Introduction
For our first week, let's keep things short and simple. We will focus on preparing for the rest of the semester, on terms of both content and logistics.
This week's activities includes two readings and one survey. All three call for responses. Please copy the questions into a plain text file -- not a Word document, PDF file, or image. Then type your answer after each question. When you are done, go to the Submission section at the end of this page and submit your file.
A Bit on the Course Details
With the course being taught in a hybrid fashion due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there are more logistical details for us all to manage. That makes staying on top of the details more important than usual.
Read the course home page and the course syllabus, and answer the following questions based on the information you find there.
- Do you have to buy a textbook for the course? if so, which one?
- How many midterm exams are planned for the course?
- What are the tentative dates for the midterms?
- When is the final exam?
- List two of the learning outcomes for the course: things you will be able to at the end of the semester if you are successful.
- How many homework assignments are planned for the course?
- What percentage of the final grade do three exams account for?
- If you do not have a computer with the software you need for the course, on what machine can you do your work?
A Bit on Database Design
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The chapters in our textbook Database Design are rather short and to the point. I hope that this makes keeping up with the readings easier.
We covered much of the material in Chapter 1 in class this week. Skim this chapter and ask any questions you have about it.
Read Chapter 2 about some of the fundamental concepts of databases and database management systems and answer the following questions.
- Identify a database that exists in the real world of your experience.
- Give an example of a file, a record, and a field that we might find in this database.
A Bit on You
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To help me get to know you and your goals for this course, please answer the following questions.
- What CS courses have you completed at UNI?
- What other CS courses are you taking this semester?
- List the two or three programming languages you know best.
- What experience, if any, do you have working with databases?
- What do you hope to learn from this course?
Submission
By 8:00 AM on Monday, August 24, submit your answers to the fifteen questions above in a plain text file named online01.txt.
Submit your file electronically using the CS 3140 section of the department's electronic submission system. You will log in to the system using your CatID username and password, select the desired assignment, and follow the instructions given to upload the required file.
No hard copy is required.
Be sure to submit a plain text file. We will need to work with plain text files this semester, and you'll need to be comfortable creating and using them.
Be sure to use the name specified for the file you submit. This enables an autograder to find and process your file.
This submission is a trial run to make sure that you have access to the system and can work with the kind of files we need. If you need help or have any any questions, please ask promptly!