Gorden Royale is one of the best lecturers I've had in my degree. His unit was amazingly well organized, and his explanations are brilliant. Help is plentiful, very active discussion forum with really good answers. Lots of content is covered so test revision takes some time but the workload is small overall.

Very great introduction to databases and database design. the labs and final exam was reasonable and the work load isn’t very heavy. The unit also had a great lecturer as well. Highly recommend

Not good

Unit coordinator is unfriendly and has no empathy. Labs do not abide by the 7 day late penalty as outlined in the Assessment Policy and the UC sets a 'hard deadline' 5 days after the due date. Absolutely baffled to find out that even with special consideration, I was unable to submit my project after the 'hard deadline' and received a 0 mark, without response from the UC . Lectures are boring and seminars are not worth your time. The labs were probably the only decent part about this unit. Mid semester test did not reflect the practice test and no exam revision help was given. The content you learn is useful and applicable to a wide range of real-world situations but my experience with this unit and the coordinator especially with regards to my personal situation has been nothing but terrible. Would give Gordon a 0/5 if I could.

Very good unit, labs are very helpful.

Good unit. Topics get covered well with a lot of practical examples for you to work with and although a few things get covered somewhat vaguely, the unit staff were very helpful and actively engaged on the forum. As an introduction unit it's very fair for anyone who isn't familiar with databases and SQL and teaches a good mix of theory and practice. Much better than a couple of the other CS first year units.

Some topics were vaguely explained, and were better demonstrated using practical examples instead of theory, but the lecturer is very active on the help forum. The exam was alright.

Having taken 2 semesters in UWA, I can say that this is the most fair unit I got yet this is a core unit. It was taught to the level where the student really learns and if we have questions, the teacher is always on the help forum to help. The assessments were fair in a way that what he teaches is what he expects you to understand and be tested in the assessment. No out of the blue questions. Final exam was not that easy (which is fair) but because the questions are a bit familiar and as long as the student read and listed to the video lectures and performed the labs, you still have something to answer. I wish all teachers a fair like him. I am taking coursera courses now and touches about SQL and I can say I am able to apply what I learned from the unit. I can really say the value for money was worth.

Highly recommend this unit. Very well taught, fun to get around and the lecturer is extremely helpful!

This unit was really fun, and Jianxian is definitely one of the better comp science teachers you'll get so far. But it's really sad that he's not going to be teaching in UWA anymore. It's important to keep up with the workload, as it is very easy to fall behind. Doing online courses will definitely help.