Key Dates and Requirements

These are the key times when you absolutely should not miss class.

Welcome to BIT320!

The critical dates for this class are as follows:

• September 8, 2005: Lab meeting to start the BIT320 Remix Engine (36% of grade)
• September 29, 2005: Visit from John Nardini, Senior VP of Marketing, Denali Flavors.
• October 25, 2005: Mid-term Quiz (10% of grade)
• November 1, 2005: Project 1 Due (27% of grade)
• December 8, 2005: Project 2 Class Presentations
• Project 2 final due day of final at 5 PM (27% of grade)

Please let me know as soon as possible if there are any special circumstances that might impact your ability to participate in this class. You may have a disability, in which case we will work with the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities to find an accommodation.

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Introduction to BIT320 2005

Who I am. What you’ll go through. What class is generally about. What kind of assignments we’ll have. How you’ll be graded.

Topics: Remixing

In Class

1. Overheads for introduction
2. Read this article on remix culture. What is it? Is it hard to do? Would you yourself do it? Should companies let users do it?
3. Read this article on web mash-ups. What is a web mash-up? Is it hard to do? Why is business week writing about it?
4. Overall, do you think remixing and mash-ups are worth following? Why?

After Class

1. Go to bloglines.com. This site contains a web-based rss feed reader. Sign up for a bloglines account if you do not have one. It is free, and we will use it in class. Once, you have a bloglines account, add the class announcements page, BIT320 Announcements, and the class syllabus page, BIT320 Syllabus, using the buttons I provide.
2. Obtain a pubsub account.
3. Obtain a technorati account.

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Creating the BIT320 Remix (lab)

Launch the BIT320 Remix Site: SQL, XML, and Ice Cream. Learn about the technologies we will use in this class. Lots of little things to do here. Just get them done, and you will be well launched.

Topics: Remixing

Before Class

1. Go to bloglines.com. This site contains a web-based rss feed reader. Sign up for a bloglines account if you do not have one. It is free, and we will use it in class. Once, you have a bloglines account, add the class announcements page, BIT320 Announcements, and the class syllabus page, BIT320 Syllabus, using the buttons I provide.
2. Obtain a pubsub account.
3. Obtain a technorati account.

In Class

1. Read about how to best contribute to the remix engine.
2. Create a del.icio.us account.
3. Create a blog account.

After Class

1. Normalization (Chapter 1)

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Normalization 1/3

Intro to normalization

Topics: Normalization

Before Class

1. Normalization (Chapter 1)

In Class

1. Overheads for Normalization 1/3
2. Normalization exercise #1
3. Answer to Normalization exercise #1
4. Normalization exercise #2
5. Answer to Normalization exercise #2
6. Alternative Answer to Normalization exercise #2

After Class

1. Normalization process
2. Normalization (Chapter 2)
3. Read Concepts of Database Management, pp. 139–162 in the coursepack.
4. Normalization problems #1 (for practice if you want them)
5. Normalization problems #1 answer (for practice if you want them)

Other Resources

1. Database normalization & design techniques (PHP Builder)

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Normalization 2/3

More normalization

Topics: Normalization

In Class

1. Overheads for normalization 2/3
2. Normalization exercise #3
3. Normalization exercise #3 answer
4. Normalization exercise #4
5. Normalization exercise #4 answer

After Class

1. Have a peek at start.com and Google IG. What do you think about these services?
2. Read Concepts of Database Management, pp. 162–172.
3. Normalization problems #2 (if you want practice)
4. Normalization problems #2 answer (if you want practice)

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Normalization 3/3

Even more normalization

Topics: Normalization

Before Class

Answer the following questions for yourselves so we can discuss them:

1. What part of the normalizaton process actually gets implemented in the computer?
2. Normalization is a key component of the relational model. How do we relate data in a set of tables that have been put in 3NF?

In Class

1. Overheads for normalization 3/3

After Class

1. Based on what you have seen so far, how is the relational model adequate or inadequate for storing information about business processes?
2. Normalization (Chapter 3).

Other Resources

1. Normalization (Chapter 4). This chapter presents an alternative method of normalization and is entirely optional.
2. Normalization process using graphs

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ER modeling: Basics

Work through examples in class.

Topics: ERD

In Class

1. E-R Modeling Slides
2. ER exercise #1
3. Answer to ER exercise #1

After Class

1. Details for Project 1 are available
2. Entity-relationship modeling (Sections 1, 2, 3)
3. Read Concepts of Database Management, pp. 215–219.

