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Overview

The main objective of this undergraduate course is to provide an in-depth understanding of concepts related to the design and utilization of a database management system. Students will get a deeper understanding by implementing these concepts in a commercial database management system. The course is organized in four parts: i) Introduction and Conceptual Modeling using the ER Model, ii) Relational Model and Relational Algebra, iii) Structured Query Language III, and iv) Database Design Theory and Methodology.

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Content

Introduction: Databases and Database Users, Database System Concepts and Architecture, Data Modeling Using the Entity-Relationship (ER) Model, The Enhanced Entity-Relationship (EER) Model, The Relational Data Model and Relational Database Constraints, Relational Algebra, Relational Database Design by ERand EER-to-Relational Mapping, SQL-99: Schema Definition, Constraints, Queries, and Views, Introduction to SQL Programming Techniques, Functional Dependencies and Normalization for Relational Databases, Relational Database Design Algorithms and Further Dependencies, Practical Database Design Methodology.

Syllabus (in greek) »

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News

• AS4 Functional Dependencies and Normal Forms assignment (self-evaluation) has been posted (solutions to be posted on Moodle)!
• PROJECT evaluation to be carried out in-lab. Please check the slot with Christophoros Panayiotou !
• Final scheduled for Wednesday, December 10, 2025. Time: 16:30-19:30 in ΧΩΔ03-B102 and ΧΩΔ03-B103.
• AS3 SQL assignment to be carried out as a QUIZ (Monday 8/11).
• AS2 Relational Model and Relational Algebra assignment has been posted!
• Term Project has been posted. Teams to be announced on Moodle 26/9.
• AS1 Conceptual Modeling with ER diagrams has been posted.
• Midterm scheduled for Saturday, October 25, 2025. Time: 09:00-10:15 in ΧΩΔ01-#108 (επίθετα Α-Ν) and ΧΩΔ01-#110 (επίθετα Ξ-Ω). Please be there 8:40 to be seated.
• EDBT 2025 Summer School on AI & Data Management, 7th to 11th of July, 2025 Resource Center "Stelios Ioannou", University of Cyprus Nicosia Cyprus https://dmai.cs.ucy.ac.cy/
• Microsoft 2022 Release SQL Server 2022: Introducing SQL Server 2022 General Availability [Ep. 1] | Data Exposed https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3EZ3A8mHh0yZEkyK_Gqe3D1v3_SuP01O
• Oracle 23AI Release Announcing Oracle Database 23ai: Bring AI to your data Larry Ellison and Juan Loaiza discuss the GenAI strategy behind Oracle Database 23ai. https://www.oracle.com/database/free/?ytid=4yobT4rtmeo
• DMSL Please visit the Data Management Systems Laboratory (DMSL) to acquiant yourself with our research!
• ACM SIGMOD Contest this programming contest is the premier world-wide competition in DBs co-organized by MIT. The highest rankings of UCY students in the contest over the years are as follows:
  • 2015: ranked 5th (Topic: Concurrent Transaction Processing and Validation System). Congrats to Lambros Petrou, George Koummeto and Marios Mintzis
  • 2014: ranked 9th (Topic: Social Network Analysis System). Congrats to Lambros Petrou, Marios Mintzis and George Koummeto.
  • 2013: ranked 10th (Topic: Parallel Document Matching with TRIES). Congrats to Lambros Petrou, George Koummetou, George Larkou.
  • 2011: ranked 6th (Topic: A Durable Main-Memory Index Using Flash). Congrats to George Constantinou, Marios Constantinides and Silouanos Nicolaou.
  • 2010: ranked 9th (Topic: Distributed Query Engine). Congrats to Fotos Fragkoudis, Andriani Stylianou, Onisiforos Onisiforou.
• Welcome to EPL342! Please sign up to our course management platform to access the course forum and assignment submission portal.

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Schedule »

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Laboratory »

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Assignments

AS1 | Entity-Relationship Model | Due: W5 | PDF

AS2 | Relational Model and Algebra | Due: W7 | PDF

AS3 | Structured Query Language (SQL) | Due. W12

AS4 | Functional Dependencies and Normal Forms | AS4

PROJECT | Ride Hailing Information System: | Phase 1: W6 | Phase 2: W13 | PDF

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Bibliography

• Slides Lecture slides.
• Elmasri Fundamentals of Database Systems, 7/E Ramez Elmasri, Shamkant B. Navathe, ISBN-10: 1-292-09761-2, ISBN-13: 978-1-292-09761-9, Pearson Press, 2017.
• Chatzopoulos Θεμελιώδεις Αρχές Συστημάτων Βάσεων Δεδομένων - 7η έκδοση : (1ος τόμος), γραμμένο από τους Ramez Elmasri και Sham B. Navathe (μετάφραση M. Χατζόπουλος), Δίαυλος, 978-960-531-343-2, 2016.
• Silberschatz Database Systems Concepts: 7th Edition, Abraham Silberschatz, Henry F. Korth, S. Sudarshan Hardcover, 1168 pages, McGraw-Hill Publisher, ISBN 9780078022159, 2017.
• Ramakrishnan Database Management Systems: Paperback Edition, 3 Edition, Raghu Ramakrishnan and Johannes Gehrke, McGraw-Hill Publishers, Paper; 1065 pp, ISBN: 0-07-123057-2, 2003.

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Links

• Textbook Fundamentals of Database Systems, 7/E. Textbook Resources.
• MS SQLServer 2022 (2025 still preview) Download Microsoft® SQL Server® 2022 Express or Developer (Server, Management and Data Tools). Download.
• MS TSQL Guide TransactSQL Reference Guide.
• MS TSQL Tutorials Tutorials Resource Guide.
• MS SQL Server eBooks SQL Server Free eBooks.
• MS Azure SQL Server in the Cloud (Azure). Visit (with UCY account @ucy.ac.cy).
• Oracle Database 23ai (including RAG and Vector ANN Search) one of the most advanced proprietary multi-model databases. Download
• PostgreSQL 18 RC1 The World's Most Advanced Open Source Relational Database. Download
• PostGIS a spatial database extender for PostgreSQL object-relational database. Download
• MariaDB One of the most popular database servers. Made by the original developers of MySQL. Guaranteed to stay open source. Download
• SQLite a C-language library (embedded db) that implements a small, fast, self-contained, high-reliability, full-featured, SQL database engine (Android, iOS, Raspberry, etc.) Download