Department of Computer Engineering

Bilkent University

CS353 DATABASE SYSTEMS

Spring 2025-2026

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Instructor: Prof. Dr. Özgur Ulusoy

TA:

bullet Tuna Saygın
bullet Office Hour: by appointment
bullet Office: EA-407
bullet E-mail: tuna.saygin@bilkent.edu.tr
bullet Kerim Eren
bullet Office Hour: by appointment
bullet Office: ~
bullet E-mail: kerim.eren@bilkent.edu.tr
bullet Mahmut Mert Gençtürk
bullet Office Hour: by appointment
bullet Office: ~
bullet E-mail: mert.gencturk@bilkent.edu.tr

ANNOUNCEMENTS
bullet Ann #40: 02/06/2026 The final exam grades have been announced on STARS. The average grade is 48.7. The grades for the project final reports and project demonstrations will be announced soon. You can review your exam papers tomorrow, Tuesday, June 2nd, from 14:00 to 17:00 in room EA-502.
bullet Ann #40: 13/05/2026 Homework 6 grades are now available on STARS. Grade Avg = 70.35
bullet Ann #39: 13/05/2026 Homework 4 grades are now available on STARS. Grade Avg = 87.01
bullet Ann #38: 15/05/2026 Final EXAM CLASSROOM LIST is as follows according to student surnames:
bulletEB-101: Adıgüzel-Ataman
bulletEB-102: Atamer - Demirçin
bulletEB-103: Demirer-İpekçi
bulletEB-104: Kaldırım - Nuray
bulletEB-203: Omaç-Temirel
bulletEB-204: Tezcan-Yoldaş
bullet Ann #37: 11/05/2026 Project Peer Review: You can submit your project peer review by filling out the form attached to the “Peer Review Submission” activity on Moodle. The deadline is Thursday, May 14 at 23:59.
Please carefully read the following points to avoid any project grade deductions:
bullet Every student must submit the peer review form. Failure to submit the form will result in a point deduction applied only to the student who did not submit the form.
bullet The form includes separate evaluation sections for each deliverable, allowing you to assess your peers’ contributions specific to each stage of the project.
bullet If you assign lower scores to any teammate, you are expected to provide a brief explanation. Reviews without explanations for lower scores may be disregarded during the evaluation process.
bullet Ann #36: 08/05/2026 CS 353 Final Exam will be on May 17, Sunday at 18:00 (EB-101, EB-102, EB-103, EB-104, EB-203, EB-204 ). The exam will be CLOSED BOOK/NOTES and cover the following topics: Entity/Relationship Model, Relational Algebra, SQL, Normalization, Indexing, Query Processing/Optimization, Transactions/Concurrency Control.
bullet Ann #35: 03/05/2026 Homework 5 grades are now available on STARS. Grade Avg = 87.51
bullet Ann #34: 30/04/2026 Solutions for homework 5 and 6 are now available on Moodle under Homework Solutions folder.
bullet Ann #33: 15/04/2026 Project Final Report and Demonstration: Due Date: Please read below carefully for the details of your final report and project demonstrations:
bullet Final reports are due May 8, Friday. You can upload your reports to Moodle's "Project Final Report" activity.
bullet The project demonstrations will be at EA-502 (EA-5th floor) on May 10, Sunday.
bullet For the project demonstration schedule, you need to reserve time slot for your group in the Google Sheet. Please read the notes in the Google Sheet and reserve accordingly. Please let me know ASAP if there is any inconvenience.
bullet This is also a reminder that you need to use raw SQL in your implementation, so please avoid using ORM.
