CPS 216: Advanced Database Systems
(Fall 2007, Shivnath Babu)

Course Description

Effective collection, analysis, and maintenance of data is key to achieve rapid progress in almost all disciplines of science and engineering. In this course we will cover the core principles and techniques of data and information management. The potential topics covered in class include processing and optimization of declarative queries, transactions, crash recovery, self-tuning database systems, data stream systems, information retrieval and Web data management (e.g., Internet search engines like Google), and data mining. The course materials will be drawn from textbooks as well as recent research literature.

Here are links to the last two editions of this class: Spring 2005 and Fall 2006 . These pages give an idea of what we cover in this class. However, note that the contents of this class, particularly the coverage of recent research literature, is updated every year.

Prerequisites: An introductory database course may be helpful, but it is not required. If you have not taken an introductory database course before, please talk to the instructor first.

Time and Place

2:50pm-4:05pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays; D243 LSRC

Books

Recommended reference: Database Systems: The Complete Book, by Hector Garcia-Molina, Jeffrey D. Ullman, and Jennifer Widom. Prentice Hall. 2002.

Instructor

Shivnath Babu
Web: http://www.cs.duke.edu/~shivnath/
Email: shivnath at cs dot my_univ. Replace my_univ with duke.edu.
Office: D338 LSRC, Phone: 919-660-6579
Office hours: 4.05pm-5.00pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays (right after class), or by appointment. It is a good idea to let the instructor know ahead of time, either in class or via email, that you will be coming during office hours. The office hours will be held in the instructor's office: D338 LSRC

Teaching Assistant

Azbayar Demberel
Web: http://www.cs.duke.edu/~asic/
Email: asic at cs dot my_univ. Replace my_univ with duke.edu.
Office: D307 LSRC, Phone: 919-660-6599
Office hours: Mondays 1.00-2.00pm, Wednesdays 4.05-5.00pm or by appointment at D307

Grading

There will be four written homework assignments. Late homeworks will not be accepted, unless there are documented excuses from a physician or dean.

There is a course project (done either individually or in groups of at most two). Details will be presented in class in the second week.

Both midterm and final exams are open-book and open-notes.

Honor Code

Under the Duke Honor Code, you are expected to submit your own work in this course, including homeworks, projects, and exams. On many occasions when working on homeworks and projects, it is useful to ask others (the instructor or other students) for hints or debugging help, or to talk generally about the written problems or programming strategies. Such activity is both acceptable and encouraged, but you must indicate in your submission any assistance you received. Any assistance received that is not given proper citation will be considered a violation of the Honor Code. In any event, you are responsible for understanding and being able to explain on your own all written and programming solutions that you submit. The course staff will pursue aggressively all suspected cases of Honor Code violations, and they will be handled through official University channels.