Handbook

This course aims to introduce students to the detailed internal structure of database management systems (DBMSs) such as Oracle or SQL Server. DBMSs contain a variety of interesting data structures and algorithms that are also potentially useful outside the DBMS context; knowing about them is a useful way of extending your general programming background. While the focus is on relational DBMSs, given that they have the best-developed technological foundation, we will also consider more recent developments in the management of large data repositories.

Relational DBMSs need to deal with a variety of issues: storage structures and management, implementation of relational operations, query optimisation, transactions, concurrency, recovery, security. The course will address most of these, along with a brief look at emerging database systems trends. The level of detail on individual topics will vary; some will be covered in significant detail, others will be covered relatively briefly.

An important aspect of this course is to give you a chance to explore the internals of a real DBMS: PostgreSQL. Lectures will discuss the general principles of how DBMSs are implemented, and will also illustrate them with examples from PostgreSQL where possible. Since DBMSs are very large pieces of software, it won't be possible to explore the entire PostgreSQL system in depth.