IST210: Organization of Data

Course Syllabus

Introduction to concepts of databases including the storage, manipulation, evaluation, and display of data and related issues. As the database management software becomes one of the critical components in modern IT applications and systems, a solid understanding of the fundamental knowledge on the design of "data" is required for virtually any IT professional.

In a business setting, such IT professionals should be able to talk to clients to:

• derive right requirements for database applications
• ask the right questions about the nature of their entities and in-between relationships in their business scenarios
• analyze and develop an effective and robust design to address business constraints, and
• read to the existing database designs as needs arise.

IST210 provides a fundamental understanding of database concepts and practical skills needed to analyze and implement a well-defined database design. In particular, IST210 provides an introduction to the relational model, logical and physical database design, date modeling, and SQL-query language. Students will use MySQL, and opensource SQL relational database management system that is developed and supported by Oracle. 

Upon completion of IST210, students should be able to understand the implications and future directions of databases and database technologies.

Course Objectives

1. Date Modeling - Students will be able to:

• Describe the concept and practical use of data modeling
• Model data in business environments by drawing E/R diagrams with unary, binary, or ternary relationships and different cardinality and modality.
• Explain the concept of and specify unique keys keys within entities
• List the basic differences between different data models (ie. OO, OR, semi-structured)

2. Relational Model - Students will be able to:

• Define basic relational database terms such as relation and tuple
• Explain the concept of and identify primary and foreign keys
• Explain the concept of and specify referential integrity

3. Logical Database Design - Students will be able to:

• Understand the concepts of dependencies and redundancies in data
• Perform the data normalization process through 3NF
• Design relational databases by converting E/R diagrams into relational tables

4. SQL Query Language: Students will be able to:

• Describe the purpose and use of SQL
• Perform the basic operations of databases for DML (insert, delete, update, and select)
• Write queries using JOIN operators
• Manipulate data using a variety of SQL commands, such as GROUP BY and built-in, aggregate functions of AVG, SUM, etc.
• Understand sub-queries and their relationship to JOINs
• Intermediate SQL: Describe the functions of TRANSACTION, VIEW, and integrity constraints

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