Welcome to CS97. This year's topic is data management systems. Our goal is to understand the fundamental problems of data management and the roles played by modern data management systems. With popular sites like Google and Facebook, GPS-enabled mobile computers in our pockets, and an increasing use of networked devices and sensors in our everyday environment, you are surely aware of the explosion in the amount of data we collect and share. In this course, we will study the question of how this data should be stored and accessed, so that the data remains valid and useful as it is updated and used by many simultaneous users.
Early in this course we will focus on traditional relational database systems, including the relational model, transactions, consistency, concurrency control, indexes, and query processing. As the semester progresses we'll increasingly consider systems with non-traditional requirements, implementations, or features, including stream databases, non-relational systems, and relaxed consistency models.
Your work in this course will consist of regular out-of-class reading and written reactions to the reading, presentation of papers in class, one or more short lab assignments, and a longer-term research project and paper. By the end of the course you will demonstrate the following skills:
There is no required textbook for this course. Many of our readings will come from Database Management Systems by Ramakrishnan and Gehrke or from Readings in Database Systems by Hellerstein and Stonebraker. I will provide online links or copies of all required reading; you probably will need to access these links and copies from the on-campus network. Also, a copy of Ramakrishnan and Gehrke is on Honors reserve at the Cornell Library.
| 20% | Paper reaction notes and participation | ||||||||||
| 15% | Paper presentations | ||||||||||
| 10% | Short lab assignment(s) | ||||||||||
| 55% | Course project | ||||||||||
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Strong academic integrity is expected of every student. Plagiarism, cheating, and academic dishonesty will be reported to the College Judiciary Committee and dealt with severely. You may not hand in work done by someone else as your own. You may discuss ideas and problems with others on a general level and such discussions are encouraged, but you must credit any collaborators or resources used in the completion of your assignments and projects. Please see me if there are any questions about what is permissible.
This schedule is subject to -- and will -- change as needed during the semester: