Large Scale Information Storage and Retrieval: DS 4300 – Fall 2026

• DS 4300 – Fall 2026 – Course Syllabus

• Dr. Fontenot Office Hours (Meserve 353)
  • Mondays 2 – 3pm
  • Thursdays 10 – 11am
• TA Information and Office Hours
  • Schedule
  • Note that Seamus Coyne’s office hours are exclusively in person in Ryder 205.
    
• O’Reilly Playlist for Books
• Campus Wire Link

• Lecture 01 – Introduction
• Lecture 02 – Background Info
• Lecture 03 – Foundations – A Mini DB
• Lecture 04 – AVL Trees for Indexing (Annotated Notes)
  • AVL Animation Tutorial (as a Claude Artifact)
• Lecture 05 – B+ Trees for Indexing
  • B+ Tree Animation Tutorial (as Claude Artifact)
• Lecture 06 – Using Indexes
• Lecture 07 – Introduction to Distributed Systems and KV Stores
• Lecture 08 – KV Stores

Homeworks

• Homework 1 – AVL Trees and B+ Trees
  • Handout
  • EC Due Date: Sunday Sep 27, 2026 @ 11:59 pm EST
  • Regular Due Date: Tues Sep 29, 2026 @ 11:59 pm EST
  • Submit to GradeScope.
• Homework 2 – Preparations for Exam 1
  • Handout
  • Part 1 EC Due Date: Sunday Oct 18 @ 11:59 pm EST
  • Part 1 Regular Due Date: Tuesday Oct 20 @ 11:59pm EST
  • Part 2 Due Date: During Exam
  • Submit Part 1 to Grade Scope
• Homework 3
  • Handout
  • EC Due Date:
  • Regular Due Date:
• Homework 4
  • Handout
  • EC Due Date:
  • Regular Due Date:

Projects

• Project 01 – Song Indexing
  • Repo: https://github.com/NU-DS4300/26F-DS4300-P01-Template
  • Due Date: Nov 3 @ 11:59 pm.
  • Team Sign Up: Fill out > this < form!
  • Template Analysis Report – coming soon
• Project 02 –
  • Handout
  • Due Date
  • Slide Deck Template

• Exam 1 – Monday Oct 19
  • Sample Exam Questions
  • Cheat Sheet Rules
• Exam 2 – Thursday Dec 3