Programming Assignment 1: Metadata Management Solution

Overview

In this assignment, you will write a program that allows a database user to manage the metadata of their relational data. By metadata, we mean the database’s high-level information (e.g., database’s name, creation time, owner) as well as the properties of the tables (e.g., table’s names, attributes, constraints).

System Design

    • You are free (in fact, encouraged) to come up with your own design o For instance, Sqlite3 uses one single file for each “database.”

    • Here is one possible design:

    o One Linux directory -> a database o One regular file -> a table

Implementation

    • The program should not use an external database library or an existing SQL parser/compiler.

    • Any programming language is acceptable, e.g., Python, Java, C/C++, Go

    o Please pick one that you are most comfortable/proficient with

        o If you want to choose a language not mentioned above, please contact the TA before you start coding

    • Functionalities:

        o Database creation, deletion

    o Table creation, deletion, update, and query

Interface

    • A similar but simpler interface than Sqlite3

    • Examples (on a Linux terminal):

    o # ./<your_program> <enter>

        ◦ CREATE DATABASE db_name <enter>;
            ▪ The shell should prompt whether the command is successful or failed

                • If failed, don’t crash but gracefully prompt why
            ▪ Then when you check your file system, it might look like this:

                • ~/your_home/cs457/pa1/db_name

    o # ./<your_program> <enter>

        ◦ USE db_1; CREATE TABLE test_tbl (a1 int, a2 char(9));
            ▪ If successful, then your file system might look like this:

                • ~/your_home/cs457/pa1/db1/test_tbl


1  CS457/657 Database Management Systems, University of Nevada, Reno

Testing

    • We will test your program on Ubuntu (version 14 or above)

    • If your program cannot compile on our testbed, we may ask you to demo your program o Hint: try not to use many exotic libraries

    • A full test script will be provided

    o # ~/cs457/pa1/<your_program> < PA1_test.sql (expect the standard input)
        ◦ Alternatively, you can use a file name as an argument to your program.

        ◦ You will NOT lose points by only supporting a filename-argument interface, but keep in mind that the standard input interface would be more desirable for your

users (e.g., our TA, Abdullah).

    o # <expected output, hopefully…>

    o You don’t need to parse the comment lines (i.e., starting with “- -“) o We will not to test your programs with any other scripts/commends
        ◦ However, it’s always good to consider more edge cases

        ◦ Try not to hardcode your parser:

            ▪ You want to parse them into a series of (dynamic) words

Grading (20 points total)

    • This is an individual assignment.

    • Design document that clarifies the followings: (5 points) o How your program organizes multiple databases o How your program manages multiple tables

o  At a very high level, how you implement those required functionalities

    • Source code (15 points)

    o Coding style and clarity, 5 points
        ◦ Appropriate parenthesis locations, indention, etc.

        ◦ Always write comments at the beginning of any files

            ▪ Author, date, history, etc.
        ◦ Always write comments at the beginning of any non-trivial class/function

            ▪ What this class/function does, high-level algorithm if needed
        ◦ Write in-line comments for non-trivial blocks of code

    o Functionality, 10 points
        ◦ Refer to the test script for detailed breakdowns

Submission

    • WebCampus

    • Compress all your source code and report into one package in this format: o <your_netid>_pa1

    • Late penalty: 10% per day


2  CS457/657 Database Management Systems, University of Nevada, Reno