What is database?

A database is a logically coherent

collection of data with some inherent
meaning, representing some aspect of
real world and which is designed, built
and populated with data for a specific
purpose.
2. What is DBMS?
t is a collection of programs that
enables user to create and maintain a
database. n other words it is general!
purpose software that pro"ides the
users with the processes of defining,
constructing and manipulating the
database for "arious applications.
#. What is a Database system?
$he database and DBMS software
together is called as Database system.
%. Ad"antages of DBMS?
? &edundancy is controlled.
? 'nauthorised access is restricted.
? (ro"iding multiple user interfaces.
? )nforcing integrity constraints.
? (ro"iding bac*up and reco"ery.
+. Disad"antage in ,ile (rocessing
System?
? Data redundancy - inconsistency.
? Difficult in accessing data.
? Data isolation.
? Data integrity.
? .oncurrent access is not possible.
? Security (roblems.
/. Describe the three le"els of data
abstraction?
$he are three le"els of abstraction0
? (hysical le"el0 $he lowest le"el of
abstraction describes how data are
stored.
? 1ogical le"el0 $he ne2t higher le"el of
abstraction, describes what data are
stored in database and what
relationship among those data.
? 3iew le"el0 $he highest le"el of
abstraction describes only part of
entire database.
4. Define the 5integrity rules5
$here are two ntegrity rules.
? )ntity ntegrity0 States that 6(rimary
*ey cannot ha"e 7'11 "alue8
? &eferential ntegrity0 States that
6,oreign 9ey can be either a 7'11
"alue or should be (rimary 9ey "alue
of other relation.
:. What is e2tension and intension?
)2tension !
t is the number of tuples present in a
table at any instance. $his is time
dependent.
ntension !
t is a constant "alue that gi"es the
name, structure of table and the
constraints laid on it.
;. What is System &?
System & was designed and de"eloped
o"er a period of <;4%!4; at BM San
=ose &esearch .enter. t is a prototype
and its purpose was to demonstrate
that it is possible to build a &elational
System that can be used in a real life
en"ironment to sol"e real life
problems, with performance at least
comparable to that of e2isting system.

<>. ?ow is the data structure of
System & different from the relational
structure?
'nli*e &elational systems in System &
? Domains are not supported
? )nforcement of candidate *ey
uni@ueness is optional
? )nforcement of entity integrity is
optional
? &eferential integrity is not enforced
<<. What is Data ndependence?
Data independence means that 6the
application is independent of the
storage structure and access strategy
of data8. n other words, $he ability to
modify the schema definition in one
le"el should not affect the schema
definition in the ne2t higher le"el.
$wo types of Data ndependence0
? (hysical Data ndependence0
Modification in physical le"el should
not affect the logical le"el.
? 1ogical Data ndependence0
Modification in logical le"el should
affect the "iew le"el.
7A$)0 1ogical Data ndependence is
more difficult to achie"e
<2. What is a "iew? ?ow it is related to
data independence?
A "iew may be thought of as a "irtual
table, that is, a table that does not
really e2ist in its own right but is
instead deri"ed from one or more
underlying base table. n other words,
there is no stored file that direct
represents the "iew instead a
definition of "iew is stored in data
dictionary.
Browth and restructuring of base
tables is not reflected in "iews. $hus
the "iew can insulate users from the
effects of restructuring and growth in
the database. ?ence accounts for
logical data independence.
<#. What is Data Model?
A collection of conceptual tools for
describing data, data relationships
data semantics and constraints.
<%. What is )!& model?
$his data model is based on real world
that consists of basic obCects called
entities and of relationship among
these obCects. )ntities are described in
a database by a set of attributes.
<+. What is AbCect Ariented model?
$his model is based on collection of
obCects. An obCect contains "alues
stored in instance "ariables with in the
obCect. An obCect also contains bodies
of code that operate on the obCect.
$hese bodies of code are called
methods. AbCects that contain same
types of "alues and the same methods
are grouped together into classes.
</. What is an )ntity?
t is a DthingD in the real world with an
independent e2istence.
<4. What is an )ntity type?
t is a collection EsetF of entities that
ha"e same attributes.
<:. What is an )ntity set?
t is a collection of all entities of
particular entity type in the database.
<;. What is an )2tension of entity
type?
$he collections of entities of a
particular entity type are grouped
together into an entity set.
2>. What is Wea* )ntity set?
An entity set may not ha"e sufficient
attributes to form a primary *ey, and
its primary *ey compromises of its
partial *ey and primary *ey of its
parent entity, then it is said to be Wea*
)ntity set.
2<. What is an attribute?
t is a particular property, which
describes the entity.
22. What is a &elation Schema and a
&elation?
A relation Schema denoted by &EA<,
A2, G, AnF is made up of the relation
name & and the list of attributes Ai
that it contains. A relation is defined
as a set of tuples. 1et r be the relation
which contains set tuples Et<, t2, t#, ...,
tnF. )ach tuple is an ordered list of n!
"alues tHE"<,"2, ..., "nF.
2#. What is degree of a &elation?
t is the number of attribute of its
relation schema.
2%. What is &elationship?
t is an association among two or more
entities.
2+. What is &elationship set?
$he collection Eor setF of similar
relationships.
2/. What is &elationship type?
&elationship type defines a set of
associations or a relationship set
among a gi"en set of entity types.
24. What is degree of &elationship
type?
t is the number of entity type
participating.
2+. What is DD1 EData Definition
1anguageF?
A data base schema is specifies by a
set of definitions e2pressed by a
special language called DD1.
2/. What is 3D1 E3iew Definition
1anguageF?
t specifies user "iews and their
mappings to the conceptual schema.
24. What is SD1 EStorage Definition
1anguageF?
$his language is to specify the internal
schema. $his language may specify
the mapping between two schemas.
2:. What is Data Storage ! Definition
1anguage?
$he storage structures and access
methods used by database system are
specified by a set of definition in a
special type of DD1 called data
storage!definition language.
2;. What is DM1 EData Manipulation
1anguageF?
$his language that enable user to
access or manipulate data as
organised by appropriate data model.
? (rocedural DM1 or 1ow le"el0 DM1
re@uires a user to specify what data
are needed and how to get those data.
? 7on!(rocedural DM1 or ?igh le"el0
DM1 re@uires a user to specify what
data are needed without specifying
how to get those data.
#<. What is DM1 .ompiler?
t translates DM1 statements in a
@uery language into low!le"el
instruction that the @uery e"aluation
engine can understand.
#2. What is Iuery e"aluation engine?
t e2ecutes low!le"el instruction
generated by compiler.
##. What is DD1 nterpreter?
t interprets DD1 statements and
record them in tables containing
metadata.
#%. What is &ecord!at!a!time?
$he 1ow le"el or (rocedural DM1 can
specify and retrie"e each record from
a set of records. $his retrie"e of a
record is said to be &ecord!at!a!time.
#+. What is Set!at!a!time or Set!
oriented?
$he ?igh le"el or 7on!procedural DM1
can specify and retrie"e many records
in a single DM1 statement. $his
retrie"e of a record is said to be Set!at!
a!time or Set!oriented.
#/. What is &elational Algebra?
t is procedural @uery language. t
consists of a set of operations that
ta*e one or two relations as input and
produce a new relation.
#4. What is &elational .alculus?
t is an applied predicate calculus
specifically tailored for relational
databases proposed by ).,. .odd. ).g.
of languages based on it are DS1
A1(?A, I')1.
#:. ?ow does $uple!oriented relational
calculus differ from domain!oriented
relational calculus
$he tuple!oriented calculus uses a
tuple "ariables i.e., "ariable whose
only permitted "alues are tuples of
that relation. ).g. I')1
$he domain!oriented calculus has
domain "ariables i.e., "ariables that
range o"er the underlying domains
instead of o"er relation. ).g. 11,
D)D'.).
#;. What is normaliJation?
t is a process of analysing the gi"en
relation schemas based on their
,unctional Dependencies E,DsF and
primary *ey to achie"e the properties
? MinimiJing redundancy
? MinimiJing insertion, deletion and
update anomalies.
%>. What is ,unctional Dependency?
A ,unctional dependency is denoted by
K !LM between two sets of attributes K
and M that are subsets of & specifies a
constraint on the possible tuple that
can form a relation state r of &. $he
constraint is for any two tuples t< and
t2 in r if t<NKO H t2NKO then they ha"e
t<NMO H t2NMO. $his means the "alue of K
component of a tuple uni@uely
determines the "alue of component M.
%<. When is a functional dependency ,
said to be minimal?
? )"ery dependency in , has a single
attribute for its right hand side.
? We cannot replace any dependency K
A in , with a dependency M A where M
is a proper subset of K and still ha"e a
set of dependency that is e@ui"alent to
,.
? We cannot remo"e any dependency
from , and still ha"e set of dependency
that is e@ui"alent to ,.
%2. What is Multi"alued dependency?
Multi"alued dependency denoted by K
M specified on relation schema &,
where K and M are both subsets of &,
specifies the following constraint on
any relation r of &0 if two tuples t< and
t2 e2ist in r such that t<NKO H t2NKO then
t# and t% should also e2ist in r with the
following properties
? t#N2O H t%NKO H t<NKO H t2NKO
? t#NMO H t<NMO and t%NMO H t2NMO
? t#NPO H t2NPO and t%NPO H t<NPO
where NP H E&!EK ' MFF O
%#. What is 1ossless Coin property?
t guarantees that the spurious tuple
generation does not occur with
respect to relation schemas after
decomposition.
%%. What is < 7, E7ormal ,ormF?
$he domain of attribute must include
only atomic Esimple, indi"isibleF "alues.
%+. What is ,ully ,unctional
dependency?
t is based on concept of full functional
dependency. A functional dependency
K M is full functional dependency if
remo"al of any attribute A from K
means that the dependency does not
hold any more.
%/. What is 27,?
A relation schema & is in 27, if it is in
<7, and e"ery non!prime attribute A in
& is fully functionally dependent on
primary *ey.
%4. What is #7,?
A relation schema & is in #7, if it is in
27, and for e"ery ,D K A either of the
following is true
? K is a Super!*ey of &.
? A is a prime attribute of &.
n other words, if e"ery non prime
attribute is non!transiti"ely dependent
on primary *ey.
%:. What is B.7, EBoyce!.odd 7ormal
,ormF?
A relation schema & is in B.7, if it is
in #7, and satisfies an additional
constraint that for e"ery ,D K A, K
must be a candidate *ey.
%;. What is %7,?
A relation schema & is said to be in
%7, if for e"ery Multi"alued
dependency K M that holds o"er &, one
of following is true
? K is subset or e@ual to EorF KM H &.
? K is a super *ey.
+>. What is +7,?
A &elation schema & is said to be +7,
if for e"ery Coin dependency Q&<, &2, ...,
&nR that holds &, one the following is
true
? &i H & for some i.
? $he Coin dependency is implied by
the set of ,D, o"er & in which the left
side is *ey of &.
+<. What is Domain!9ey 7ormal ,orm?
A relation is said to be in D97, if all
constraints and dependencies that
should hold on the the constraint can
be enforced by simply enforcing the
domain constraint and *ey constraint
on the relation.
+2. What are partial, alternate,,
artificial, compound and natural *ey?
(artial 9ey0
t is a set of attributes that can
uni@uely identify wea* entities and
that are related to same owner entity.
t is sometime called as Discriminator.
Alternate 9ey0
All .andidate 9eys e2cluding the
(rimary 9ey are *nown as Alternate
9eys.
Artificial 9ey0
f no ob"ious *ey, either stand alone or
compound is a"ailable, then the last
resort is to simply create a *ey, by
assigning a uni@ue number to each
record or occurrence. $hen this is
*nown as de"eloping an artificial *ey.
.ompound 9ey0
f no single data element uni@uely
identifies occurrences within a
construct, then combining multiple
elements to create a uni@ue identifier
for the construct is *nown as creating
a compound *ey.
7atural 9ey0
When one of the data elements stored
within a construct is utiliJed as the
primary *ey, then it is called the
natural *ey.
+#. What is inde2ing and what are the
different *inds of inde2ing?
nde2ing is a techni@ue for determining
how @uic*ly specific data can be
found.
$ypes0
? Binary search style inde2ing
? B!$ree inde2ing
? n"erted list inde2ing
? Memory resident table
? $able inde2ing
+%. What is system catalog or catalog
relation? ?ow is better *nown as?
A &DBMS maintains a description of all
the data that it contains, information
about e"ery relation and inde2 that it
contains. $his information is stored in
a collection of relations maintained by
the system called metadata. t is also
called data dictionary.
++. What is meant by @uery
optimiJation?
$he phase that identifies an efficient
e2ecution plan for e"aluating a @uery
that has the least estimated cost is
referred to as @uery optimiJation.
+/. What is Coin dependency and
inclusion dependency?
=oin Dependency0
A =oin dependency is generaliJation of
Multi"alued dependency.A =D Q&<,
&2, ..., &nR is said to hold o"er a
relation & if &<, &2, &#, ..., &n is a
lossless!Coin decomposition of & .
$here is no set of sound and complete
inference rules for =D.
nclusion Dependency0
An nclusion Dependency is a
statement of the form that some
columns of a relation are contained in
other columns. A foreign *ey
constraint is an e2ample of inclusion
dependency.
+4. What is durability in DBMS?
Ance the DBMS informs the user that a
transaction has successfully
completed, its effects should persist
e"en if the system crashes before all
its changes are reflected on dis*. $his
property is called durability.
+:. What do you mean by atomicity and
aggregation?
Atomicity0
)ither all actions are carried out or
none are. 'sers should not ha"e to
worry about the effect of incomplete
transactions. DBMS ensures this by
undoing the actions of incomplete
transactions.
Aggregation0
A concept which is used to model a
relationship between a collection of
entities and relationships. t is used
when we need to e2press a
relationship among relationships.
+;. What is a (hantom Deadloc*?
n distributed deadloc* detection, the
delay in propagating local information
might cause the deadloc* detection
algorithms to identify deadloc*s that
do not really e2ist. Such situations are
called phantom deadloc*s and they
lead to unnecessary aborts.
/>. What is a chec*point and When
does it occur?
A .hec*point is li*e a snapshot of the
DBMS state. By ta*ing chec*points,
the DBMS can reduce the amount of
wor* to be done during restart in the
e"ent of subse@uent crashes.
/<. What are the different phases of
transaction?
Different phases are
? Analysis phase
? &edo (hase
? 'ndo phase
/2. What do you mean by flat file
database?
t is a database in which there are no
programs or user access languages. t
has no cross!file capabilities but is
user!friendly and pro"ides user!
interface management.
/#. What is 5transparent DBMS5?
t is one, which *eeps its (hysical
Structure hidden from user.
/%. Brief theory of 7etwor*,
?ierarchical schemas and their
properties
7etwor* schema uses a graph data
structure to organiJe records e2ample
for such a database management
system is .$.B while a hierarchical
schema uses a tree data structure
e2ample for such a system is MS.
/+. What is a @uery?
A @uery with respect to DBMS relates
to user commands that are used to
interact with a data base. $he @uery
language can be classified into data
definition language and data
manipulation language.
//. What do you mean by .orrelated
sub@uery?
Sub@ueries, or nested @ueries, are
used to bring bac* a set of rows to be
used by the parent @uery. Depending
on how the sub@uery is written, it can
be e2ecuted once for the parent @uery
or it can be e2ecuted once for each
row returned by the parent @uery. f
the sub@uery is e2ecuted for each row
of the parent, this is called a
correlated sub@uery.
A correlated sub@uery can be easily
identified if it contains any references
to the parent sub@uery columns in its
W?)&) clause. .olumns from the
sub@uery cannot be referenced
anywhere else in the parent @uery. $he
following e2ample demonstrates a non!
correlated sub@uery.
).g. Select S ,rom .'S$ Where
D<>T>#T<;;>D 7 ESelect ADA$) ,rom
A&D)& Where .'S$..7'M H
A&D)&..7'MF
/4. What are the primiti"e operations
common to all record management
systems?
Addition, deletion and modification.
/:. 7ame the buffer in which all the
commands that are typed in are stored
U)ditV Buffer
/;. What are the unary operations in
&elational Algebra?
(&A=).$A7 and S)1).$A7.
4>. Are the resulting relations of
(&AD'.$ and =A7 operation the
same?
7o.
(&AD'.$0 .oncatenation of e"ery row
in one relation with e"ery row in
another.
=A70 .oncatenation of rows from one
relation and related rows from another.
4<. What is &DBMS 9)&7)1?
$wo important pieces of &DBMS
architecture are the *ernel, which is
the software, and the data dictionary,
which consists of the system!le"el
data structures used by the *ernel to
manage the database
Mou might thin* of an &DBMS as an
operating system Eor set of
subsystemsF, designed specifically for
controlling data accessW its primary
functions are storing, retrie"ing, and
securing data. An &DBMS maintains its
own list of authoriJed users and their
associated pri"ilegesW manages
memory caches and pagingW controls
loc*ing for concurrent resource usageW
dispatches and schedules user
re@uestsW and manages space usage
within its table!space structures
.
42. 7ame the sub!systems of a &DBMS
TA, Security, 1anguage (rocessing,
(rocess .ontrol, Storage Management,
1ogging and &eco"ery, Distribution
.ontrol, $ransaction .ontrol, Memory
Management, 1oc* Management
4#. Which part of the &DBMS ta*es
care of the data dictionary? ?ow
Data dictionary is a set of tables and
database obCects that is stored in a
special area of the database and
maintained e2clusi"ely by the *ernel.
4%. What is the Cob of the information
stored in data!dictionary?
$he information in the data dictionary
"alidates the e2istence of the obCects,
pro"ides access to them, and maps the
actual physical storage location.
4+. 7ot only &DBMS ta*es care of
locating data it also
determines an optimal access path to
store or retrie"e the data
4/. ?ow do you communicate with an
&DBMS?
Mou communicate with an &DBMS
using Structured Iuery 1anguage
ESI1F
44. Define SI1 and state the
differences between SI1 and other
con"entional programming 1anguages
SI1 is a nonprocedural language that
is designed specifically for data
access operations on normaliJed
relational database structures. $he
primary difference between SI1 and
other con"entional programming
languages is that SI1 statements
specify what data operations should be
performed rather than how to perform
them.
4:. 7ame the three maCor set of files
on dis* that compose a database in
Aracle
$here are three maCor sets of files on
dis* that compose a database. All the
files are binary. $hese are
? Database files
? .ontrol files
? &edo logs
$he most important of these are the
database files where the actual data
resides. $he control files and the redo
logs support the functioning of the
architecture itself.
All three sets of files must be present,
open, and a"ailable to Aracle for any
data on the database to be useable.
Without these files, you cannot access
the database, and the database
administrator might ha"e to reco"er
some or all of the database using a
bac*up, if there is one.
4;. What is an Aracle nstance?
$he Aracle system processes, also
*nown as Aracle bac*ground
processes, pro"ide functions for the
user processesXfunctions that would
otherwise be done by the user
processes themsel"es
Aracle database!wide system memory
is *nown as the SBA, the system
global area or shared global area. $he
data and control structures in the SBA
are shareable, and all the Aracle
bac*ground processes and user
processes can use them.
$he combination of the SBA and the
Aracle bac*ground processes is *nown
as an Aracle instance
:>. What are the four Aracle system
processes that must always be up and
running for the database to be useable
$he four Aracle system processes that
must always be up and running for the
database to be useable include DBW&
EDatabase WriterF, 1BW& E1og WriterF,
SMA7 ESystem MonitorF, and (MA7
E(rocess MonitorF.
:<. What are database files, control
files and log files. ?ow many of these
files should a database ha"e at least?
Why?
Database ,iles
$he database files hold the actual data
and are typically the largest in siJe.
Depending on their siJes, the tables
Eand other obCectsF for all the user
accounts can go in one database fileX
but thatDs not an ideal situation
because it does not ma*e the database
structure "ery fle2ible for controlling
access to storage for different users,
putting the database on different dis*
dri"es, or bac*ing up and restoring Cust
part of the database.
Mou must ha"e at least one database
file but usually, more than one files are
used. n terms of accessing and using
the data in the tables and other
obCects, the number Eor locationF of the
files is immaterial.
$he database files are fi2ed in siJe and
ne"er grow bigger than the siJe at
which they were created
.ontrol ,iles
$he control files and redo logs support
the rest of the architecture. Any
database must ha"e at least one
control file, although you typically ha"e
more than one to guard against loss.
$he control file records the name of
the database, the date and time it was
created, the location of the database
and redo logs, and the synchroniJation
information to ensure that all three
sets of files are always in step. )"ery
time you add a new database or redo
log file to the database, the
information is recorded in the control
files.
&edo 1ogs
Any database must ha"e at least two
redo logs. $hese are the Cournals for
the databaseW the redo logs record all
changes to the user obCects or system
obCects. f any type of failure occurs,
the changes recorded in the redo logs
can be used to bring the database to a
consistent state without losing any
committed transactions. n the case of
non!data loss failure, Aracle can apply
the information in the redo logs
automatically without inter"ention
from the DBA.
$he redo log files are fi2ed in siJe and
ne"er grow dynamically from the siJe
at which they were created.
:2. What is &AWD?
$he &AWD is a uni@ue database!wide
physical address for e"ery row on
e"ery table. Ance assigned Ewhen the
row is first inserted into the databaseF,
it ne"er changes until the row is
deleted or the table is dropped.
$he &AWD consists of the following
three components, the combination of
which uni@uely identifies the physical
storage location of the row.
? Aracle database file number, which
contains the bloc* with the rows
? Aracle bloc* address, which contains
the row
? $he row within the bloc* Ebecause
each bloc* can hold many rowsF
$he &AWD is used internally in
inde2es as a @uic* means of retrie"ing
rows with a particular *ey "alue.
Application de"elopers also use it in
SI1 statements as a @uic* way to
access a row once they *now the
&AWD
:#. What is Aracle Bloc*? .an two
Aracle Bloc*s ha"e the same address?
Aracle 5formats5 the database files
into a number of Aracle bloc*s when
they are first createdXma*ing it easier
for the &DBMS software to manage the
files and easier to read data into the
memory areas.
$he bloc* siJe should be a multiple of
the operating system bloc* siJe.
&egardless of the bloc* siJe, the entire
bloc* is not a"ailable for holding dataW
Aracle ta*es up some space to
manage the contents of the bloc*. $his
bloc* header has a minimum siJe, but
it can grow.
$hese Aracle bloc*s are the smallest
unit of storage. ncreasing the Aracle
bloc* siJe can impro"e performance,
but it should be done only when the
database is first created.
)ach Aracle bloc* is numbered
se@uentially for each database file
starting at <. $wo bloc*s can ha"e the
same bloc* address if they are in
different database files.
:%. What is database $rigger?
A database trigger is a (1TSI1 bloc*
that can defined to automatically
e2ecute for insert, update, and delete
statements against a table. $he trigger
can e defined to e2ecute once for the
entire statement or once for e"ery row
that is inserted, updated, or deleted.
,or any one table, there are twel"e
e"ents for which you can define
database triggers. A database trigger
can call database procedures that are
also written in (1TSI1.
:+. 7ame two utilities that Aracle
pro"ides, which are use for bac*up and
reco"ery.
Along with the &DBMS software,
Aracle pro"ides two utilities that you
can use to bac* up and restore the
database. $hese utilities are )2port
and mport.
$he )2port utility dumps the
definitions and data for the specified
part of the database to an operating
system binary file. $he mport utility
reads the file produced by an e2port,
recreates the definitions of obCects,
and inserts the data
f )2port and mport are used as a
means of bac*ing up and reco"ering
the database, all the changes made to
the database cannot be reco"ered
since the e2port was performed. $he
best you can do is reco"er the
database to the time when the e2port
was last performed.
:/. What are stored!procedures? And
what are the ad"antages of using
them.
Stored procedures are database
obCects that perform a user defined
operation. A stored procedure can
ha"e a set of compound SI1
statements. A stored procedure
e2ecutes the SI1 commands and
returns the result to the client. Stored
procedures are used to reduce
networ* traffic.
:4. ?ow are e2ceptions handled in
(1TSI1? Bi"e some of the internal
e2ceptionsD name
(1TSI1 e2ception handling is a
mechanism for dealing with run!time
errors encountered during procedure
e2ecution. 'se of this mechanism
enables e2ecution to continue if the
error is not se"ere enough to cause
procedure termination.
$he e2ception handler must be defined
within a subprogram specification.
)rrors cause the program to raise an
e2ception with a transfer of control to
the e2ception!handler bloc*. After the
e2ception handler e2ecutes, control
returns to the bloc* in which the
handler was defined. f there are no
more e2ecutable statements in the
bloc*, control returns to the caller.
'ser!Defined )2ceptions
(1TSI1 enables the user to define
e2ception handlers in the declarations
area of subprogram specifications.
'ser accomplishes this by naming an
e2ception as in the following e2ample0
otYfailure )K.)($A7W
n this case, the e2ception name is
otYfailure. .ode associated with this
handler is written in the )K.)($A7
specification area as follows0
)K.)($A7
when A$Y,A1'&) then
outYstatusYcode 0H gYoutYstatusYcodeW
outYmsg 0H gYoutYmsgW
$he following is an e2ample of a
subprogram e2ception0
)K.)($A7
when 7AYDA$AY,A'7D then
gYoutYstatusYcode 0H D,A1DW
&AS) otYfailureW
Within this e2ception is the &AS)
statement that transfers control bac*
to the otYfailure e2ception handler.
