Review List December 13, 2005 Final Exam COSC 3480

The final exam of COSC 3480 is scheduled for Tu., Dec. 13, 2005, 11a in our regular classroom. The exam will be "open textbooks and notes". The following material is relevant for the exam (references below refer to the third edition of the Ramakrishnan book):

• *** E/R Data Model: Everything that was discussed in class conc. the E/R model; be prepared to design E/R schemas using the advanced data modelling constructs that were introduced in class (if you use the textbooks notations you will only be able to get partial credit for your design).
• ** B+-trees (everything that was covered in class and nothing else; review transparencies that were covered in class; if you find inconsistencies between the transparencies and the textbook "trust" the transparencies)
• * Hash-Based Indexing (read pages 370-379 of our textbook; you should know how static and extensible hashing work)
• *** Physical Database Design and Performance Prediction(centering on the transparencies that have been discussed in class; be prepared to prediction the cost of a given query, and to solve "simple" physical database design problems; also read pages 649-655)
• * RAID and buffer management(read section 9.2 and 9.4 of our textbook)
• ** XML (design a simple DTD; what are the goals and objectives of XML and what does it have to do with databases; also read sections 7.4, 27.6 )
• *** Database Programming --- SQL Queries and PL/SQL triggers (similar to Lab Projects; also read textbook Chapter 5 exluding section 5.6 and 5.7).
• ** Relational Database Design --- transform a given relational schema into a relational schema that is in BCNF and does not have any lost functional dependencies; determine candidate keys of a given relation (other topics covered in this part of the course will not be covered in the final exam).

One more time: The final exam is 200 PGH and starts at 11a

last updated: December 5, 11a