Introduction to Databases
Comprehensive Exam
Fall 2010

Textbook

Raghu Ramakrishnan, Johannes Gehrke: Database Management Systems, 3rd edition, McGraw-Hill, 2002. (Available from the Book Culture bookstore, located at 536 W. 112th St., between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave. Also on reserve in the Engineering Library.)

Topics and Readings

• Introduction to DBMS. Chapter 1.
• The Entity-Relationship Model. Chapter 2.
• The Relational Model. Chapter 3.
• Relational Algebra. Sections 4.1 and 4.2.
• SQL: Queries, Constraints, Triggers. Chapter 5.
• Embedded SQL, Cursors, SQL APIs. Chapter 6.
• Object-Relational DBMS: Database Design. Sections 23.1 through 23.7.
• Schema Refinement and Normal Forms. Chapter 19, except for Section 19.8.
• Overview of Storage and Indexing. Chapter 8.
  
• Introduction to Query Processing and Optimization. Chapter 12.
• Introduction to Transaction Processing. Chapter 16.