Database Schema (Archive)

[CharlieMahana]

Please contain all discussion concerning the implementation and design of the Nebula database to this thread.

[CharlieMahana]

Course

Overview

The Course object represents a course available at the University of Texas at Dallas. A Course should not be confused with a Section which is the actual instantiation of a Course with a professor and dedicated meeting times.

Object Representation

Course = {
	"id": number,
	"course_number": string, 
	"subject_prefix": string, 
	"title": string, 
	"description": string,
	"school": string, 
	"credit_hours": number, 
	"class_level": string, 
	"activity_type": string, 
	"grading": string,
	"internal_course_number": string,
	"prerequisite_courses": Array,
	"corequisite_courses": Array,
	"attributes": {},
}

Properties

.id

Type: number

The Firestore database reference number for the Course object.

.course_number

Type: string

The course's official number.

Example: 2417

.subject_prefix

Type: string

The course's subject prefix.

Example: MATH

.title

Type: string

The course's title.

Example: Calculus I

.description

Type: string

The course's description.

Example: Calculus I

.school

Type: string

The course's school.

Example: Natural Sciences and Mathematics

.credit_hours

Type: number

The number of credit hours awarded by successful completion of the course.

Example: 4

.class_level

Type: string

The level of education that this course corresponds to.

Example: Undergraduate

.activity_type

Type: string

The type of class this course corresponds to.

Example: Lecture

.grading

Type: string

The grading status of this course.

Example: Graded

.internal_course_number

Type: string

The internal (university) number used to reference this course.

Example: 008613

.prerequisite_courses

Type: Collection

A collection of all course requirements that must be met before a student may enroll in a section of this course.

.corequiste_courses

Type: Collection

A collection of all course requirements that must be met either before or while a student enrolls in a section of this course

.postrequisite_courses

Type: Collection

A collection of all courses that this course is a prerequisite for.

.membership

Type: Array<Collection>

An array of Collection that this course is a part of.

.attributes

Type: Object

Space for additional data describing the course not listed elsewhere.

[CharlieMahana]

Collection

Overview

A Collection object represents a grouping of Course objects and other Collection objects. A Collection is best used to describe a complex grouping of courses where only certain conditions must be met such as in the case of prerequisite or corequisite courses.

A Collection is best understood as a conditional statement object in that a Collection specifies how many of its own elements must evaluate to true for itself to evaluate to true.

For example, in the case that a student is required to succesfully complete one of several courses to satisfy another course's prerequisites, we can represent it with a collection. Using MATH 2418 (Linear Algebra) as an example, it requires that either MATH 2306, MATH 2413, or MATH 2417 be completed. The Collection object in this case would be composed of the three courses and specify that only 1 out of the 3 total elements must be completed for the Collection itself to evaluate to true.

Similarly, in the case that a student is required to sucessfully complete multiple courses as prerequisites, we can represent that prerequisite as a collection of courses of which N out of N courses must be completed for the Collection object to evaluate to true.

If more complex collections are required, you can nest collections and courses to represent any finite requirements.

For example, if a course requires that you take courses (A and B) or (C and D) as prerequisites, then this can be represented as two collections of (A and B) and (C and D) which require 2 out of 2 courses be completed. These two collections can then be put inside of another collection of which only 1 out of the 2 collections must evaluate to true for it to evaluate to true.

Object Representation

Collection = {
	"id": number,
	"name": string,
        "abbreviation": string,
	"type": string,
        "requisite_type": string,
	"required": number,
	"total": number,
	"options": [],
}

Properties

.id

Type: number

The Firestore database reference number for the Collection object.

.name

Type: string

The name of the collection.

Example: Minor in Mathematics

.abbreviation

Type: string

The (potential) abbreviation of the collection name

Example: BS for Bachelors of Science

.type

Type: string

The type of course/collection grouping that is meant to be represented by this collection.

Example: Prerequisites, Corequisites, Degree, Major, Minor, Concentration

.requisite_type

Type: string

The type of evaluation that must be satisfied if the collection itself evaluates to true.

Example: class_count, hour_count

.required

Type: number

The number of units in the collection that must be satisfied for the collection itself to evaluate to true.

Example: 3

.total

Type: number

The total number of units within the collection.

Example: 5

.options

Type: Array

An array of all courses and collections that compose this collection.

[CharlieMahana]

Section

Overview

A Section object is the instantiation of a Course object with a professor, meeting times, and a grade distribution.

Object Representation

Section = {
	"id": number,
	"section_number": string, // (e.g. 002)
	"course_reference": number, // points to course in Courses
	"section_corequisites": [], // for cases where a specific section requires taking another section
	"academic_session": {
		"start_date": date,
		"end_date": date,
	},
	"professor_reference": number, // points to professor in Professors
	"teaching_assistants": [strings],
	"internal_class_number": string,
	"instruction_mode": string, // (e.g. Traditional)
	"meetings": [] // times and locations
	"syllabus_reference": number,
	"grade_distribution": Array<number>,
	"attributes": {}, // arbitrary data
}

Properties

.id

Type: number

The Firestore database reference number for the Section object.

.section_number

Type: string

The section's official number.

Example: 002

.course_reference

Type: number

A reference number that points to the course this section is an instantiation of.

.section_corequisites

Type: Collection

A collection of all sections that must be taken alongside this section such as specific labs and exam sections.

.academic_session

Type: object

The dates over which this section was available.

.start_date

Type: Date

The start date of the academic session.

.end_date

Type: Date

The end date of the academic session.

.professor_reference

Type: number

A reference number pointing to this section's professor

.teaching_assistants

Type: Array<string>

An array of all teaching assistant names for this section.

.internal_class_number

Type: string

The internal (university) number used to reference this section.

Example: 82785

.instruction_mode

Type: string

The instruction modality for this section.

Example: Traditional

.meetings

Type: Array

An array of the locations and times that this section meets.

.section_number

Type: string

The section's official number.

Example: 002

.syllabus_reference

Type: number

A number referencing this section's syllabus.

.grade_distribution

Type: Array<number>

An array of how many students achieved a certain grade in this section decreasing in the order of A+, A, A-, etc.

.attributes

Type: Object

Space for additional data describing the section not listed elsewhere.

[CharlieMahana]

Professor

Overview

A Professor represents a professor who has taught or is currently teaching classes at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Object Representation

Professor = {
	"id": number,
	"first_name": string,
	"last_name": string,
	"title": string,
	"email": string,
	"phone_number": string,
	"office": string, 
	"profile_link": string,
}

Properties

.id

Type: number

The Firestore database reference number for the Professor object.

.first_name

Type: string

The professor's first name.

.last_name

Type: string

The professor's last name.

.title

Type: string

The professor's title.

Example: Senior Mathematics Lecturer

.email

Type: string

The professor's email address.

.phone_number

Type: string

The professor's phone number.

.office

Type: string

The location of the professor's office.

.profile_link

Type: string

A hyperlink pointing to the professor's official university profile.