RedBase Project

Project Overview

The focal point of the course is the RedBase project. RedBase stands for Relational Database, and also alludes to Stanford's color. (We know, Stanford's color is really Cardinal, but CardBase doesn't have as much of a ring to it.) RedBase is a complete single-user relational database management system. It involves a significant amount of coding, and the project must be completed by each individual student -- teams are not permitted. The project is highly structured, but there is enough slack in the specification so that creativity is both allowed and required. The basic project is divided into four parts:

1. The Record Management (RM) Component: In this part you will implement a set of functions for managing unordered files of database records. This component will rely on the Paged File (PF) component we provide, which performs low-level file I/O at the granularity of pages.

2. The Indexing (IX) Component: In this part you will implement a facility for building indexes on records stored in unordered files. Your indexing facility will be based on B+ trees. The Indexing component will rely on the Paged File component.

3. The System Management (SM) Component: In this part you will implement various database and system utilities, including data definition commands and catalog management. The System Management component will rely on the Record Management and Indexing components from Parts 1 and 2. It also will use a command-line parser, which we will provide.

4. The Query Language (QL) Component: In this part you will implement RQL -- the RedBase Query Language. RQL consists of user-level data manipulation commands, both queries and updates. The Query Language component will rely on the three components from Parts 1-3, and it will use the command-line parser that we are providing.

In addition to the basic project, each student will design and implement a significant extension to RedBase. We expect that students will get ideas about extensions as the course progresses. Possibilities include aspects of record management, long fields (BLOBs), object management, text management, sorting, indexing, join algorithms, clustering, statistics and query optimization, query language extensions, OLAP, XML, concurrency control, recovery, security and authorization, compression, networking, versioning, external functions, stored procedures, views, integrity constraints, triggers, user and application interfaces, web integration, etc. (We're certainly open to additional suggestions.) Each student will submit a proposal for their project extension. Students will get feedback on their proposal, then will implement their extension as the fifth and final part of the project. Complete projects will be demonstrated to the instructors during finals week.

More information about the project, such as setting up and testing the code, submission process, late policy, and grading can be found in the RedBase Logistics page. Also check the RedBase FAQs page to see if there's already an answer to your question.

RedBase I/O Efficiency Contest

As the old saying goes, the three most important aspects of a database management system are efficiency, efficiency, and efficiency. To encourage you to take efficiency into consideration as you develop your RedBase system, we will be conducting a RedBase Efficiency Contest when the QL component is complete. While there are several important efficiency measures in a DBMS, we will focus on I/O performance. We will measure each student's RedBase system on a set of benchmark queries and updates in the RQL language and will count the number of I/O's -- the fewer the better, of course. All students enter the contest automatically when they submit their QL component, unless they prefer to be excluded. The prizes are:

• First prize: 10% boost in overall project score.

• Second prize: 5% boost in overall project score.