MINI-DB: Demystifying the Inner Workings of Database Systems

As computer science continues to move toward a more pragmatic market driven discipline, some of the traditional core topics in computing have become less popular. Atrisk topics include compilers, file organizations, and operating systems. Viewed collectively, it appears that courses that either deal with the internal working of computers or courses that require system programming are being systematically removed from the undergraduate curriculum. This trend can be seen in the 2001 and 2005 ACM/IEEE Computing Curricula recommendations. This paper advocates a project-based approach to reintroduce system development topics into the computer science curriculum. The authors describe the structure of a database system development course, and provide additional ideas for similarly structured courses.