Announcements


COMP-3150 (60-315-01) WINTER  2026  Announcements.

PLEASE, CHECK THIS PAGE FOR COURSE EVENTS.  Just scroll down to read from recent to old announcements.


NOTE:

DO NOT FORGET, IT IS IMPORTANT TO ATTEND ALL CLASSES.

Class Times:
COMP-3150-1 (60-315-01): T, R (11:30am - 12:50pm) UWindsor as announced in Brightspace.

Office hours:
Comp-3150-1 (60-315-1): M
, 12:00pm-1:00pm and Tuesdays, 2:00 – 3:00pm  in my office at  CS.

Course Web Page can be accessed through:  https://brightspace.uwindsor.ca/d2l/login Or https://cezeife.myweb.cs.uwindsor.ca/courses/60-315/winterindex.html.

 

Important and urgent class announcements are also sent to students through their Uwindsor email account. Please, check your UWindsor email account regularly.


 

Schedule for Extra Tutorials or office hours provided by Computer Science for Students at various levels can be found through a link found through the GA consulting hour link.


 


Posted Sunday, January 25, 2026


Note that assignment 1 is due on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 at night (11:59pm) and should be submitted only electronically through brightspace (as a word file or .pdf, and not in a zipped file).  Type your answers in the .docx file I kept for you in the assignment 1 (one) link through brightspace and submit that file electronically. If your ER diagram is drawn with hand, scan clearly and submit that as well as a .pdf file with the rest of your assignment 1.

 

Note that Test 1 is written on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.
Midterm 1 covers materials from Chs 1, 2, 3, 5 of course book and course notes as summarized also in the upcomint class events in the chart below and also found in the course outline. 

I kept a midterm 1 practice test for your use on brightspace through the Test materials folder. Please, note that I do not post solutions to any posted practice test.  It is for you to work on and bring up any discussions to me or GA/TA.  I do go through them with you in the class in a class before the test though to discuss your solutions.  Thus, go to classes.  Classes are already beginning to thin down in attendance and it obviously affects your understanding of course materials when you drop in and out of classes. As announced in the course outline, you ought to have done all course work to be rounded up one grade point if you are within 1% to that boarder mark.  Thus, class attendance is part of course work.  One class attendance signature had been done for class and a few more will be done by end of term.  You can sign that class attendance if you are in class the day the papers are brought in.

  

Assignments already handed out in class can be found in the assignment folder in the course brightspace site. Assignment 2 is already handed out.

 

All posted test materials can be found in the test materials folder in the course brightspace site.  Please, note that all test practice materials are intended to help students work on the materials and be prepared for class. I do not post solutions to test/exam practices but will post solutions to tests, and assignments.  I normally would still review the test practices with students in the class or during my office hours before the test/exam if they bring their answers for discussion.

 

Find updated GA/TA as well as CS tutor hours of help also through the GA/TA hour link in brightspace or directly through
https://cezeife.myweb.cs.uwindsor.ca/courses/60-315/officehrs/index.html.

 

UPCOMING CLASS EVENTS
ASSIGNMENT & EXAMINATION TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

 

Handed Out (Thurs)

Due Date (Thurs)

Assn   1 (Chs 1, 2, 3)

Jan. 15, 2026

Jan. 29, 2026

Assn 2  (Chs 5, 14)

Jan. 29, 2026

Feb. 26, 2026

Midterm 1 (Chs 1, 2, 3, 5)

 

Feb. 5, 2026 (In class)

Midterm 2 (Chs 14, 6, 7)

 

Mar. 5, 2026  (In class)

Assn 3 (Chs 6, 7, 8)

Feb. 26, 2026

Mar. 19, 2026

Final Exam (all materials covered in class)

Time and Venue (TBA)

Time and Venue (Venue: TBA)

 

 


 

 

Posted Friday, January 2, 2026
 

Dear Winter 2026 Comp 3150 Students,
Welcome to my Winter 2026 class and see you in class on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026.

