After successful completion of the course, students are able to...

• explain the differences between semi-structured and structured data.
• apply the XML-technologies cover by the lecture to concrete problem settings.
• detect the limitations of XML-technologies in concrete problem setting.
• explain the differences between the XML-Schema language discussed in the lecture.
• explain the differences between the XML-Query languages discussed in the lecture.
• explain the differences between the XML-APIs discussed in the lecture.
• explain the difference between the tree data model in XML and the graph data model in graph databases

• XML
• XML schema languages (DTDs, XML Schema)
• XML query languages (XPath, XQuery, XSLT)
• XML-APIs (parsers, XSLT-processor)
• JSON
• Graph databases (Neo4J), Cypher query language

• The weekly lectures will introduce the key technologies related to Semi-structured Data.
• The students will receive excersises in order to deepen their understanding of the topics. 
• The excersises mainly consists of practical work to use the discussed SSD technologies to solve example problems.
• The excertises have two components: (a) homework, and (b) work in groups in the lecture room. 
• For work in groups, lecture rooms will be available for the students (~2 slots per week).
• During work in groups, the students will solve problems by cooperating, will present their homeworks to group members, as well as provide feedback to fellow students. 
• The work groups will consist of ~3 students and the groups will change every week. 

Questions about the course

are only guaranteed to be answered if sent to ssd@dbai.tuwien.ac.at.
Notice that, messages where the subject does not start with "SSD:" might be considered spam.

ECTS Breakdown:

28h lectures

28h work in groups in a lecture room

80h homework

7h reporting on work in groups

7h maintaining study log

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150h (6 ECTS)
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The evaluation will be based on the homework and the work in groups during the dedicated sessions. Specifically, homework will have to be presented and discussed among the students in a work group. The students are generally expected to participate in a sufficient number of sessions for work in groups (~1 session per week). In general, only homework that are presented and discussed in a student group will count towards the final grade (only well-justified exceptions to this rule will be accepted). The student groups may be asked to provide a short report on their work. 

Moreover, each student is expected to maintain a study log, in which the student documents their study progress during the semester, including the challenges they had and the key ideas they got from the lectures, the homework, and the work in groups.  

• basic programming skills in Java
• knowledge of the course Data Modelling or the course Data Base Systems, in particular: relational data model, SQL