CS 330
Homework 5
Due: 10/21/99 before class.
Getting started with Oracle
The purpose of this homework is to get everybody started on Oracle. Since this
software laid covered by dust (so to say) for two years, until it was revived
again for our use in this class this semester, there are more things
that you will have to discover on your own, than things that I can teach you
about it!!!
So for the next few weeks, you will have to figure out many many things on
your own. Your tools: the Oracle documentation, available on-line; the books,
which I will leave in McConnell 209 (where the Oracle server is);
common sense and usage of what you have learned so far about SQL and
SQL security; and some CBT (Computer Based Training) units that came with
Oracle. All this, with the full privileges of an account with DBA power.
Format
- Discover a feature each week.
- After two weeks, decide which topic you like the most and want to
go deeper into (security, dba administration, various features of
Oracle - structure of its table space, etc,; implementation; SQL
features we did not cover in class; Embedded SQL - a simple
program; forms and reports; ODBC; web access to Oracle databases; etc.)
- In three weeks, you will do a short presentation in class on the Oracle
topic you have researched. After that, each of you becomes a "consultant"
on some special Oracle feature.
- Simultaneously: work on the choice of a project to implement in Oracle.
A few options will be posted by the end of the day. You can choose another
project, if you want to. The only constraint is that it has to become
a complete database, tables, queries, users, security - all!
This week: getting started
- Create a simple database in Access based on the schema that was on
your
midterm exam: Customers, Products and Transactions. Enter some
data in the tables (it's easier this way, than to do this later in Oracle
with INSERT, row by row :-))
- Name your database with your first name: anne, andee, haley, brian, ping,
etc.
- Using the Migration tool, export your database to Oracle. As your name
will distinguish your collection of tables from those of your colleagues,
you will be able to do this hwk without interferences. The account/passwd
and Oracle service name needed to connect to SQL will be handed in in class.
It has dba power, so be careful - and do not misuse it!
- Your next task is to implement in Oracle all the queries that were
on your midterm exam: see what worked and what not - and why not!
Along the way, learn how to use the editor, create queries and save them.
- Next week, on Th, in class:
each of you will be asked to demo one of the queries on
her or his set of tables.
- At this point, everybody should have become sufficiently familiar with
SQL in Oracle, to be able to move on to more advanced features: views,
users, security, granting of permissions, etc.
Ileana Streinu