UHCL's blackboard.

For regular correspondence with the TA, send it to DesineniP2980 at UHCL dot edu. Set up the UHCL spam filter server for your UHCL account to accept this email address as an approved sender. Otherwise, your email may be quarantined by the spam filter server. If you want me to be aware of any particular communications with the TA, you may copy the email to me.

Office hours:

Monday : 1:00pm-4:00pm, 7:00pm-9:00pm
Tuesday : 10:00am-11:00am
Wednesday :2:00pm-6:00pm
Thursday :4:00pm-8:00pm

Zoom for office hour: https://uhcl.zoom.us/j/4876055786. Puneeth will also station in the Delta Lab during office hour.

1.3 Laboratory Administrations

You may address account and software problems of the DCM server to the systems administrator, Ms. Krishani Abeysekera. Copy your email to me.

1.4 Other Useful Information

• UHCL emergency hot line (to check weather related closing, for example): 281-283-2221.

1.5 Textbooks (Recommended and Optional)

Elmasri, R. and Navathe, S. Fundamentals of Database Systems, 6th or 7th Edition, Addison-Wesley, Boston, MA.

1.6 Course Description

From Catalog: Prerequisite: CSCI 4333. Data base management systems (DBMS), relational DBMS, object-oriented DBMS, knowledge base management system, data base language, query optimization, security and integrity, concurrency control and recovery, design theory of databases. Laboratory instruction.

1.7 Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)

After completing the course, the students are expected to be able to

1. Clearly and precisely model problems using various conceptual design approaches with all elements of thought in critical thinking (such as purpose, questions, information and assumption) using a modeling language such as ER or UML Class diagrams.
2. Understand the precise concepts and issues associated with designing a relational database (e.g. normalization, good decomposition, foreign keys).
3. Comprehend various normal forms and their uses in logical inferences in database design.
4. Apply relevant query language concepts and techniques to accurately answer queries (question).
5. Understand physical database design concepts and issues (e.g. indexing).
6. Understand some of the important relevant issues (e.g. ACID, SQL transactions) in transaction processing, concurrency control, and database recovery.
7. Understand some of the advanced topics in databases, their purposes and relevance (e.g. XML).

1.8 Prerequisites

The following courses or their equivalent are required:

• CSCI 3333 Data Structures
• CSCI 4333 Design of Database Systems

Languages: The course use MySQL and PHP. You are expected to know some basic SQL but no prior PHP knowledge is assumed.

1.9 Course Format

Traditional lectures, homework and programming assignments.

2. Course Policies and Guidelines

Please see: http://dcm.uhcl.edu/yue/course_policy.html

3. Grading Policy

Grades will be assigned based solely on homework and examination scores. No other factors will be considered. In particular, students have requested me to reconsider their grades using the following reasons in the past:

• Expected a higher grade
• Good course participation
• Good improvement during the semester; better final grades than mid-term grades
• Have put in extra efforts
• Need to avoid probation
• Financial needs
• Loss of scholarship
• Loss of job opportunity
• Loss of practical training opportunity
• Avoid probation; avoid suspension
• Need to graduate
• Company relocation
• Immigration status needs
• Family needs
• Sickness during the semester
• and many others.

These requests had all been declined politely but firmly in the past.

There will also be no 'special project' that you can work on to improve your grades after the final examination. Anything I offer to one student will be offered to the entire class.

The total score is computed using the following percentages:

Homework: 30%
Mid-term Exam (Parts A and B): 35%
Final Exam: 35%

Last Day to Drop/Withdraw: November 8, 2021 (Monday)

Grade Assignment Table