A First Course in Database Systems
(second edition), by Jeffrey D. Ullman & Jennifer Widom.
Prentice Hall. (2002). [required] SQL In a Nutshell, by Kevin
Kline with Daniel Kline. O'Reilly. (2001). [optional]
Beyond learning the theory behind Database Systems, we will be doing
projects and smaller assignments using PostgreSQL, a relational
database management system. Documentation for PostgreSQL can be
found here.
You will access
PostgreSQL on wardrobe.cs.westmont.edu via your preferred database
client. Detailed instructions will be given in class.
You must access it from an on-campus host.
You are welcome to install and use PostgreSQL on your own machines but
assigments and projects will be completed on the designated system.
The effort needed for the individual database project will probably be
roughly evenly divided between database design, SQL coding, data
collection and massaging, and web interface coding. Conventional
wisdoms suggests that you select a project topic that relates to a
personal interest. The project will be much more fun this way and
you will probably learn more.
Acknowledgements: I have
borrowed extensively from Professor Jeffrey Ullman's
website at Stanford University. I have been mostly using the
lecture
slides available at Professor Ullman's
website, with minor modifications.