$his techni@ue of raising the e2ception
is used to in"o*e all user!defined
e2ceptions.
System!Defined )2ceptions
)2ceptions internal to (1TSI1 are
raised automatically upon error.
7AYDA$AY,A'7D is a system!defined
e2ception. $able below gi"es a
complete list of internal e2ceptions.
(1TSI1 internal e2ceptions.
)2ception 7ame
Aracle )rror
.'&SA&YA1&)ADMYA()7 A&A!>/+<<
D'(Y3A1YA7Y7D)K A&A!>>>><
73A1DY.'&SA& A&A!><>><
73A1DY7'MB)& A&A!><422
1AB7YD)7)D A&A!><><4
7AYDA$AY,A'7D A&A!><%>#
7A$Y1ABB)DYA7 A&A!><><2
(&AB&AMY)&&A& A&A!>/+><
S$A&AB)Y)&&A& A&A!>/+>>
$M)A'$YA7Y&)SA'&.) A&A!>>>+<
$AAYMA7MY&AWS A&A!><%22
$&A7SA.$A7YBA.9)DYA'$ A&A!
>>>/<
3A1')Y)&&A& A&A!>/+>2
P)&AYD3D) A&A!><%4/
n addition to this list of e2ceptions,
there is a catch!all e2ception named
A$?)&S that traps all errors for which
specific error handling has not been
established.
::. Does (1TSI1 support
5o"erloading5? )2plain
$he concept of o"erloading in (1TSI1
relates to the idea that you can define
procedures and functions with the
same name. (1TSI1 does not loo* only
at the referenced name, howe"er, to
resol"e a procedure or function call.
$he count and data types of formal
parameters are also considered.
(1TSI1 also attempts to resol"e any
procedure or function calls in locally
defined pac*ages before loo*ing at
globally defined pac*ages or internal
functions. $o further ensure calling the
proper procedure, you can use the dot
notation. (refacing a procedure or
function name with the pac*age name
fully @ualifies any procedure or
function reference.
:;. $ables deri"ed from the )&D
aF Are totally unnormalised
bF Are always in <7,
cF .an be further denormalised
dF May ha"e multi!"alued attributes
EbF Are always in <7,
;>. Spurious tuples may occur due to
i. Bad normaliJation
ii. $heta Coins
iii. 'pdating tables from Coin
aF i - ii bF ii - iii
cF i - iii dF ii - iii
EaF i - iii because theta Coins are Coins
made on *eys that are not primary
*eys.
;<. A B . is a set of attributes. $he
functional dependency is as follows
AB !L B
A. !L .
. !L B
aF is in <7,
bF is in 27,
cF is in #7,
dF is in B.7,
EaF is in <7, since EA.FZ H Q A, B, .R
hence A. is the primary *ey. Since . B
is a ,D gi"en, where neither . is a 9ey
nor B is a prime attribute, this it is not
in #7,. ,urther B is not functionally
dependent on *ey A. thus it is not in
27,. $hus the gi"en ,Ds is in <7,.
;2. n mapping of )&D to D,D
aF entities in )&D should correspond to
an e2isting entityTstore in D,D
bF entity in D,D is con"erted to
attributes of an entity in )&D
cF relations in )&D has < to <
correspondence to processes in D,D
dF relationships in )&D has < to <
correspondence to flows in D,D
EaF entities in )&D should correspond
to an e2isting entityTstore in D,D
;#. A dominant entity is the entity
aF on the 7 side in a < 0 7 relationship
bF on the < side in a < 0 7 relationship
cF on either side in a < 0 < relationship
dF nothing to do with < 0 < or < 0 7
relationship
EbF on the < side in a < 0 7 relationship
;%. Select D7A&$?D, .'S$AM)& ,rom
.'S$YD$1S Where &)BA7 H D7D Arder
By
.'S$AM)& 'nion Select D)AS$D,
.'S$AM)& ,rom .'S$YD$1S Where
&)BA7 H D)D Arder By .'S$AM)&
$he abo"e is
aF 7ot an error
bF )rror ! the string in single @uotes
D7A&$?D and DSA'$?D
cF )rror ! the string should be in double
@uotes
dF )rror ! A&D)& BM clause
EdF )rror ! the A&D)& BM clause. Since
A&D)& BM clause cannot be used in
'7A7S
;+. What is Storage Manager?
t is a program module that pro"ides
the interface between the low!le"el
data stored in database, application
programs and @ueries submitted to the
system.
