FreeBeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

DBMS: From Files to Transactions

A complete Database Management Systems course for engineering students, assuming no prior database experience. It starts at the difference between data and information and ends at serialisable schedules, taking in ER modelling, the relational model, SQL and normalisation on the way. Every topic is taught idea first, then shown running on a small concrete example you can step through yourself, then closed with the interview questions and practice that topic actually attracts.

6
Modules
27
Lessons
~12 hr
Material
Start the first lesson
  1. 1

    Foundations of Database Systems

    Beginner3 lessons

    What data, a database and a DBMS actually are, the file-system problems that made database software necessary, and the people who run it.

  2. 2

    DBMS Architecture

    Beginner4 lessons

    The three levels a database is described at, what data independence buys you, schemas versus instances, the four families of database language, and how the tiers are laid out.

  3. 3

    The ER Model

    Intermediate5 lessons

    Modelling a real situation before you build any table: entities, attributes, relationships, cardinality, weak entities, and the extended features of specialisation and aggregation.

  4. 4

    The Relational Model

    Intermediate4 lessons

    Tables done properly: relations and tuples, the full family of keys, the constraints that keep data honest, and the rules for turning an ER diagram into tables.

  5. 5

    SQL

    Advanced6 lessons

    The language itself, from CREATE TABLE to views, with the query evaluation order, grouping, joins and subqueries taught by running them a step at a time.

  6. 6

    Normalization and Transactions

    Advanced5 lessons

    Why a badly designed table corrupts itself, how to decompose it through 1NF to BCNF, and how transactions and schedules keep concurrent work correct.

Free learning material from Examate · All courses · ~12 hr of material