Course Instructor: Dr. C. I. Ezeife

 

E-mail:                 cezeife@uwindsor.ca

Office Location: CS   room; office phone: 519-253-3000 ext. 3012

Office Hours:      Mon: 12:00pm – 1:00pm; Tues: 2:00-3:00pm;

 

Classes: Tues, Thurs : 11:30am – 12:50pm;  Room : (Toldo 202) As announced in brightspace.

Course Web Page is open and can be accessed through Brightspace  https://brightspace.uwindsor.ca/d2l/login  or directly through: https://cezeife.myweb.cs.uwindsor.ca/courses/60-315/fallindex.html.

Course Text:

Elmasri, Ramez and Navathe, Shamkant (2016). Fundamentals of Database Systems, 7th edition, Pearson. Isb-13: 978-0-13-397077-7; isbn-10: 0-13-397077-9.
Cost:
US$46.01 from AbeBooks.com;  $246.00 from Amazon; Thriftbooks.com: $54.48. Book also available at the University bookstore. Information on how to get the e-book version of the course book is given in the course outline below the course text details.
 

Please, print or download the course notes from the web site and write notes from class lectures inside your notes and/or in a scribbler for easier revision in the future.

 

Where to Find and download Course Notes

I have placed a .pdf copy of the chapters of the course notes on the course web site through the course notes link at this course web site:

https://cezeife.myweb.cs.uwindsor.ca/courses/60-315/notes/index.html.

 

Note :  What you need to do to be able to run SQL through Sqplplus.

 

1.    You need to install the GlobalProtect VPN on your computer (PC, laptop, mac) to be able to connect to any of the CS machines called alpha.cs.uwindsor.ca, bravo.cs.uwindsor.ca, charlie.cs.uwindsor.ca or delta.cs.uwindsor.ca in order to use the programs like the Oracle database management system (DBMS) for creating, querying and managing your databases.

       Information on How to Install or Update GlobalProtect VPN  

·       New University VPN Users: View the KBAs with instructions on how to install the Global Protect VPN.  

·       Existing University VPN Users: Find Update the VPN per the KBA to see how to remove the old portal networklogin.uwindsor.ca to the new securelogin.uwindsor.ca

·       Should you require help with the VPN, please contact the IT Service Desk by opening a ticket, calling 519-253-3000 ext. 4440 or selecting the chat icon in the bottom right corner of uwindsor.ca/its or uwindsor.ca/itshelp.   

 

2.    You need to synchronize your UWindsor email password with the Oracle Sqlplus password (i) every time you change your UWindsor email password, (ii) first time you are logging onto Sqlplus on cs servers, and (iii) any time you are working on Sqlplus on our cs server and got locked out. 
To synchronize, go to https://auth.cs.uwindsor.ca/password.  Then, follow the appropriate buttons to synchronize.

3.    Connect to any of the CS machines through either Bitvise SSH (https://bitvise.com/ssh-client-download ) or Nomachine (https://www.nomachine.com/download).  These two software programs can be downloaded from their websites. More details on how to obtain them are provided below.

4.    The following is the new cs help that all the students should try first. https://help.cs.uwindsor.ca/search?term=oracle

5.    If connecting to Oracle Sqlplus through SSH client, the following instruction can be used. A quick summary of Sqlplus instructions can also be found on the course web page and on course brightspace resource folder.
sqlplus “username”
password: 
(type your Uwindsor password where username is your Uwindsor username without double quotes. Eg. cezeife)

(To exit Sqlpus, just type exit at the prompt, and to exit SSH terminal, type another exit at the prompt.)

6.    For Macintosh laptop users. You can simply run ssh commands from your Mac operating systems shell terminal with commands like the following:
ssh 
username@hostaddress
password: 
(type your Uwindsor password where username is your Uwindsor username without double quotes. Eg. cezeife@delta.cs.uwindsor.ca)

The above connects you only to one of the cs servers like delta specified above the way a Windows laptop user has connected with SSH client.  If you now want to run Sqlplus, you need to type the sqlplus command like:
sqlplus “username”
password: 
(type your Uwindsor password where username is your Uwindsor username without double quotes. Eg. cezeife)
(To exit Sqlpus, just type exit at the prompt, and to exit SSH terminal, type another exit at the prompt.)

