SWEN304 (2024) - Database System Engineering

Prescription

The course addresses fundamental principles underlying databases and database management systems. It covers the structure and principles of the relational data model, including SQL, and the principled design of the relational database schema. It also addresses issues in database transaction procession, concurrency control, recovery, and the complexity of query processing.

Course learning objectives

Students who pass this course will be able to:

1. Demonstrate understanding of the principles of database systems generally and the relational database model specifically.
2. Set up, query, and update a relational database using interactive SQL.
3. Set up, query, and update a relational database using a transaction program written in Java.
4. Explain the basic principles and common trade-offs in designing a relational database, and to design it.
5. Explain the basic principles and common trade-offs in relational database query optimization.
6. Explain the basic principles of database concurrency control and recovery, and implement them within a transaction program.

Course content

We’ve designed this course for in-person study, and to get the most of out it we strongly recommend you attend lectures on campus. Most assessment items, as well as tutorials/seminars/labs/workshops will only be available in person. Any exceptions for in-person attendance for assessment will be looked at on a case-by-case basis in exceptional circumstances, e.g., through disability services or by approval by the course coordinator.
 
If you started your programme of study remotely and can only study remotely, please contact the School so we can help and confirm what courses are available.

Withdrawal from Course

Withdrawal dates and process:
https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/students/study/course-additions-withdrawals

Lecturers

Teaching Format

This coure will be offered in-person.
 
During the trimester there will be three lectures per week. Some lecture times will be used for tutorials.

Dates (trimester, teaching & break dates)

• Teaching: 26 February 2024 - 31 May 2024
• Break: 01 April 2024 - 14 April 2024
• Study period: 03 June 2024 - 06 June 2024
• Exam period: 07 June 2024 - 22 June 2024

Other Classes

There will be helpdesk sessions starting in week 3 in one of the school labs - details to be announced.

Set Texts and Recommended Readings

Required

The textbook for SWEN 304 (available from Vic Books, or you can seek out alternate options or e-books from any publisher or supplier available to you) is:

• R. Elmasri and S. Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems; 6th/7th edition, Pearson/Addison Wesley, 2014/2015.

Mandatory Course Requirements

In addition to achieving an overall pass mark of at least 50%, students must:

• Achieve at least 40% of the overall marks for projects and assignments (i.e., 40%*50 marks), to demonstrate achievement of all the CLOs of the course.
• Achieve at least a D grade for the final test.

If you believe that exceptional circumstances may prevent you from meeting the mandatory course requirements, contact the Course Coordinator for advice as soon as possible.

Assessment

This course will be assessed through assignments, projects and a final test. The final test will be held in the assessment period of the trimester.

Assessment Item	Due Date or Test Date	CLO(s)	Percentage
Assignment 1	Week 5	CLO: 1	10%
Assignment 2	Week 8	CLO: 5	8%
Assignment 3	Week 11	CLO: 4	8%
Project 1	Week 7	CLO: 2	14%
Project 2	Week 12	CLO: 3,6	10%
Final Test	Assessment period	CLO: 1,2,3,4,5,6	50%

Penalties

Any assignment or project submitted after the due date will be penalized at the rate of 5% per day. Assignments that are more than one week late will not be marked.
 
LATE DAYS POLICY (for Assignments and Projects). Each student will have three "late days" which you may choose to use for any assignment/project or assignments/projects during the course. There will be no penalty applied for these late days. You do not need to apply for these, instead any late days you have left will be automatically applied to assignments that you submit late.

Extensions

Approval to submit assignments and projects late without penalty will only be granted in exceptional circumstances whenever possible arranged prior to the due date. Medical and other excuses may be accompanied by a doctor's certificate.

Submission & Return

Unless otherwise instructed, assignments and project may be submitted via the School's electronic submission system. Marks and comments will be returned through the ECS marking system.

Workload

In order to maintain satisfactory progress in SWEN 304, you should plan to spend an average of 10 hours per week on this paper, which includes attending lectures, solving homework assignments, doing practical work, additional reading, and reviewing lecture material.

Teaching Plan

See: https://ecs.wgtn.ac.nz/Courses/SWEN304_2024T1/LectureSchedule

Communication of Additional Information

The main means of communication outside of lectures will be the SWEN 304 web area at https://ecs.wgtn.ac.nz/Courses/SWEN304_2024T1/. There you will find, among other things, this document, the lecture schedule and assignment handouts, and the SWEN 304 Forum. The forum is a web-based bulletin board system. Questions and comments can be posted to the forum, and staff will read these posts and frequently respond to them.

Links to General Course Information

• Academic Integrity and Plagiarism: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/students/study/exams/academic-integrity
• Academic Progress: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/students/study/progress/academic-progess (including restrictions and non-engagement)
• Dates and deadlines: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/students/study/dates
• Grades: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/students/study/progress/grades
• Special passes: Refer to the Assessment Handbook, at https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/documents/policy/staff-policy/assessment-handbook.pdf
• Statutes and policies, e.g. Student Conduct Statute: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/strategy
• Student support: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/students/support
• Students with disabilities: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/st_services/disability/
• Student Charter: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/learning-teaching/learning-partnerships/student-charter
• Student Feedback on University courses may be found at: http://www.cad.vuw.ac.nz/feedback/feedback_display.php
• Terms and Conditions: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/study/apply-enrol/terms-conditions/student-contract
• Turnitin: http://www.cad.vuw.ac.nz/wiki/index.php/Turnitin
• University structure: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/about/governance/structure
• The Use of Te Reo Māori for Assessment Policy:
  Victoria University values te reo Māori. Students who wish to submit any of their assessments in te reo Māori must refer to The Use of Te Reo Māori for Assessment Policy
  He mea nui te reo Māori ki te Whare Wānanga o te Ūpoko o te Ika. Ki te pīrangi koe ki te tuhituhi i ō aro matawai i roto i te reo Māori, tēnā me mātua whakapā atu ki te kaupapa here, The Use of Te Reo Māori for Assessment Policy
• VUWSA: http://www.vuwsa.org.nz

Offering CRN: 17186

Points: 15
Prerequisites: COMP 261 or SWEN 221; ENGR 123 or MATH 161
Restrictions: COMP 302, INFO 310
Duration: 26 February 2024 - 23 June 2024
Starts: Trimester 1
Campus: Kelburn