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ER modeling: Advanced

Work through more advanced ER topics in class.

Topics: ERD

In Class

1. Download the class overheads
2. ER exercise #2
3. ER exercise #2 answer
4. ER exercise #3
5. ER exercise #3 answer
6. Table structures for University database

After Class

1. ER modelling (Sections 4, 5)

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John Nardini, Senior VP, Denali Flavors

John will discuss the projects with us.

Topics: Projects

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ER & normalization

Investigate relationship between ER modeling and normalization.

Topics: ERD

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SQL 1: Introduction to SQL (lab)

Lecture about SQL, databases. Work through Chapter 2.

Topics: SQL

Before Class

1. Read Chapter 1 of SQL book and skim Chapter 2

In Class

1. Chapter 2 Notes for “A Guide to SQL”: Use these as you’re reading along and working through the book
2. Chapter 2 SQL scripts in case you become desperate
3. SQL resources
4. Exercise concerning ER diagrams, normalization, and SQL
5. Do all the exercises in Chapter 2 of “A Guide to SQL”.

After Class

1. Make sure you complete all the exercises in Chapter 2 of “A Guide to SQL”.

Other Resources

1. MySQL home
2. SQL School
3. SQL tutorial
4. SQL: An introduction and reference

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SQL 2: Single and multiple table queries (lab)

Work through Chapter 3 and 4

Topics: SQL

Before Class

1. Read Chapter 3 of SQL book
2. Read Chapter 4 of SQL book

In Class

1. Do Chapter 3 of SQL book
2. Do Chapter 4 of SQL book

Other Resources

1. You can use this “House” SQL exercise to test your understanding

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SQL 3: Updating data and creating views (lab)

Work through Chapters 5 and 6 of SQL book.

Topics: SQL

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Quiz on first part of semester

Quiz covering ER modeling, normalization, and sql

Topics: ERD Normalization SQL

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XML and web visibility (lab)

Get a peek at how companies are using XML-based formats like RSS to increase their web presence.

Topics: Remixing

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XML as a data exchange format

An examination of XML's structure.

Topics: Remixing

Before Class

1. Examine this chapter from O'Reilly focusing specifically on the sections other than namespaces (section 4) and entities (section 5).
2. Read this description of one of the RSS formats. It's a nice simple explanation.

1. XML as a Data Exchange Format powerpoint slides.
2. Example XML documents used in class.

After Class

1. XML in a Nutshell, Chapter 3, in coursepack
2. The xml validator at Brown University
3. A UK-based validator run by a rather peavish bunch

Other Resources

1. Download schematron. Validates schematron, DTD, XML Schema, and Relax NG
2. O'Reilly Article on generating DTD, XML Schema, and Relax NG Schema automatically from source documents. We have DTDGen, mentioned in the article, installed.
3. A tutorial on W3C XML Schema.
4. A Relax NG tutorial.
5. A highly informative but also fairly technical comparison between schema languages.

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XSQL 1: Introduction to Database Generated XML (lab)

Launch into XSQL1 tutorial slides.

Topics: XSQL

Before Class

1. Make sure you understand XML examples from the previous class and work the parts we did not do in class.
2. Run the SQL scripts in this zip file from your Oracle account to create the real estate table.

In Class

1. The guide (in pdf) for what to do in this class.
2. The zip file containing the documents used in this class.
3. The attribute reference for xsql:query and xsql:dml elements.

After Class

1. Finish working the tutorial started in class.
2. Make absolutely sure you understand the sections marked as important in this document that was distributed during class.
3. "Publishing Data with XSQL Pages" pp. 310-324

Other Resources

1. Here is the link to the full analyst report that I handed out the first 10 pages of in class.
2. Our XSQL pages are powered by the Oracle XDK under the tomcat application server. Read the links to see how these work. Everything runs on Java. If you want to experiment with tomcat on your own machine Addison-Wesley has a good book called Mastering Tomcat Development available at amazon.
3. Harvard provides a description of one of the RSS formats. It's a nice simple explanation.

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XSQL 2: Generating HTML from XML with XSLT (lab)

Work the powerpoint slides interactively.

