Class meets on Mons. and Weds. at 11:00 to 12:15 PM in Room: FH 460.

Phone: 235 2366. Room: FH 550J. Off. Hrs: 3:00-4:00 PM Tuesdays.

Text Books and Lectures

• Oracle PL/SQL by Rosenzweig and Silvestrova.  Prentice Hall PTR.

• Lecture notes on the web.

 Prerequisite

    CS352 (Introduction to data Structures). No student will be allowed in CS471 without successfully completing CS352.

Course objectives

    This is an undergraduate level course, which deals with database design, implementation, and validation. Most organizations today use Oracle systems for managing their information processing needs.  For this reason, this course is designed to provide necessary training to students in Oracle so that they can handle the information processing challenges they encounter in their job or in their education.  The objectives are:

• To provide extensive training on fundamentals of database design, development, and implementation.
• To provide training on all aspects of the use of Oracle database management system. This will not cover Oracle database administration, performance tuning, and application development, which will be covered in some future course.
• If time permits, then some aspects of Web programming and JDBC may also be covered.

Course Material

    This course will use the textbook listed above and also lecture notes, which will be made available on the web or in hard copy format.  The web site is not password protected and the URL to access CS471 pages is http://www.sice.umkc.edu/~kumarv/cs471/index.html.  The other route to go to CS471 pages is through my web page.  Go to http://www.sice.umkc.edu/~kumarv and follow the link through Teaching link.  Note that about 80% of the course material will require SQL programming on Oracle.  Each student will have an Oracle account, which can be accessed through a client PC.

Course Topics

• A detailed introduction to Oracle database management system architecture, which will provide a good understanding of how Oracle processes information. This will be based on the lecture notes.
• A detailed introduction to semantic data model E-R (Entity-Relationship Model) and relational data model. These are essential for understanding the building blocks of any database system.
• Features of Oracle.
• A detailed introduction to SQL*Plus and its use.
• A detailed introduction to PL/SQL and its use.
• JDBC and ODBC
• If time permits then Oracle Developer 2000 Forms and Reports  will be covered.

Homework, Tests and Projects

In addition to lectures, the course will have four homeworks and a good size project.  Through homework students' basic knowledge about database programming skill will be tested and the project will give them an extensive working experience of Oracle system. The homework and project will be complementary in the sense that some of the necessary applications will be developed in these homework and in the project they will be implemented and tested. The project will be closely tied with the development work in progress in local industries. It will be possible for students from industries to bring their active projects or a portion of it and complete it during the course. In fact one of the objectives of this course is to provide necessary Oracle training to companies employees who are responsible for information management. There will be three tests.

Grading Policy

Total Points: 100. This will be divided among homework, project and tests as follows:

Homework

Total homework point is 20.  Total number of homework will be 3 or 4. Each homework will be graded out of 20 points. At the end the final homework score will be computed as (HW1 score + HW2 score + HW3 score + HW4 score) ÷ 4.

Project

Tests

There will be three tests.  Test1:  16 points.   Test 2:  20 points.   Final:  28 points.

Grading Range  

A = 95 - 100.          A- = 90 – 94

B+  = 84 - 89.         B= 70 - 83.            B- = 65 - 69.

C = 55 - 64.            D = 45 - 54.

Note: These ranges are nearly fixed. However, depending upon students' performance, they may change slightly. The project will be either an extension of homework or could be different.

Tentative Test Dates

The following are tentative test dates. The dates of test 1 and test 2 will be finalized after consulting with students.  Test1 and Test 2 will be conducted during the class time, i.e., 11:00AM to 12:15PM.

Test 1:  Wed., Sept. 25, 02.        Test 2:  Wed., October 30, 02.     Final:  Fri., Dec. 13, 02 (1:00 to 3:00 PM)

Note: It is possible that I may have to go out of country on official work.  In that case the date of final test may change.  You will know this well in advance.

 

Some Important Points to Remember

Ø     You are expected to know and observe the particulars of this handout.  I follow them rigorously. Ignorance of their contents WON'T excuse you from the consequences of not following the directives they contain.

Ø     It is important that every student must work on the homework and projects individually unless stated otherwise, and they must turn them in on time. Failure to submit two or more homework and/OR Project will earn an F irrespective of your performance in tests.  If, however, there is a substantiated sufficient reason (the obstacle must be something out of the ordinary and beyond your reasonable control such as serious illness or something comparable, extended computer breakdown, etc.) for the tardiness, there will be no penalty provided the homework is turned in at a time agreed upon by you and me. YOU MUST INITIATE any discussion in this direction. Hearing nothing I will presume that there is no sufficient excuse and act accordingly. Two or more identical programs will not be accepted and involved students will receive an F (irrespective of their grades in other homework and tests) as their final grade. It is to be remembered that identical programs means coding identical algorithms where variable names may or may not be the same.

Ø     Every student must come in time. No latecomer will be allowed after the classroom door is closed. If you have a valid reason for coming late in the class, then I must have your request in writing stating the reason for not be able to come in time.

Ø     I will not provide any programming help. However, I will be happy to discuss any programming problem.

Ø     It is students' responsibility to find out what was covered in the class during his/her absence. Such absence from the class will not be accepted as a reason for not submitting the homework on time or for obtaining a poor score in tests.

Ø     There is no academic assessment for withdrawal before or on October 22, 2002. After this date an academic assessment of "W" or "WF" will be made.

Ø     Incomplete (I) grades will not be given for failing to complete the course work on time or obtaining poor scores in tests or homework.

Ø     Change from Credit to Audit: The instructor is the only person that may authorize change in status from regular to audit. The last date for this change is September 24, 2002.  The student must have a grade of "C" or better.  No requests to change to audit will be granted after this date.

Ø     All tests will be closed books and notes.

Ø     University regulations do not permit me to post your grades on my office door.  Also I am not allowed to leave your graded homework, tests, or project to an unattended place.  These materials will be deposited to Student Services office and you will be required to collect them from there.