Database Systems

CSCI 330 - A course on SQL, database design, and data management.

This course is an introduction to the underlying data models and theory of database systems and the design, implementation, and manipulation of relational databases. On completion of this course, you will demonstrate:

  • a basic understanding of the relational database model and its SQL access language
  • a basic understanding of relational database design, primarily through entity-relationship diagrams and their translations to relational schemas
  • an introductory appreciation of functional dependency constraints and normal forms
  • the ability to interface with relational databases through a procedural programming language

Here are the tentative topics that will be covered in this course:

Week Topic Videos
Week 1 Introduction to SQL Relational Databases for Beginners — Tables, Entities, Keys & SQL
    SQL Filtering & Aggregation Made Easy
    Master SQL Table Commands
  Querying related tables Foreign Keys in SQL
    How SQL JOINs Actually Work
    How to learn more SQL on your own
Week 2 Overview of database design 5 Database Design Goals You Must Get Right
    The Database Design Lifecycle: Three Steps You Need to Know
  Entities, attributes, and data types How to Turn Real-World Ideas into Database Tables
    How to Pick the Best Primary Key - Primary Key, Candidate Key, and Super Key
    Don’t Use the Wrong SQL String Type
    The FLOAT Mistake That Crashed a Stock Exchange
Week 3 Relationships How to Connect Entities in an ER Diagram
    What are One-to-One Relationships in ER Diagrams?
    One-to-Many Relationships in Database Design Explained Simply
    How to Handle Many-to-Many Relationships in Database Design
    When NOT to Use Weak Entities - Strong vs Weak Entity Explained
Week 4/5 Normalization and implementation What Every Normalized Table Must Have: Primary Keys and Atomic Values
    Second Normal Form (2NF) Explained Simply
    Third Normal Form (3NF) Explained - How to Fix Transitive Dependencies
    Why 3NF Wasn’t Good Enough — The Untold Story of BCNF
    Primary Key vs Unique Constraints – What’s the Real Difference?
    Foreign Key Constraint in SQL: A Beginner’s Guide to ON DELETE & ON UPDATE
    Constraints You Must Know: NOT NULL, DEFAULT, and CHECK Explained
Week 6 Security and optimization Synchronous Lectures (due to scheduling constraints)


The lecture videos will be released as the course progresses.