Topics: XSQL

Before Class

1. Make sure you have completed all of the materials from XSQL 1, particularly the parts to do on your own.

In Class

1. The guide (in pdf) for what to do in this class.
2. The HouseXSQL2.zip file containing the documents used in this class.

After Class

1. Have a peek at the W3Schools tutorial on xslt. It contains remarkably useful references and examples for various xslt elements
2. Also have a look at the W3 Schools cascading stylesheet pages. Coupled with bit320.css contained in House2XSQL.zip, these should give you a pretty good idea of how to use css.

Other Resources

1. The Oracle chapter on XSQL pages. It is a little technical, but may be of interest to many.
2. A list of attributes for xsql:query and xsql:dml tags.
3. This is a free book chapter on XSLT from The XML Bible
4. Here is Michael Kay's site for saxon, a java-based XSLT processor that serves as a reference implementation. Kay is widely regarded as one of the foremost experts on XSLT. He sits on the XSLT standards committee.

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XSQL 2: Part 2 (lab)

Refine our understanding of how to process XML into HTML.

Topics: XSQL

Before Class

1. Review everything we did in XSQL2. What are your main areas of confusion?

In Class

1. Continue XSQL2 from last class. Go through permutations at end of slides.

After Class

1. Complete all unfinished work. Post questions on your blogs.

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XSLT 1: Basic XSLT Templates (lab)

Come back and pick up the XSLT basics. For the project, you should have finalized your groups.

Topics: XSLT

Before Class

In Class

1. XSLT for Dummies Chapters 3 and 4. See my notes for the chapters
2. XSLTfdCh04.zip which contains the example files for this chapter of XSLT for dummies.

After Class

Other Resources

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XSLT 2: XPath Expressions (lab)

XSLT 2: Learn more about how templates match items in XML documents. For the project, you should make sure you can load SQL scripts.

Topics: XSLT

Before Class

1. XSLT for Dummies Chapter 5.

In Class

1. XSLT for Dummies Chapter 5. See my notes for the chapter.
2. XSLTfdCh05.zip which contains the example files for this chapter of XSLT for dummies.

After Class

1. Make sure the stuff we did in class works for you.

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XSLT 3: XSLT Conditions and Iteration (lab)

Learn how to use xsl:choose and xsl:for-each as well as other action elements. For the project, you have all the pages laid out.

Topics: XSLT

Before Class

In Class

1. XSLT for Dummies Chapters 6 and 7. See my notes for the chapters.
2. XSLTfdCh06.zip which contains the example files for Chapter 6 of XSLT for dummies.
3. XSLTfdCh07.zip which contains the example files for Chapter 7 of XSLT for dummies.

After Class

Other Resources

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XSQL 4: Forms and Simple Transactions (lab)

Work exercise I created. For the project, you should have attempted to implement your first XSQL report.

Topics: XSQL

Before Class

In Class

1. The guide (in powerpoint) for what to do in this class.
2. The Premiere.sql.zip file containing the sql documents used in this class. Note: this particular database is exactly equivalent to the one used in the book's 5th edition, not the 7th edition.
3. The XSQL4.zip file containing the xsql documents used in this class.
4. The XSQL4-ex.zip file containing the "guided" exercise used in this class.
5. The attribute reference for xsql:query and xsql:dml elements.

After Class

1. Work exercise I created.
2. Peruse the W3 schools materials on XSLT and XPath. These are a good, summary web-based reference.

Other Resources

Bud last edited this November 28, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

XSQL 5: Forms with Transformations (lab)

Work exercise I created. For the project, you should come up with your first form.

Topics: XSQL

Before Class

In Class

1. The guide (in pdf) for what to do in this class.
2. The XSQL5.zip file containing the xsql documents used in this class.
3. The XSQL5-ex.zip file containing the "guided" exercise used in this class.
4. The attribute reference for xsql:query and xsql:dml elements.

After Class

1. Work in-class exercise

Other Resources

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Putting it all together (lab)

For the project, you should have a very good idea about what you will be able to implement.

Topics: Projects

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XSQL 6: Complex Electronic Interactions (lab)

Work exercise I created. At least one XSQL report and one XSQL form should be working by now.

Topics: XSLT XSQL

Before Class

In Class

1. The guide (in pdf) for our discussion in this class.
2. The XSQL6.zip file containing the xsql documents discussed in this class.

After Class

Other Resources

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Term project presentations (lab)

Work on the project.

Topics: Projects

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No class

Finalize your projects.

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