Dickinsons College

Syllabus for COMP 378: Database Systems
Spring 2022
Dickinson College
Instructor: John MacCormick
Learning goals
Students will
 be able to query relational databases;
 understand the mathematical foundations of database design;
 be able to implement application programs that interact with database systems;
 understand social, legal and ethical issues surrounding the accumulation,
storage and manipulation of data.
Inclusivity
Everyone in the course belongs equally to our classroom community. The instructor
aims to create an atmosphere where everyone feels a sense of belonging and feels free
to ask questions.
Teaching methods
 Required readings of textbook and classic papers

 Lectures and class discussions
 Research and presentation on recent advances in database research
 Homework assignments and exams for core content
 Final project on student-developed database application with presentation and
report
When and where
 Classes: Monday and Thursday 1:30–2:45pm in Tome 231.

 Office hours: see the instructor's office hour webpage.
Books
Electronic or print version of the following textbook is required (rent or buy; either is fine):
 Principles of Database Management: The Practical Guide to Storing, Managing
and Analyzing Big and Small Data, by Wilfried Lemahieu, Seppe vanden
Broucke, and Bart Baesen. Cambridge University Press; 1st edition.
ISBN: 1107186129
 Further details are available at the textbook website, https://www.pdbmbook.com
Assessment and grading
 Final grade will comprise:

Core content assignments (CC0-CC6) 35%
Research paper assignments (RP1-2) 15%
Classic paper assignments (CP1-2) 10%
Midterm exams (2 x 10% each) 20%
Final project assignments (FP1-4) 20%
 Core content assignments: There will be approximately 8 core content
assignments (CC0-CC6), due at the start of class on the dates specified on the
class schedule. All core content assignments must be submitted electronically to
Moodle. Questions that require written or typed answers must be submitted in a
single PDF document for each assignment. Separate files can be submitted for
Java source code and SQL source code. Any reasonable formatting may be
used; in particular, digitized handwritten solutions are acceptable. Only a random
subset of core content questions will be graded for correctness; the remainder of
questions will be graded on completeness only. The weighting of core content
assignments is not equal. The weight of a core content assignment will be
proportional to the total number of points of the questions graded on that
assignment, plus a completeness component. In all cases, it is the responsibility
of the student to consult the provided solutions and understand the correct
approach to every question, whether or not it was graded. Core content
assignments must be completed individually.
 Research paper assignments: Each student will choose a recently published
database research paper and give a presentation describing the research. There
will be an early milestone assignment describing the choice of paper (RP1) and
the presentation itself (RP2). Presentations will take place in class on Thursday,
March 31 and Monday, April 4. Research paper assignments may be
completed individually or in a team of two, but you may not work with the same
partner for the research paper and the final project.
 Classic paper assignments: there will be two in-class discussions of classic
database research papers, with associated assignments CP1 and CP2. For each
assignment, students must read the paper and post discussion questions on
Moodle in advance. Participation in the class discussion is also a graded
component for these assignments. A student who misses the in-class discussion
for any reason (whether the absence is excused or not) must submit a blog post
on the discussion topic before the start of the subsequent class; details are
provided on the course webpages. The class discussions will take place on
Monday, March 28 and Thursday, April 14. Classic paper assignments must be
completed individually.
 Midterm exams: There will be two midterm exams, beginning in class on
Thursday, March 3 and Thursday, April 21. These will be open-note, open-
web, take-home exams which must be completed within 24 hours. Students may
consult any printed or digital materials and may perform web searches. However,
no communication with other humans is permitted. Details are provided on a
separate webpage.
 Final project and presentation: Students will complete a final project that
includes the design and implementation of a database and a database
application of their own choosing. Components of the final project include some
early milestone reports (FP1, FP2), a final presentation (FP3), and a final report
(FP4). Presentations will take place during the final exam slot on Tuesday, May
10, 2-5pm. The final project can be completed individually or in a team of two,
but you may not work with the same partner for the research paper and the final
project.
 Final scores will be converted to grades according to the following thresholds (or
possibly more generous thresholds): 93%=A; 90%=A-; 87%=B+; 83%=B; ...;
60%=D-.
What will be on the exam?
Technically speaking, any material covered in any lecture, reading, or core content
assignment is eligible to appear in the midterm exams. In practice, a strong majority of
exam questions will be similar to a core content question, an example done in class, or
other assigned practice questions.
Amount of work
College policy recommends approximately 3 hours of independent work for every hour of
class time. Our class meets for 2.5 hours per week. Therefore, you should expect to
spend 7-9 hours per week (outside of class time) on this course.
Plagiarism, copying, and collaborating
The College's standard policy on plagiarism applies and you should be familiar with it,
but here are some key points that apply particularly to this course:
 All work must be your own.
 Never copy work from someone else or allow your own work to be copied.
 You may not copy or consult assignment solutions from any source, including
online repositories or solutions provided for previous instances of the course.
Exception: after submitting a given core content assignment, you may consult the
solutions to that assignment provided for this instance of the course, after they
have been posted to Moodle.
 If you use exact words taken from any source, you must use quotation marks and
cite the source.
 Students are encouraged to help each other understand concepts, including
concepts that apply to homework assignments. However, all work must still be
your own. So if you discuss a problem with someone, you must destroy any
written or electronic material that results from the discussion, and re-create it
later on your own.
 Be especially careful not to copy computer code from another student, or from
the internet (unless an assignment question specifically states that it is permitted
—and even then, state the origin of any copied code clearly using a comment in
your source code). Sharing or copying computer code is easy and often
tempting, but it is not permitted and will suffer the same penalties as any other
form of cheating.
Accommodations
The instructor will follow college policy on Accommodating Students with Disabilities.
Late Work Policy
Each student is permitted a total of four no-penalty days of lateness for submitted work
over the entire semester; every subsequent day of lateness incurs up to a 25% penalty
for the late assignment. Late days can be used only in whole day units. Accounting for
late days is mostly via an honor system: students should keep count of their late day
usage. To use one or more late days on a given assignment, state clearly at the start of
your submission how many days you are using, and the total used so far in the
semester. Late days cannot be used for assignments that have a real-time component,
such as presentations or in-class discussions
Recording and posting of class content
The instructor may record some or all class meetings. If a class is recorded, the content
will be made available only to members of the class. Do not share or repost class
recordings or other content; doing so would be a breach of Dickinson’s Community
Standards. Classes may also be recorded for accommodation purposes.

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Syllabus for COMP 378: Database Systems

 Required readings of textbook and classic papers

When and where

 Classes: Monday and Thursday 1:30–2:45pm in Tome 231.

 Final grade will comprise:

What will be on the exam?

Plagiarism, copying, and collaborating

Late Work Policy

Recording and posting of class content

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