Database System Concepts
        Fourth Edition

              Abraham Silberschatz
              Henry F. Korth
              S. Sudarshan

Suggested Syllabus for a One Semester Applications Oriented Course

The following syllabus is designed for a course where the goal is to teach students how to use databases to construct applications. Details of database internals are kept to the minimum.

• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Entity-Relationship Model
• Chapter 3: Relational Model
  Section 3.7 (Domain Relational Calculus) may be omitted if desired.
• Chapter 4: SQL
• Chapter 5: Other Relational Languages
  Section 5.2 (Datalog) may be omitted if desired.
• Chapter 6: Integrity and Security
• Chapter 7: Relational Database Design
  Section 7.7 (Third Normal Form) may be omitted if desired.
• Chapter 8: Object-Oriented Databases
• Chapter 9: Object-Relational Databases
• Chapter 10: XML
• Chapter 11: Storage and File Structure
  Sections 11.3 (RAID), 11.4 (Tertiary Storage) and 11.5 (Storage Access) may be omitted if desired. Omit Section 11.9 (Storage Structures for Object-Oriented Databases)
• Chapter 12; Indexing and Hashing
  Cover only Sections 12.1 through 12.3 (B+-tree Index Files), with a brief outline of Section 12.5 (Static Hashing), and the idea of Dynamic Hashing.
• Chapter 13: Query Processing
  Section 13.1 (Basic Concepts) should be covered. We suggest you cover Section 13.2 (Measures of Query Cost) as well as Section 13.5 (Join Operation)as far as time permits.
• Chapter 15: Transactions
• Chapter 21: Application Development and Administration Cover only section 21.1 (Web Interfaces to Databases).
• Chapter 22: Advanced Querying and Information Retrieval We do not recommend covering this chapter, but some sections from this chapter may be used as self-study material.
• Assignments/Project
  The course should be supplemented by assignments and a project. The assignments are to get students familiar with using databases, running queries and using application development tools.

  The project could involve the design of a schema for a realistic application, and the implementation of the entire application using SQL and other development tools such as Java servlets or JSP/ASP/ColdFusion/etc. See Chapter 21 for some suggestions on project topics.

Last updated July, 2001.