bullet During the demo, you may be graded individually, so I suggest you get ready for any questions regarding your contribution to the project.
bullet Please refer to the Project Functionalities and Project Report Template documents for your project's must-have scenarios, and the Project Specifications document for the other details regarding the final report and implementation.
bullet Ann #32: 15/04/2026 The grades for Project Design Report is now available on STARS. Average grade for Project Design Report is 81.78. The feedback of your report will be sent to your group member who submitted the report to Moodle. If you have questions about your feedback or want additional feedback, contact your assigned TA.
bullet Ann #31: 10/04/2026 Homework 6 is now available on Moodle. The due date for the homework is April 17 , Friday at 23:59. You must submit your homework via the "HW6 Submission" activity on Moodle.
bullet Ann #30: 03/04/2026 Homework 3 grades are now available on STARS. Grade Avg = 95.102
bullet Ann #29: 01/04/2026 Homework 5 is now available on Moodle. The due date for the homework is April 8 , Tuesday at 23:59. You must submit your homework via the "HW5 Submission" activity on Moodle.
bullet Ann #28: 24/03/2026 The midterm paper review will take place in room EA 502 between 16:00–19:00.
bullet Ann #27: 23/03/2026 You can see your midterm exam papers on 24 March (Tomorrow), Tuesday between 16:00-19:00 in EA-502.
bullet Ann #26: 23/03/2026 Midterm grades are now available on STARS. Grade Avg = 68.13
bullet Ann #25: 09/03/2026 MIDTERM EXAM CLASSROOM LIST is as follows according to student surnames:
bulletEE-03: Adıgüzel - Baykara
bulletEE-04: Bayrak - İbrahimzade
bulletEE-05: İncesesli - Özüdoğru
bulletEE-317: Peksak - Tufan
bulletEE-517: Tülümen - Yoldaş
bullet Ann #24: 05/03/2026 The Midterm Exam will be on 10th of March starting at 19:30 in classrooms EE-03, EE-04, EE-05, EE-317, EE-517. The exam will be CLOSED BOOK/NOTES and cover the following subjects: Relational Model & Relational Algebra, Entity/Relationship Model, and SQL. Please ensure that your answers in the exam use only the notations and operators taught in class. Any other notations or operators will not be accepted.
bullet Ann #23: 11/03/2026 Homework 2 grades are now available on STARS. Grade Avg = 79.45
bullet Ann #22: 05/03/2026 Project Design Report: Due Date: March 24 Tuesday, at 23:59. Please pay attention while doing this report since its grade will correspond to %30-%35 (tentatively) of your overall project grade. Please read the Project Functionalities document and the corresponding part in Project Specifications document in Moodle under Project Documents folder for the details of the design report. You need to include the following information:
bullet Revised E/R
bullet Table schemas
 bullet User interface design and corresponding SQL statements
bullet Ann #21: 05/03/2026 Project Functionalities Document, which explains expected fundamental functionalities in the project design report, is in Moodle under Project Documents folder.
bullet Ann #20: 03/03/2026 Project proposal report grades are now available on STARS. Grade Avg = 85.18. To receive feedback on your project and grade, we will hold feedback sessions. Please fill out the Google Sheets form below to schedule a meeting with your assigned TA. If none of the available time slots work for you, please contact your TA directly.

