DBMS · Reading course
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119 reading items · 8 phases · Worked examples & practice
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Complete an item when you’re ready. Your place is saved in this browser.Your path through DBMS
Lessons, chapter reviews, and checkpoints—in reading order.
01Phase 0Foundations0 / 11 complete
0.1.1Data vs information; plain files and their problemsLesson0.1.2What a DBMS is and what it does; its users (end users, application programmers, DBA)Lesson0.1.3Schema vs instance; three-schema architecture; logical and physical data independenceLesson0.1.4Data models: conceptual vs logical vs physical; where ER and relational fitLessonLI-0.1Chapter 0.1 Lock-inChapter review0.2.1Sets: membership, subset, union, intersection, difference, cardinality, power setLesson0.2.2Ordered tuples, Cartesian product and its size; a relation as a set of tuplesLesson0.2.3Logic: propositions, AND/OR/NOT, implication, truth tables, quantifiers and their negationLesson0.2.4Counting toolkit: combinations, inclusion–exclusionLessonLI-0.2Chapter 0.2 Lock-inChapter reviewCP-0Phase 0 Checkpoint (15 questions)Checkpoint
02Phase 1ER Model0 / 10 complete
1.1.1Entity, entity set, attribute, domainLesson1.1.2Attribute types: simple/composite, single/multivalued, stored/derived, NULL-able, key attributeLessonLI-1.1Chapter 1.1 Lock-inChapter review1.2.1Relationship, relationship set, degree, roles, relationship attributesLesson1.2.2Cardinality ratios; total vs partial participation; (min,max) notationLesson1.2.3Weak entity sets, identifying relationship, partial keyLesson1.2.4Extended ER: specialization, generalization, aggregationLessonLI-1.2Chapter 1.2 Lock-inChapter review1.3.1Modeling practice: English requirements to ER diagramLessonCP-1Phase 1 Checkpoint (15 questions)Checkpoint
03Phase 2Relational Model & Constraints0 / 14 complete
2.1.1Relation, tuple, attribute, domain, degree, cardinality, schema; properties of relationsLesson2.1.2NULL: meaning and basic behaviourLessonLI-2.1Chapter 2.1 Lock-inChapter review2.2.1Superkey, candidate key, primary key, alternate key; counting superkeysLesson2.2.2Foreign key; referencing vs referenced relationsLessonLI-2.2Chapter 2.2 Lock-inChapter review2.3.1Domain, key, entity and referential integrity; which operations violate whatLesson2.3.2Referential actions: restrict, cascade, set null; tracing cascading deletesLessonLI-2.3Chapter 2.3 Lock-inChapter review2.4.1Mapping strong and weak entities, composite and multivalued attributesLesson2.4.2Mapping 1:1, 1:N, M:N with participation; minimum number of tablesLesson2.4.3Ternary relationships; specialization/generalization mappingLessonLI-2.4Chapter 2.4 Lock-inChapter reviewCP-2Phase 2 Checkpoint (15 questions)Checkpoint
04Phase 3Query Languages0 / 24 complete
3.1.1Selection, projection, rename; composing operationsLesson3.1.2Union, intersection, difference; union compatibilityLesson3.1.3Cartesian product, theta join, equijoin, natural joinLesson3.1.4Outer joins: left, right, fullLesson3.1.5Division and for-all queriesLesson3.1.6Equivalent expressions; min/max tuples in a result; extended RA (aggregation)LessonLI-3.1Chapter 3.1 Lock-inChapter review3.2.1TRC syntax, tuple variables, free vs bound variablesLesson3.2.2Exists and for-all queries; translating between TRC and RALesson3.2.3Safe vs unsafe expressions; relational completenessLessonLI-3.2Chapter 3.2 Lock-inChapter review3.3.1SQL DDL: CREATE TABLE, data types, constraints, ON DELETE/ON UPDATELesson3.3.2SQL DML: INSERT, UPDATE, DELETELesson3.3.3SELECT–FROM–WHERE, DISTINCT, aliases, LIKE, BETWEEN, ORDER BY; bags vs setsLesson3.3.4NULL in SQL: three-valued logic, IS NULL, comparisonsLesson3.3.5Aggregates, GROUP BY, HAVING; COUNT(*) vs COUNT(col); NULL handlingLesson3.3.6Joins in SQL: INNER, NATURAL, LEFT/RIGHT/FULL OUTERLesson3.3.7UNION / INTERSECT / EXCEPT and their ALL variantsLesson3.3.8Nested subqueries: IN, ANY/SOME, ALL, EXISTS, scalar subqueriesLesson3.3.9Correlated subqueries; for-all in SQL; tracing a query on a table instanceLesson3.3.10Views and WITHLessonLI-3.3Chapter 3.3 Lock-inChapter review3.4.1Translation drill: the same query in RA, TRC and SQLLessonCP-3Phase 3 Checkpoint (15 questions)Checkpoint
