Big Data Systems
2025-2026, Semester A
School of Computer Science and AI
Tel Aviv University
Course Information
- Time: Tuesday 15:00-18:00
- Location: Check Point 001
- Moodle: Big Data Systems (Moodle)
- Previous courses: Big Data Systems
- Course ID: 0368-3276
Course Staff
- Dr. Rubi Boim
- Nadav Magar (TA) - nadavmagar AT mail.tau.ac.il
Course Goal
The course covers the architecture and design of modern big data systems from a data modeling and data management perspectives. Topics includes centralized vs distributed data systems, NoSQL and in particular wide-column database systems and Cassandra, storage strategies, denormalization modeling, stream processing, data warehouse and more.
The goal of the course is to provide the theoretical as well as the practical hands on knowledge required for designing and developing internet scale based data applications.
Course Format
The class meets once a week for a 3 hours lecture.
There will be 2-3 homework assignments (in pairs, some of which will involve programming) - 45% of the final grade.
Final exam - 55% of the final grade.
Course Requirements
- Data structures (0368-2158) or Data structures and Algorithms (0512-2510)
Course Schedule and Slides
* tentative due to Iron Swords war
| # | Date | Topics | Material | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28.10.2025 | Introduction | ||
| 2 | 04.11.2025 | Relational DB | ||
| 3 | 11.11.2025 | Relational data modeling | HW#1 distributed | |
| 4 | 18.11.2025 | Distributed DB, CAP theorem, NoSQL | ||
| 5 | 25.11.2025 | Dynamo | HW#1 due | |
| 6 | 02.12.2025 | Bigtable | ||
| - | 09.12.2025 | No class this week | ||
| 7 | 16.12.2025 | Cassandra - Intro | ||
| 8 | 23.12.2025 | Cassandra - Advanced | ||
| 30.12.2025 | Cassandra - Hands on | HW#2 distributed | ||
| 10 | 06.01.2026 | Data modeling in NoSQL | ||
| 11 | 13.01.2026 | Data modeling in NoSQL - Advanced | HW#2 due HW#3 distributed |
|
| 12 | 20.01.2026 | TBD - Advanced topics | ||
| - | 27.01.2026 | HW#3 due | ||
| - | ? | Final Test |
Reference Papers, Classes and Others
- CAP Twelve Years Later: How the “Rules” Have Changed
- Dynamo: Amazon’s Highly Available Key-value Store
- The Google File System
- Bigtable: A Distributed Storage System for Structured Data
- Cassandra - A Decentralized Structured Storage System
- Cassandra Docs
- DataStax developers videos (YouTube)
- Principles of Distributed Database Systems
Stanford 6.S897: Large-Scale SystemsStanford CS 245: Principles of Data-Intensive Systems