Important Notes:
bulletCarefully read the instructions in the Google Sheet before selecting a time slot.
bulletPlease be cautious not to alter previously reserved time slots in this spreadsheet, as it is accessible to anyone with the shared link.
bulletYou should pick a time slot corresponding to your assigned TA names.
bulletPlease notice that feedback session times for each TA is "different".

The Google Sheets link for feedback sessions: Google Sheet
bullet Ann #19: 03/03/2026 Proposal report grades are now available on STARS. Grade Avg = 85.18
bullet Ann #18: 03/03/2026 Homework 4 is now available on Moodle. The due date for the homework is March 30 , Monday at 23:59. You must submit your homework via the "HW4 Submission" activity on Moodle.
bullet Ann #17: 02/03/2026 There will be an online tutorial on web-based database applications tomorrow (March 3) at 17:40 via Zoom. You will have a programming assignment (HW-4) related to this tutorial. You can join the tutorial using the following link: https://zoom.us/j/5534053128?pwd=DcKtuamgJ5Jom3qICE4buttTOc9fHP.1&omn=95388178226.
bullet Ann #16: 24/02/2026 IMPORTANT: The Midterm Exam will be held on March 10th and will start at 19:30
bullet Ann #15: 24/02/2026 The grades for Homework 1 are now available on STARS. Average grade for Homework 1 is 88.28.
bullet Ann #14: 23/02/2026 There will be an online tutorial on web-based database applications on March 3 at 17:40 via Zoom. You will have a programming assignment (HW-4) related to this tutorial.
bullet Ann #13: 23/02/2026 Homework 3 is now available on Moodle. The due date for the homework is March 2, Monday at 23:59. You must submit your homework via the "HW3 Submission" activity on Moodle. Your submission file must be named "surname_name.pdf".
bullet Ann #12: 09/02/2026 The tentative due date for the project proposal is February 19, Wednesday at 23:59. Your project proposal should include description of your application, its requirements (functional and non-functional) and limitations in detail. Most importantly, it should include the conceptual design of your database using the E/R model. Note that, you MUST draw your ER diagram with the notation you learned in the class. Please read the corresponding part in Project Specifications Document for the details of the project proposal. You should upload your proposal to Moodle. One of the group member's submission is enough.
bullet Ann #11: 09/02/2026 Project groups are listed. You can find Project Groups and Project Topics documents in Moodle under Project Documents folder. Please check the lists carefully and email to Tuna Saygın immediately if there is a mistake in your project group.
bullet Ann #10: 18/02/2026 Solutions for homework 1, 2, and 3 are now available on Moodle under Homework Solutions folder.
bullet Ann #9: 09/02/2026 Homework 2 is now available on Moodle. The due date for the homework is February 16, Monday at 23:59. You must submit your homework via the "HW2 Submission" activity on Moodle. Your submission file must be named as "surname_name_hw2.pdf". Please use drawio or another diagramming tools for drawing E/R diagrams
bullet Ann #8: 06/02/2026 Updates to Homework 1 (Question 2):
  • The schema of the PRESCRIPTION relation has been revised to include the attribute prescription-id.
  • In parts 2.c and 2.d, the phrase “find the number of distinct medicines” has been replaced with “find the number of distinct medicine categories.”
The updated version of the homework has been uploaded to Moodle.
bullet Ann #7: 02/02/2026 Homework 1 is now available on Moodle. The due date for the homework is February 9, Monday at 23:59. You must submit your homework via the "HW1 Submission" activity on Moodle. Your submission file must be named as "surname_name_hw1.pdf".
bullet Ann #6: 26/01/2026 The students, who are retaking CS-353 to improve their grade or due to failure, and who previously completed the term project successfully, can be exempted from the project of the course. If you are repeating the course and want to be exempted from the project, please send an e-mail with the subject line CS-353: Project Exemption to Tuna Saygın by February 2, Monday midnight, clearly indicating the year and the semester when you took the course. For students requesting exemption from the project, your previous project grade will be mapped to this semester's project grade based on the average grade of this semester’s projects.
bullet Ann #5: 26/01/2026 Please start forming project groups of 5 students. You can use the forum in Moodle if you are looking for a group or a team member. Please read Project Specification Document in Moodle for further details.
bullet Students that do not belong to any group will be assigned randomly.
bullet Project groups may include students from different sections.
bullet You must form your group and send an e-mail with the subject line CS-353: Group Members to Tuna Saygın until February 2, Monday midnight. One group member's e-mail is enough.
bullet The email should include a list of group members with full name, sections and IDs.
bullet Ann #4: 26/01/2026 Course syllabus, Project Document and Course slides are uploaded on Moodle.
bullet Ann #3: 26/01/2026 Minimum Requirements to Qualify for the Final Exam:
In order to qualify for the final exam, the Midterm Exam grade must be at least 30 out of 100.
bullet Ann #2: 26/01/2026 CS353 MOODLE PAGE: We will use Moodle service in our course in this semester. You must log into the moodle through STARS system first. You can use forums in this page to communicate with other students in this course.
bullet Ann #1: 26/01/2026 Welcome to CS-353! Please visit this page very frequently to learn about latest announcements, regular assignments, office hour changes, exam information and other relevant stuff.

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