5 ms·

Intro to Database Systems (Fall 2019) [video]

245 points by adamnemecek 7y ago

pipu 7y ago
Andy Pavlo's video lectures are very good. Watched both introductory and advanced lectures a year or so ago. Recommended. Previous videos may be found from the channel.
- barbecue_sauce 7y ago
  Some of the best and most detailed information on database internals available on YouTube. Also great at integrating the current state of the commercial database industry with trends in academic database research.
vs2 7y ago
He is giving the course from the bathtub in his hotel
- graovic 7y ago
  Yes, why not? It seems to works fine
- abledon 7y ago
  that's how you know its legit.
- efa 7y ago
  Better than from the toilet
- perennate 7y ago
  Last time he pretended to get pepper sprayed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m72mt4VN9ik&t=540s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m72mt4VN9ik&t=540s Edit: fake pepper spray @ 13:00
cozos 7y ago
I took a database class in college and it mostly taught SQL syntax (which IMO can be learned from StackOverflow and such) and all the different intricacies of database normalization (3rd normal form, etc). Having worked as a programmer for the past couple years I can't help but feel that the stuff I learned at college isn't very relevant and I wish that I knew more about the actual database internals; query execution strategies, concurrency control and stuff like that. This seems like a good place to start.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- gigatexal 7y ago
  This is why I am greatful I spent my first five years as a DBA: learning SQL was just a tool but why things worked or didn’t work, why queries were fast or slow, how to best define a schema for a given use-case (that’s key — schema design should fit the business use-case not some arbitrary “beautiful” theoretical model)
- roenxi 7y ago
  Naming them "Database" courses is a bit of a trick; they usually don't actually study databases. They study data, models of data, algorithms where accessing data is very costly and a little bit of concurrency. This is all useful and it does make sense to think about it at the same time, but in practice: * Concurrency requires a lot more focus than as a side effect of one course * Cost of disk accesses isn't necessarily important in database practice, eg, if using an in-memory database. I think database courses are fantastic and I enjoy talking about models of data, but anyone who goes into one thinking they are going to learn about actual databases has been misled. Even the SQL syntax is only really being taught as an example of how the relational data model can be insubstantiated - 'learning SQL' isn't academically interesting. If it were me, I'd break most intro-to-databases up into 3 - one course on concurrency, one course on data models and fold the algorithms into an existing algorithms course.
  - atomicity 7y ago
    Yeah, I also agree that databases are a lot more about database internals (or DBMSs). Not sure if I would agree with splitting databases into separate courses. I think it's a lot more useful to learn about general concepts like concurrency and memory/storage management by understanding how other systems (like OSs) handle it. For concurrency, systems courses should give students a taste of the various concurrency techniques. Then the more theoretical courses like parallel computing can give a more unified and mathematical view. I think the current state of courses already meshes pretty well: Real Systems| Theory of Computer Systems ============| Networks ⇘ -------- Operating Systems ⇒ Concurrency/Parallel/Distributed Computing -------- Databases ⇗⇘ -------------- Programming Languages Compilers ⇒⇗ My main gripe about databases courses is that they are often way too out-of-date: * No mention of LSM trees, which are probably a bit more important than ISAM. * Tons of time spent on 2PL, deadlocks, and strict serializability, without any mention that mainstream database systems generally default to Read Committed and use MVCC. * ARIES - At least the course I took spent so much time on outdated cost optimization, concurrency control techniques and then just mention a single, very complicated yet important durability technique at the end. This isn't even that young of a technique anymore (1992) and there are tons of variants which are probably a bit more important to understand than all of the 2PL variants.
lepetitpedre 7y ago
I love that he explains what's really under the hood. It's needed in a world where the trend is the opposite.
albinary10 7y ago
Excellent course! I have some difficulties to follow because of missing prerequisites anyway I like this type of course.
MikeRyu 7y ago
Yes, coming from a professor who is full of himself http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pavlo/blog/2016/04/should-you-email-a-professor-during-admissions-season.html http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pavlo/blog/2016/04/should-you-email-a...
simplegeek 7y ago
He is a great teacher. And this looks like a great course. The project, which is to create a database in C, looks most interesting to me. I really don't have a strong background in C so I just wish I could create the project in Python since that's what I mostly use. Does anyone know a database course which uses Python to create a database?
- gregorygoc 7y ago
  Both languages are Turing complete so their language of choice should be transparent to anyone taking the course.
teddyh 7y ago
First sentence: “First I want to talk about how Oracle is helping us out this semester with course development.” Closes tab
- CalChris 7y ago
  He doesn't mention IBM System R at all.
  - lmwnshn 7y ago
    He does. [0] [0] https://15445.courses.cs.cmu.edu/fall2019/slides/02-advancedsql.pdf https://15445.courses.cs.cmu.edu/fall2019/slides/02-advanced... slide 3
- HappyJoy 7y ago
  Do so at your own loss. Great lectures.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
ramboldio 7y ago
They have a "course DJ" starting from lecture #3 ! https://youtu.be/1D81vXw2T_w?t=25 https://youtu.be/1D81vXw2T_w?t=25

