Accessing data from program code

Module title:

Accessing data from program code

Module overview:

This module introduces students to different ways of persisting data in SQL and NoSQL data storages from the application code.

This module is core to Software Engineering subspecialisation and provides important skills and knowledge for a wide number of programming modules that students will take in the following semesters. The skills acquired will contribute significantly to students’ development as professionals in the respective fields.

Students will learn:
• How to overcome the discrepancies between object-oriented programming languages and relational databases.
• How to manually persist and materialize data to and from data storage, using standard libraries in transactional manner.
• How to use ORM frameworks to automate the process of persistence and materialization, concentrating on the Convention over configuration principle.
• About the specifics of NoSQL data storages and how to use them.

The module is taught in C sharp and Java. The module assessment is based on individual student projects. In these projects, students must create an application that uses SQL and NoSQL data storages, to the given specifications.

Literature:

Essential reading:
1. Gorman, B.R. (2020) Practical Entity Framework: Database Access for Enterprise Applications. New York City: Apress.
2. Mihalcea V. (2016) High-Performance Java Persistence. 1st edn. Independent publisher.
3. Dayley B. (2014) NoSQL with MongoDB in 24 Hours. 1st edn. Carmel: Sams Publishing.

Recommended reading:
1. Shaikh K.A. (2020) Azure for .NET Core Developers: Implementing Microsoft Azure Solutions Using .NET Core Framework. 1st edn. New Delhi: BPB Publications.

Further reading:
1. Konda M. (2014) Just Hibernate: A Lightweight Introduction to the Hibernate Framework. 1st edn. Sebastopol: O'Reilly Media.