05Phase 4FDs & Normalization0 / 19 complete
4.1.1Why normalize: redundancy and insertion/deletion/update anomaliesLesson4.2.1FD definition; trivial vs non-trivial; checking whether an FD holds on an instanceLesson4.2.2Armstrong's axioms and derived rulesLesson4.2.3Attribute closure; all candidate keys; prime vs non-prime; counting superkeysLesson4.2.4Closure of an FD set; membership test; equivalence of FD setsLesson4.2.5Minimal (canonical) coverLessonLI-4.1-4.2Chapters 4.1–4.2 Lock-inChapter review4.3.1Lossless-join decomposition: binary test and chase (table) methodLesson4.3.2Dependency preservationLessonLI-4.3Chapter 4.3 Lock-inChapter review4.4.11NFLesson4.4.22NF (partial dependency)Lesson4.4.33NF (transitive dependency + formal condition)Lesson4.4.4BCNF; 3NF vs BCNF trade-offLesson4.4.5Drill: highest normal form of a given relationLesson4.4.6Algorithms: 3NF synthesis, BCNF decompositionLesson4.4.7Multivalued dependencies and 4NFLessonLI-4.4Chapter 4.4 Lock-inChapter reviewCP-4Phase 4 Checkpoint (15 questions)Checkpoint
06Phase 5Storage & Indexing0 / 17 complete
5.1.1Storage basics: disk, blocks, block access cost, records, blocking factor, spanned vs unspannedLesson5.2.1File organization: heap, sorted, hashed; cost of search/insert/deleteLessonLI-5.1-5.2Chapters 5.1–5.2 Lock-inChapter review5.3.1What an index is; index entries; dense vs sparseLesson5.3.2Primary, clustering, secondary indexes; counting index blocks and block accessesLesson5.3.3Multilevel indexes; fan-out; logarithm primerLessonLI-5.3Chapter 5.3 Lock-inChapter review5.4.1Tree primer: node, root, leaf, height, search tree, balanced treeLesson5.5.1B-tree structure and order (order conventions and the GATE trap)Lesson5.5.2B-tree search and insertion with node splitsLesson5.5.3B-tree deletion basics; min/max keys; height boundsLessonLI-5.4-5.5Chapters 5.4–5.5 Lock-inChapter review5.6.1B+ tree: internal vs leaf nodes, leaf chaining, range queriesLesson5.6.2B+ tree order from block size, key size and pointer sizeLesson5.6.3B+ tree insertion and deletion traces; height and capacity; B vs B+LessonLI-5.6Chapter 5.6 Lock-inChapter reviewCP-5Phase 5 Checkpoint (15 questions)Checkpoint
07Phase 6Transactions & Concurrency0 / 18 complete
6.1.1Transaction basics: read/write, commit/abort, ACID, transaction statesLesson6.2.1Concurrency problems: lost update, dirty read, unrepeatable read, phantomLesson6.3.1Schedules: serial vs concurrent; counting possible schedulesLessonLI-6.1-6.3Chapters 6.1–6.3 Lock-inChapter review6.4.1Directed graph primer: cycles, topological orderLesson6.4.2Conflict serializability: conflicting ops, precedence graph, equivalent serial ordersLesson6.4.3View serializability; blind writes; relation to conflict serializabilityLessonLI-6.4Chapter 6.4 Lock-inChapter review6.5.1Recoverable, cascadeless and strict schedules; how they nestLesson6.6.1Shared/exclusive locks; compatibility matrixLesson6.6.2Two-phase locking: growing/shrinking, lock point, guaranteesLesson6.6.3Strict, rigorous and conservative 2PLLesson6.6.4Deadlocks: wait-for graph, wait-die, wound-wait, starvationLessonLI-6.5-6.6Chapters 6.5–6.6 Lock-inChapter review6.7.1Timestamp ordering protocol; Thomas write ruleLesson6.8.1Multiple granularity, validation-based protocol, log-based recoveryLessonLI-6.7-6.8Chapters 6.7–6.8 Lock-inChapter reviewCP-6Phase 6 Checkpoint (15 questions)Checkpoint
08Phase 7Integration & Final Test0 / 6 complete
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