245 points by adamnemecek 7y ago

pipu 7y ago

Andy Pavlo's video lectures are very good. Watched both introductory and advanced lectures a year or so ago. Recommended. Previous videos may be found from the channel.

barbecue_sauce 7y ago
Some of the best and most detailed information on database internals available on YouTube. Also great at integrating the current state of the commercial database industry with trends in academic database research.

vs2 7y ago

He is giving the course from the bathtub in his hotel

graovic 7y ago
Yes, why not? It seems to works fine
abledon 7y ago
that's how you know its legit.
efa 7y ago
Better than from the toilet
perennate 7y ago
Last time he pretended to get pepper sprayed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m72mt4VN9ik&t=540s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m72mt4VN9ik&t=540s Edit: fake pepper spray @ 13:00

cozos 7y ago

I took a database class in college and it mostly taught SQL syntax (which IMO can be learned from StackOverflow and such) and all the different intricacies of database normalization (3rd normal form, etc). Having worked as a programmer for the past couple years I can't help but feel that the stuff I learned at college isn't very relevant and I wish that I knew more about the actual database internals; query execution strategies, concurrency control and stuff like that. This seems like a good place to start.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
gigatexal 7y ago
This is why I am greatful I spent my first five years as a DBA: learning SQL was just a tool but why things worked or didn’t work, why queries were fast or slow, how to best define a schema for a given use-case (that’s key — schema design should fit the business use-case not some arbitrary “beautiful” theoretical model)
roenxi 7y ago
Naming them "Database" courses is a bit of a trick; they usually don't actually study databases. They study data, models of data, algorithms where accessing data is very costly and a little bit of concurrency. This is all useful and it does make sense to think about it at the same time, but in practice: * Concurrency requires a lot more focus than as a side effect of one course * Cost of disk accesses isn't necessarily important in database practice, eg, if using an in-memory database. I think database courses are fantastic and I enjoy talking about models of data, but anyone who goes into one thinking they are going to learn about actual databases has been misled. Even the SQL syntax is only really being taught as an example of how the relational data model can be insubstantiated - 'learning SQL' isn't academically interesting. If it were me, I'd break most intro-to-databases up into 3 - one course on concurrency, one course on data models and fold the algorithms into an existing algorithms course.
- atomicity 7y ago
  Yeah, I also agree that databases are a lot more about database internals (or DBMSs). Not sure if I would agree with splitting databases into separate courses. I think it's a lot more useful to learn about general concepts like concurrency and memory/storage management by understanding how other systems (like OSs) handle it. For concurrency, systems courses should give students a taste of the various concurrency techniques. Then the more theoretical courses like parallel computing can give a more unified and mathematical view. I think the current state of courses already meshes pretty well: Real Systems| Theory of Computer Systems ============| Networks ⇘ -------- Operating Systems ⇒ Concurrency/Parallel/Distributed Computing -------- Databases ⇗⇘ -------------- Programming Languages Compilers ⇒⇗ My main gripe about databases courses is that they are often way too out-of-date: * No mention of LSM trees, which are probably a bit more important than ISAM. * Tons of time spent on 2PL, deadlocks, and strict serializability, without any mention that mainstream database systems generally default to Read Committed and use MVCC. * ARIES - At least the course I took spent so much time on outdated cost optimization, concurrency control techniques and then just mention a single, very complicated yet important durability technique at the end. This isn't even that young of a technique anymore (1992) and there are tons of variants which are probably a bit more important to understand than all of the 2PL variants.

lepetitpedre 7y ago

I love that he explains what's really under the hood. It's needed in a world where the trend is the opposite.

albinary10 7y ago

Excellent course! I have some difficulties to follow because of missing prerequisites anyway I like this type of course.

MikeRyu 7y ago

Yes, coming from a professor who is full of himself http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pavlo/blog/2016/04/should-you-email-a-professor-during-admissions-season.html http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pavlo/blog/2016/04/should-you-email-a...

simplegeek 7y ago

He is a great teacher. And this looks like a great course. The project, which is to create a database in C, looks most interesting to me. I really don't have a strong background in C so I just wish I could create the project in Python since that's what I mostly use. Does anyone know a database course which uses Python to create a database?

gregorygoc 7y ago
Both languages are Turing complete so their language of choice should be transparent to anyone taking the course.

teddyh 7y ago

First sentence: “First I want to talk about how Oracle is helping us out this semester with course development.” Closes tab

CalChris 7y ago
He doesn't mention IBM System R at all.
- lmwnshn 7y ago
  He does. [0] [0] https://15445.courses.cs.cmu.edu/fall2019/slides/02-advancedsql.pdf https://15445.courses.cs.cmu.edu/fall2019/slides/02-advanced... slide 3
HappyJoy 7y ago
Do so at your own loss. Great lectures.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

ramboldio 7y ago

They have a "course DJ" starting from lecture #3 ! https://youtu.be/1D81vXw2T_w?t=25 https://youtu.be/1D81vXw2T_w?t=25