 

For students, who want to login to Oracle Sqlplus through the steps described clearly below, please, talk to a TA or myself during our office hours if you are still encountering any issues.  

 

**
Activating your Computer User Accounts and Accessing your Webmail 

Make sure that your computer user accounts are activated by going to : www.uwindsor.ca/userid

And to access your email, go to url: https://outlook.office.com/mail/

 

1.      Note on Oracle Sqlplus Login Issues, you need to synchronize your UWindsor email password with the Oracle Sqlplus password (i) every time you change your UWindsor email password, (ii) first time you are logging onto Sqlplus on cs servers, and (iii) any time you are working on Sqlplus on our cs server and got locked out. 
To synchronize, go to 
https://auth.cs.uwindsor.ca/password.  Then, follow the appropriate buttons to synchronize. Use only your UWindsor userid without the @uwindsor.ca part.

 

2.     More on Accepted SQLPLUS password

Due to recent changes in campus password complexity, Oracle passwords may pose a problem for sqlplus logins. The characters that can be used for an Oracle password without enclosing it in double quotes are the same as any normal Oracle identifier: only letters, numbers, and the symbols #, _ and $ are acceptable, and the first character must be a letter.  If the password includes any other characters, the entire password MUST be enclosed in double quotes for the Oracle login or it might not be accepted.  It is recommended that you keep your campus password compatible with Oracle password requirements to avoid Oracle login issues.


If you are having login issues with sqlplus, please check https://help.cs.uwindsor.ca/mediawiki/index.php/SQL*Plus#Troubleshooting 

first. If you are unable to resolve the login issue yourself, or are having database rights privileges in creating or querying tables, send an email to the CS Systems Analyst, Sanjay Chitte, at sanjay.chitte@uwindsor.ca.

 

How to Connect to CS Servers (cs.uwindsor.ca)

On how to connect to our Computer Science servers called alpha.cs.uwindsor.ca, bravo.cs.uwindsor.ca, charlie.cs.uwindsor.ca, delta.cs.uwindsor.ca to do your work, since we are no longer able to connect to the cs servers with the secure shell client (ssh/sftp) program, you can use either NoMachine or Bitvise SSH. 

 

To connect to cs.uwindsor.ca servers remotely and be able to transfer files, you need to download NoMachine or Bitvise SSH. The NoMachine Player (client) is available for free on many platforms including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android and iOS (iPad tablets).  It can be downloaded from nomachine.com and we have some instructional documents for users at help.cs.uwindsor.ca.

 

Read below for specific details.
To download NoMachine and Bitvise SSH, access, go to the cs download help link or go to:

1.     NoMachine to through the download link:
 
https://www.nomachine.com/download.  Then, download the NoMachine suitable for your own device. 

2.     The working alternative most similar to the old SSH client is the Bitvise SSH Client. Please to download Bitvise SSH client (not putty), visit: https://bitvise.com/ssh-client-download .

 

3.     Ensure that you connect to delta.cs.uwindsor.ca (not cs.uwindsor.ca) during set up of Bitvise SSH client.

4.     You can also download the Fillezilla secure file transfer protocol through the link: https://filezilla-project.org/ (download the Fillezilla client).

 

How to Use NoMachine  to  connect to CS Servers (cs.uwindsor.ca) and Open up an X terminal to run SqlPlus

1.     Follow the instructions and connect to delta.cs.uwindsor.ca server with NoMachine if not yet familiar.

2.     You now have a virtual machine interface similar to what you see in the machines on campus in the Java lab or the Leddy Library lab. Then, left click on Applications on the top menu and select System Tools, then, Mate Terminal.  This creates a terminal for Unix/Linux commands on a white background.

3.     You are now ready to type your Unix/Linux commands for editing with a text editor (e.g., gedit), connecting to an SQL query language processor (e.g., sqlplus). You can also use the text editor pico with any either Bitvise or NoMachine terminal.

4.     If you want a copy of any file in the remote cs server brought to your local home PC, you can then use Bitvise SSH client file transfer protocol (SFTP), FileZilla or NoMachine to transfer the files to your local computer (or laptop) so you can submit the file for assignment solution.

 

Dr. C. Ezeife

 

**

 

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