CS 44: Database Systems — Fall 2020

Welcome to CS44! Databases sit at the core of all modern commercial software/systems, managing the storage, update, and retrieval of large amounts of data in an efficient manner. This course provides an introduction to database management systems (DBMS); in particular, concentrating on the theory, design, and implementation of relational database management systems. Topics covered include data models (ER and relational model); data storage and access methods (files, indices); query languages including SQL and relational algebra; query evaluation; query optimization; transaction management; concurrency control; crash recovery; and advanced topics (parallel and distributed DBMS, security, others) Lab projects that involve implementing and testing components of a relational database management system are a large component of the course.

To enroll in this course you must have completed CPSC 35 AND CPSC 31. This course is designated as a natural sciences and engineering practicum (NSEP) and qualifies as a Group 2: Systems course for the CS major/minor requirements.

Grades will be weighted as follows:

The Course Learning Goals outlined the skills and objectives this course promises to provide you. For this promises to be upheld, you will need to commit towards the policies outlined below. To succeed you should:

All lab work will be done with a partner We will assign partners for each lab. You will submit your lab solutions electronically with git: you must do a git add, commit, and push before the due date to submit your solution on time. More details will be included in lab assignments. Written Homeworks may be done alone or in small groups of 2-4 students. More details will be included in homework assignments.

For partnered lab assignments, you should follow these guidelines:

Taking time to design a plan for your solution together and to doing incremental implementation and testing together may seem like it is a waste of time, but in the long run it will save you a lot of time by making it less likely that you have design or logic errors in your solution, and by having a partner to help track down bugs and to help come up with solutions to problems.

Partnerships where partners work mostly independently rarely work out well and rarely result in complete, correct and robust solutions. Partnerships where partners work side-by-side for all or most of the time tend to work out very well.

You and your partner are both equally responsible for initiating scheduling times when you can meet to work together, and for making time available in your schedule for working together.

Each student may use up to 2 late days per lab assignment, up to a total sum of 5 days for the semester, no questions asked. This is more than a normal semester due to added difficulties of working remotely this semester. Late days do not apply to homework, quizzes, or other forms of assessment. A late day is a considered a full 24-hours (i.e., 15 minutes late is the same as 23 hours late) and late days are counted against all lab partners.

To use your late days, you must email your professor after you have completed the lab and pushed to your repository. You do not need to inform anyone ahead of time, and you do not need to provide a reason. When you use late days, you should still expect to work on the newly-released lab during the following lab section meeting. The professor will always prioritize answering questions related to the current lab assignment during lab meetings and office hours. In the rare case in which only one partner has unused late days, the partnership can use the late days, barring a consistent pattern of abuse.

Late days cannot be used on homeworks because they are designed as preparation for quizzes; they are generally due 2 days before a quiz and solutions will be released immediately. Instead, we will automatically drop the lowest homework grade. Students are encouraged to submit even partial solutions to ensure they receive partial credit/feedback.

If you feel that you need an extension on an assignment or that you are unable to attend class for two or more meetings due to a medical condition (e.g., extended illness, concussion, hospitalization) or other emergency, you must contact the dean’s office and your instructors. Faculty will coordinate with the deans to determine and provide the appropriate accommodations. Note that for illnesses, the College’s medical excuse policy, states that you must be seen and diagnosed by the Worth Health Center if you would like them to contact your class dean with corroborating medical information.

FALL 2020 ACCOMMODATIONS STATEMENT

If you believe you need accommodations for a disability or a chronic medical condition, please contact Student Disability Services via email at studentdisabilityservices@swarthmore.edu to arrange an appointment to discuss your needs. As appropriate, the office will issue students with documented disabilities or medical conditions a formal Accommodations Letter. Since accommodations require early planning and are not retroactive, please contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible. For details about the accommodations process, visit the Student Disability Service Website

You are also welcome to contact me privately to discuss your academic needs. However, all disability-related accommodations must be arranged, in advance, through Student Disability Services.

To receive an accommodation for a course activity you must have an official Accommodations Letter and you need to meet with me to work out the details of your accommodation at least two weeks prior to any activity requiring accommodations.

Academic honesty is required in all your work. Under no circumstances may you hand in work done with (or by) someone else under your own name. Your code should never be shared with anyone; you may not examine or use code belonging to someone else, nor may you let anyone else look at or make a copy of your code. This includes, but is not limited to, obtaining solutions from students who previously took the course or code that can be found online. You may not share solutions after the due date of the assignment or make them publicly available anywhere (e.g. public GitHub repository).

Discussing ideas and approaches to problems with others on a general level is fine (in fact, we encourage you to discuss general strategies with each other), but you should never read anyone else’s code or let anyone else read your code. All code you submit must be your own with the following permissible exceptions: code distributed in class, code found in the course text book, and code worked on with an assigned partner. In these cases, you should always include detailed comments that indicates on which parts of the assignment you received help, and what your sources were.

Failure to abide by these rules constitutes academic dishonesty and will lead to a hearing of the College Judiciary Committee. According to the Faculty Handbook:

The spirit of this policy applies to all course work, including code, homework solutions (e.g., proofs, analysis, written reports), and exams. Please contact the instructors if you have any questions about what is permissible in this course.