Database Systems

Objectives: The course provides an in-depth understanding of the foundations of database systems. It focuses on the relational data model and covers the following topics: relational algebra and domain relational calculus, SQL, relational database design, conceptual database design, physical database design, query processing and optimization, and transactions. The goals of this course are learning the basic concepts underlying database systems; understanding how these concepts are implemented in concrete systems; and getting hands-on experience in using a database system. 

Textbook: The textbook of the course is Fundamentals of Database Systems, 7th Edition, Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Navathe, Pearson Education, 2016.

Evaluation: The examination of the module will take place onsite as written “paper and pencil” exam at “Messe Zürich” in Oerlikon. Details about the location and time can be found here: https://www.oec.uzh.ch/de/studies/exams/dates/assessment.html

Teaching Format: The course consists of weekly lectures and labs. Every week an assignment is posted online and students are highly encouraged to solve this assignment prior to the next lab. The assignment is discussed in the lab one week after its publication.  Solving the assignments is the best preparation for the final exam.

OLAT: All course-related information (including enrolment, lecture slides, assignments, exam etc.) will be published on the course's OLAT page.

Lectures: The lectures take place every Tuesday 12:15 - 13:45 and Friday 14:00 - 15:45.

Lab Exercises: There will be eleven (11) weekly lab sessions throughout the semester. The exercises are not part of assessment and students are not required to submit solutions. However, solving the lab exercises before the lab sessions and attending the lab sessions is one of the best ways to prepare for the final exam.

The labs will start in the 3rd week of the semester. The assignments  will be published each week. Students will have 1 week to solve the exercises on their own. Then solutions will be discussed in the lab sessions.