DTSC-660 at Eastern University (MS in Data Science program)

[AwardTour]

Just putting this here for anyone in the program who has not yet taken this course. 

The general consensus is that the first two modules are the most difficult in the course, I agree. Things get better starting in Module 3, it's all SQL code writing from there.

Crow's foot notation is not used. Chen notation is used instead. It is a slight adjustment, nothing major, just a heads up. 

Knowing what a Primary Key and a Foreign Key are, why they are used, and how to define one in SQL won't do much for you in the first two modules as you would think it would. The core of the challenge boils down to knowing how to make an ER Diagram and then translating it to Relational Schema. You will need to have a firm grasp on cardinality as it relates to translating a set of requirements to a DB Schema. If you are already familiar with LucidChart for diagramming then that is good. 

I'm seeing more than a few people still stuck on Module 2 and we are already past the halfway point in the Summer 1 term. I'm concerned these people won't have enough time to finish the course as this pace. 

The textbook is very expensive at close to $400. I recommend getting the international student edition for less than a 1/4th of the price. Try to go over chapters #1 & #2 as prep. Answers to practice questions are available at db-book.com for free. The textbook is Database System Concepts Seventh Edition ISBN: 979-1-260-08450-4 

As I said before, things begin getting better in Module 3 as everything from that point forward involves writing SQL code. You can test your code before turning in your assignments on your local db instance. We are using PostgreSQL by the way. The book seems to be biased towards Postgres as it has footnotes throughout that repeatedly mention functionality lacking in both MySQL and Oracle. Things like row constructor notation for example. If you want to prep codewise, then download Postgres.

[ss20ts]

$400 for a textbook? That's ridiculous! I don't know why any school would require students use such an expensive book.

[AwardTour]

I want to be clear, the book is not required for this course. Plenty of people are getting through this class without the book. You won't be asked to complete any assignments from the book directly on specific pages. If that were the case, then it would be an unavoidable requirement to buy the book. 

However, the book is still recommended and at $350 to $400 for a new textbook that can cause some people to have sticker shock. Don't worry! There are alternatives. You can buy the international student edition like I did, you can rent the book on Amazon, you can purchase older editions and you can get it used or in loose leaf form. All of these alternatives are under $100. 

The only course that absolutely requires a book, actually two books, is DTSC-600 Information Visualization. Both of the required books for that course can be found for under $50. You will be asked specific questions on the quizzes and midterm that come from the reading assignments. Some of the questions can only be answered by knowing exactly what the author's thoughts are on certain design choices.

The situation is similar in Georgia Tech's Online Master of Computer Science degree. Books are not "required", however, recommended books are listed in the syllabus and some of the graduate TAs will recommend certain books. Some of the professors at the university actually authored a few of the recommended books. I believe the Machine Learning on Financial Time Series Data course at Georgia Tech is a course where the book is unofficially required and it's not cheap.

[AnonStudent]

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