Welcome to home base for my Fall 2025 section of CS 3200 – Introduction to Databases – at Northeastern. Expand the sections below for additional information.
Quick Finds:
- TA Office Hour Schedule (Updated on 9/8)
- Using the Khoury Office Hours App
- Video Tutorials
Slide Decks and Lecture Notes:
- Note Set 01 – Introductions and Course Overview
- Note Set 02 – The Relational Model and Relational Algebra (Slides with Solutions)
- Note Set 03 – Introduction to SQL, MySQL, and SELECT Part I (Slides with Solutions)
- Note Set 03b – Setting up Northwind in MySQL with DataGrip
- Note Set 04 – SELECT Part II (Slides with Solutions)
- Note Set 05 – SELECT Part III
- Extra SELECT Practice with HuskyGram
- Note Set 06 – DDL Part I
- Note Set 07 – DDL Part II
- Note Set 08 – DDL Part III
Exam 1 Covers material in Note Sets 1 – 8.
- Note Set 09 – Designing a Database Part I
- Note Set 10 – Designing a Database Part II
- Note Set 11 – Designing a Database Part III (with solutions)
- Note Set 12 – ER Modeling –> Relational Database Model
- In Class ER Diagramming Exercise
- Note Set 13 – How the Web Works (Prep for Project)
- Monday Nov 10 – Async – Please review the following before class on Wednesday
- UXTweak’s User Personas, User Scenarios, and User Stories Overview
- You won’t be required to write User Scenarios, which are covered in this video.
- ByteByteGo’s REST API Overview
- ByteByteGo’s Good vs Bad APIs: 7 Tips for API Design
- UXTweak’s User Personas, User Scenarios, and User Stories Overview
- Note Set 14 – Personas to REST
- Wireframing Cheat Sheet
- Note Set 15 – Git, Docker, & Streamlit
Homework Assignments:
Remember to submit all HW assignments to GradeScope, and when appropriate, MATCH THE QUESTIONS TO THE PROPER PAGE IN YOUR PDF!
- Mini HW 00 – Handout
- EC Due Date: Sept 7 @ 11:59 pm EST to Gradescope
- Regular Due Date: Sept 9 @ 11:59 pm EST to Gradescope
- HW 01 – Relational Algebra
- EC Due Date: Sunday Sept 14 @ 11:59pm EST
- Regular Due Date: Tuesday Sept 16 @ 11:59pm EST
- HW 02 – SQL #1
- EC Due Date: Sept 28 @ 1159 EST
- Regular Due Date: Sept 30 @ 11:59 EST
- HW 03 – SQL – DDL
- EC Due Date: Oct 12 @ 11:59pm EST
- Regular Due Date: Oct 14 @ 11:59pm EST
- HW 04 – Exam 1 Cheat Sheet
- You submitted it with your exam.
- HW 05 – ER Diagramming – Solutions
- EC Due Date: Nov 10, 2025 @ 11:59 pm
- Regular Due Date: Nov 12, 2025 @ 11:59 pm
- Exam 01 Extra Credit SQL Queries
- Due Nov 17 @ 11:59 PM EST Uploaded to Gradescope
- Not EC for submitting early and No Late submissions accepted.
- Please read the instructions in the handout.
- HW 06 – Project
- Early EC Due Friday Dec 5 @ 11:59 pm to Gradescope
- Regular Due Date: Sunday Dec 7 @ 11:59 pm to Gradescope
FonteNotes:
- Relational Algebra Extra Notes
- YouTube Playlist of Relational Algebra Examples from lecture Notes
- These are walk throughs of the examples from Slide Deck 03 on Relational Algebra that I made last year. The examples are the same.
Exam Prep:
- Prep Materials for Exam 1
- Cheat Sheet Guidelines
- Exam 1 Material will Cover up through the end of Note Set 08.
- SAMPLE EXAM: Spring 2024 Exam 1 Solutions to Sample Exam
- Material coverage might be slightly different.
- Use this as a sample for types of questions, structure, etc.
- Solutions will be posted ASAP
- Exam 1 SQL Queries will use the Sakila and HuskyGram datamodels
- Prep Materials for Exam 2
- Spring 2024 Exam 2 – Sample Solutions
- Summer 2 2025 Exam 2 – (no sample solutions available)
- Cheat sheet requirements are exactly the same as for Exam 1.
- The material will officially cover everything since Exam 1 (Note Set 9 – Note Set 14), the in-class lecture on “how the internet works”, and the high-level overview videos on REST APIs from Byte Byte Go. Also, be prepared to respond to questions about user stories and personas.
- Things to know from the How the Internet Works lecture:
- Valid IPv4 adresses
- What does DNS stand for, and what functionality does it provide?
- Know the three major components of the 3-tier software architecture and how the project will operationalize each.
- What is the client/server model all about? Where in the 3-tier system do systems act as client? as server? as both?
- What does HTTP stand for? What are the 4 HTTP verbs that we will use and how do they map to CRUD?
- Broadly speaking, understand why we need REST APIs (and their cousins)… (hint: to request functionality from a remote computer)
- What a rest Endpoint looks like… (hint: an HTTP verb + a resource). Know what resources should look like (or not look like).
You should know how to interpret Docker Compose files as well as write simple GET routes in Flask that retrieve information from a database.I’ve decided this will NOT be on the exam.
Course Project:
IMPORTANT: You’ll need to consider and follow many details as you complete the project. Please (please, please) read all the instructions carefully!
Project Template GitHub Repository Link (Coming Soon)
Important Docs
- Fall 2025 Project Overview
- Project Team Declaration Form Due Nov 7, 2025 @ 11:59pm EST
- Phase 1 Requirements
- Due: Friday Nov 14, 2025, @ 11:59pm EST (submission directions in template linked below)
- Phase 1 Submission Template
- Phase 2 Requirements
- Due: Friday, Nov 21, 2025, @ 11:59 pm EST
- Phase 2 Submission Template
- Phase 3 (Final) Requirements
- Due: December 8 @ 11:59pm EST
- Github Template Repo
- Phase 3 Submission Template
Extra Support
- Tutorial Videos for the Project Template Repo + Coding
- These are actually the correct videos.
- Git and GitHub –
- As a team, you’ll need to use Git and GitHub to collaborate on code. You can use a graphical tool such as GitHub desktop or the VS Code git integration. If you want to use the command line, you’ll need to set up SSH Keys
- GitHub’s Documentation for generating and setting up an SSH keypair
- Make sure you select the correct platform for your laptop using the tabs near the top of the page.
- YouTube Tutorials:
- From The Common Coder: How to Set Up an SSH Key for GitHub in 2024 (for Mac and Windows)
- From Codemify: How to setup SSH for GitHub repository
- GitHub’s Documentation for generating and setting up an SSH keypair
- As a team, you’ll need to use Git and GitHub to collaborate on code. You can use a graphical tool such as GitHub desktop or the VS Code git integration. If you want to use the command line, you’ll need to set up SSH Keys
- Python for Beginners
- TheNewBoston’s video: Python Tutorial in 30 Minutes
- If you want a slightly more comprehensive introduction, check out Python Crash Course Playlist from Net Ninja (don’t need to worry about about video #8, for the project at least)
- Flask Framework (for building REST API)
- In Flask, you can write full-featured web apps, but we will only be using the REST API features of the library.
- Dave Gray’s video: Python REST API Tutorial for Beginners
- Tech With Tim’s video: Python REST API Tutorial (you could stop around the 45:00 before he starts talking about databases)
- This video is a little older, but still very relevant!