Princeton University
Computer Science Dept.

Computer Science 425

Database & Information Management Systems


Andrea LaPaugh

Fall 2006


Directory
General Information | Schedule and ReadingsProject Page | Announcements

January 16, 2007:

January 4, 2007:  Happy New Year to all.  I hope you are enjoying your break.  Problem Sets 3 and 4 are now graded.  Because many students submitted electronically, I have sent all students their grades by email.  I have written comments on hardcopies submitted.  Those of you who submitted hardcopies can pick them up from me.  If you submitted either of Problem Sets 3 and 4 but have not received an email from me, please contact me. 

December 2, 2006:
December 1, 2006:  The second exam I gave in the most recent past offering (Fall 04) of COS425 is here (in pdf).  Please note that the material for this old exam only partially overlaps the material of the upcoming exam.  Specifically, only Problem 1 completely overlaps the material for the upcoming exam (and this problem appears as Problem 2 of  the current Problem Set 6.)   In Fall 2004, I went into more detail on query optimization than I did this time, so I would not ask you to execute the dynamic program as I did in Problem 2 of the old exam.  However,  I would ask you  portions of the analysis, analogous to  Problem 4 of the current Problem Set 6.  Problems 3 through 6 of the old exam test material we have not covered.  Note that Problems 6 and 7 of the Fall 2004  first exam cover material that will be on the second exam this time.

November 30, 2006: 
Diagrams for the solutions to Problem 5 of Problem set 5 are now available in this pdf file.

November 29, 2006:  


November 28, 2006, 2nd entry:
Solutions to Problem Set 5 are now available.

November 28, 2006:  
Please email me to reserve a specific time within these blocks or to request a different time.  Because I am also meeting with advisees for spring course sign-ups this week, it is important to let me know when you want to come and get confirmation.


November 20, 2006: 
Graded exam 1 will be handed back in class today.   After class you can stop by my office to pick it up. As an alternative, I am willing to put it in your mailbox on the second floor of the CS Building if you have one- just email me with your request.    The median score of the exam is 88.5 and shows that the class is generally proficient with the core material tested on this exam.  For final grade calculations, this exam will not be curved.

November 7, 2006: 
I have now slightly revised the posted slides of the cost table that we used in class yesterday to contain a bit more information.

October 30, 2006: 
The Project Page has been updated to include more explanation and examples.

October 23, 2006: 
Today I corrected the 10/9/06 correction to our last relational calculus example of 10/4/06.  The slide is here (pdf)
Graded Problem Sets 1 and 2 were handed back in class today.

October 22, 2006: 
Solutions to Problem Set 3 are now available.

October 21, 2006 - 2nd entry:  Here are solutions (pdf) for the problems on the first exam in 2004 that are relevant to your preparation for the upcoming exam.  Note that this semester I have stressed the tuple relational calculus.  The 2004 exam asks for a domain relational calculus query.  In the upcoming exam, I will limit my questions on the relational calculus to the tuple relation calculus.

October 21, 2006:  The first exam will be open book: You will be allowed to use the following reference materials:  You may use your  personal notes and problem set submissions, Database Management Systems by Ramakrishnan and Gehrke, the solutions to odd-numbered exercises provided by the authors at  their Web site for the textbook,  and copies of any of the material on the Fall06 COS 425 Web site (staying within the site http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall06/cos425/...).  No other materials are allowed .  Also you are NOT allowed to use online database interfaces.

The first exam I gave in the most recent past offering of COS425 is here (in pdf).  Please note that the order of topics was slightly different and the exam came later in the semester.  Therefore, only the first part of that exam - ER model, relational model, SQL - will be a good example for the first exam this year. 

As mentioned above, the authors of  our textbook have a Web page for the book that gives solutions to odd-numbered exercises.  You may find these a useful study aid.


Oct. 18, 2006:  Part II of Problem Set 3 is being postponed. 
It will be included in Problem Set 4.  Part I is the entire work due Friday 10/20.  You may submit PS3, Part 1 by dropping it off at my office, putting it in my department mailbox on the second floor of the CS Building, or emailing your results to me.  If graded homework is ready Friday, I will post an announcement here, so that you can decide whether to come in to pick it up.

Oct. 17, 2006:
Solutions to Problem Set 2 are now available

Oct. 6, 2006: 
Solutions to Problem Set 1 are now available in two parts:  Solutions to Problems 1, 2, 4 and 5  and Solutions to Problems 3 and 6.

Oct. 5, 2006: 
Professor LaPaugh's office hours for the rest of the semester are Mondays 3-4pm and by appointment (best to send email).  You are welcome to take a chance and stop by my office.  

Oct. 3, 2006:  Problem Set 2 is now available from the "Schedule and Readings" page.

A.S. LaPaugh