CMSC 724: Advanced Topics in Database Systems

News: Final exam posted. Good luck!
Class meetings: Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:00am-12:15pm; CSI 2118.
Class newsgroup: csd.cmsc724 (local to umd.edu). We'll use this newsgroup for announcements and discussions. Please post questions and comments to this newsgroup (instead of emailing them to the instructor) unless there is a good reason for keeping your comments private. This newsgroup is required reading for this course, and posting messages to the newsgroup counts as class participation.
Class mailling list: Please subscribe to this list. We'll use this mailing list for urgent messages only. Messages on the list are required reading.
Instructor: Sudarshan S. Chawathe
- Email: chaw@cs.umd.edu
  Please put the string "CMSC724" near the beginning of the Subject header for all 724-related email.
- Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:30am-11:00am, or by appointment.
- Office: AVW 3229.
Description: The primary goal of this course is to serve as a stepping stone from database coursework to database research. A secondary goal is to cover advanced topics in database systems. The topics this semester will have four foci: (1) essentials of database systems implementation; (2) database theory and its applications; (3) semistructured data management; and (4) stream data processing. The textbooks and reading list should give you a rough idea of the kind of material we will cover. The topics are likely to change based on student feedback.
This course requires a substantial semester-long project. The project must include a nontrivial implementation and must culminate in a project demonstration and a submission of source code and a project report. For an A grade, the project work and report should be comparable in quality to a good workshop paper (and hopefully better). I will help in the selection and conduct of the project; however, primary responsibility for the project lies with the students (who are responsible for scheduling meetings to ensure their work is on track). The projects will be individual work by default; however, I may permit group projects if there is a compelling case for them. The exams will be take-home (and thus open book). The homeworks will most likely be a mix of programming and written work.
Readings:
- Reading List and Approximate Schedule (check for updates): PDF; PostScript.
- Textbooks:
  - Database Systems: The Complete Book by Garcia-Molina, Ullman, and Widom. Prentice Hall, 2002.
  - Data on the Web: From Relations to Semistructured Data and XML by Abiteboul, Buneman, and Suciu. Morgan Kaufmann, 2000.
  - Foundations of Databases by Abiteboul, Hull, and Vianu. Addison Wesley, 1995.
Homeworks and Exams: I'll post material here as we go along. Take a look at last session's Web pages for a rough idea of what to expect.
- Homework 1: PDF; PostScript. Due Saturday, March 6th, 2004 before 8:00am.
- Midterm exam: PDF; PostScript. Available at noon on Saturday, March 6th, 2004. Due before 11:00am on Tuesday, March 9th, 2004.
- Homework 2: PDF; PostScript. Due Thursday, May 13th, 2004 before 8:00am.
- Final exam: PDF; PostScript. Due Thursday, May 13th, 2004 before 8:00am.
Grading: Grading is based on class participation and summaries (15%), homeworks (15%), a mid-term exam (15%), a final exam (20%), and a project (35%).
Miscellany:
- Account information:
- Chapter on XML in relational databases (authentication needed): PDF; PostScript.
Policies: Please make sure you read and follow the class policy.

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Last modified: Sat May 8 12:45:29 EDT 2004

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Sudarshan S. Chawathe