07276 - Computer Science

Academic Year 2021/2022

  • Docente: Stefano Lodi
  • Credits: 10
  • SSD: ING-INF/05
  • Language: Italian
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Rimini
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Finance, Insurance and Business (cod. 8872)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will know the structure of a computer and the basic elements of programming and relational database querying. In particular, the student will have the ability to: - develop simple programs and queries, with special emphasis on examples of statistical processing; - use the R and SQL languages.

Course contents

  • Coding of information
    • Binary codings
    • Binary numbers
    • Character codes
  • Operating systems
    • Single-user
    • Multi-user
    • Client/server
  • Multimedia
  • Computer architectures
    • Von Neumann architecture
    • Fetch cycle
  • Networks
    • Local networks
    • Geographic networks
    • Network interconnection
  • Internet
    • Communication protocols
    • Domain Name System
    • Http and Html
  • The R language
    • Vectors
    • Lists
    • Matrices
    • Data frames
    • Reading and writing files
    • Conditional and looping instructions
    • Function definition
    • Graphics and packages
  • The relational model of data
    • Attributes
    • Relation and database schema
    • Tuple, relation and database
    • Relational algebra
  • Integrity constraints
    • Keys and superkeys
    • Referential integrity
  • The SQL language
    • Database creation, querying and updating
    • Authentication management

    Laboratory exercises: application of programming notions in R and SQL to simple cases of data transformation and analysis. The exercises will be carried out on personal computers owned by students, using preinstalled software on remote university computers.

Readings/Bibliography

All books are optional.

Simple and short introduction to the R language:

Statistical processing with R in more depth (in English):

The SQL language in more depth:

  • Van der Lans, R. F. (2001). Introduction to SQL.

Teaching methods

NOTE: As concerns the teaching methods of this course unit, all students must attend Module 1, 2 on Health and Safety online.

The course is composed of

  • frontal lessons in a lecture room, employing three fourths of the total number of course hours,
  • lessons in a laboratory, or in a lecture room using personal computers owned by students, employing one fourth of the total number of course hours, each comprising both frontal expositions and exercises on programming techniques and the solution of query and data analysis problems, presented in the expositions.

Assessment methods

The examination is composed of three parts.

Part 1: Examination on programming in R and the design of SQL queries in laboratory

    • The student is given in Esami OnLine (eol.unibo.it): A text containing the description of the functionality of a program or queries expressed in natural language concerning a given data base schema
    • The student must produce: A R program providing the requested functionality and queries written in the SQL language that retrieve the data required by the the queries expressed in natural language which were received in the text.
    • The solution must be written as a digital document only on eol.unibo.it.
    • Reading books and printed notes is allowed.

Part 2: Multiple choice test

  • The student is given a collection of 15 sentences, each of which has 3 possible completions, of which only one is correct. The test is performed entirely on eol.unibo.it
  • Reading books and printed notes is allowed.

Part 3: Oral examination

    • The student must answer one or two questions which may concern any part of the contents of the course. In particular, the student must show: Mastery of the theoretical notions of the discipline, of the R and SQL languages and the relevant programming techniques.

Computation of the final mark and validity of the parts

    • The marks of all parts are contained in the interval from 0 to 30, including the extremes.
    • Marks achieved in the laboratory examination (Part 1) and in the multiple choice test (Part 2) are valid until the end of the session (winter, summer, autumn) in which the part has been taken.
    • The assessment of the overall outcome of the examination and the computation of the final mark take place at the end of the oral examination
    • The overall mark of the laboratory examination (Part 1) is the average of the mark of the examination on programming in R and the mark of the design of SQL queries.
    • The final mark is computed as the average of the most recent overall mark of the laboratory examination, of the mark of the most recent multiple test, and the mark of the oral examination.

Teaching tools

  • Presentation of the course topics using a overhead projector
  • WiFi access using own PC to a virtual lab with R and MySQL during lessons. Note: Laptop PCs which could be borrowed to access the virtual lab before each lesson are unavailable at the moment.
  • Laboratory with desktop PCs equipped with R, MySQL; teacher's PC connected to an overhead projector to guide laboratory exercises
  • Documents used in the presentations, distributed at the site http://virtuale.unibo.it. Access to the documents is allowed only to the students of the course.


Office hours

See the website of Stefano Lodi

SDGs

Industry, innovation and infrastructure

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.