;/. What is Buffer Manager?
t is a program module, which is
responsible for fetching data from dis*
storage into main memory and
deciding what data to be cache in
memory.
;4. What is $ransaction Manager?
t is a program module, which ensures
that database, remains in a consistent
state despite system failures and
concurrent transaction e2ecution
proceeds without conflicting.
;:. What is ,ile Manager?
t is a program module, which
manages the allocation of space on
dis* storage and data structure used
to represent information stored on a
dis*.
;;. What is AuthoriJation and ntegrity
manager?
t is the program module, which tests
for the satisfaction of integrity
constraint and chec*s the authority of
user to access data.
<>>. What are stand!alone procedures?
(rocedures that are not part of a
pac*age are *nown as stand!alone
because they independently defined. A
good e2ample of a stand!alone
procedure is one written in a
SI1S,orms application. $hese types of
procedures are not a"ailable for
reference from other Aracle tools.
Another limitation of stand!alone
procedures is that they are compiled
at run time, which slows e2ecution.
<><. What are cursors gi"e different
types of cursors.
(1TSI1 uses cursors for all database
information accesses statements. $he
language supports the use two types
of cursors
? mplicit
? )2plicit
<>2. What is cold bac*up and hot
bac*up Ein case of AracleF?
? .old Bac*up0
t is copying the three sets of files
Edatabase files, redo logs, and control
fileF when the instance is shut down.
$his is a straight file copy, usually from
the dis* directly to tape. Mou must
shut down the instance to guarantee a
consistent copy.
f a cold bac*up is performed, the only
option a"ailable in the e"ent of data
file loss is restoring all the files from
the latest bac*up. All wor* performed
on the database since the last bac*up
is lost.
? ?ot Bac*up0
Some sites Esuch as worldwide airline
reser"ations systemsF cannot shut
down the database while ma*ing a
bac*up copy of the files. $he cold
bac*up is not an a"ailable option.
So different means of bac*ing up
database must be used X the hot
bac*up. ssue a SI1 command to
indicate to Aracle, on a tablespace!by!
tablespace basis, that the files of the
tablespace are to bac*ed up. $he
users can continue to ma*e full use of
the files, including ma*ing changes to
the data. Ance the user has indicated
that heTshe wants to bac* up the
tablespace files, heTshe can use the
operating system to copy those files to
the desired bac*up destination.
$he database must be running in
A&.?3)1AB mode for the hot bac*up
option.
f a data loss failure does occur, the
lost database files can be restored
using the hot bac*up and the online
and offline redo logs created since the
bac*up was done. $he database is
restored to the most consistent state
without any loss of committed
transactions.
<>#. What are Armstrong rules? ?ow
do we say that they are complete
andTor sound
$he well!*nown inference rules for ,Ds
? &efle2i"e rule 0
f M is subset or e@ual to K then K M.
? Augmentation rule0
f K M then KP MP.
? $ransiti"e rule0
f QK M, M PR then K P.
? Decomposition rule 0
f K MP then K M.
? 'nion or Additi"e rule0
f QK M, K PR then K MP.
? (seudo $ransiti"e rule 0
f QK M, WM PR then WK P.
Af these the first three are *nown as
Amstrong &ules. $hey are sound
because it is enough if a set of ,Ds
satisfy these three. $hey are called
complete because using these three
rules we can generate the rest all
inference rules.
<>%. ?ow can you find the minimal *ey
of relational schema?
Minimal *ey is one which can identify
each tuple of the gi"en relation
schema uni@uely. ,or finding the
minimal *ey it is re@uired to find the
closure that is the set of all attributes
that are dependent on any gi"en set of
attributes under the gi"en set of
functional dependency.
Algo. Determining KZ, closure for K,
gi"en set of ,Ds ,
<. Set KZ H K
2. Set Ald KZ H KZ
#. ,or each ,D M P in , and if M belongs
to KZ then add P to KZ
%. &epeat steps 2 and # until Ald KZ H
KZ
Algo. Determining minimal 9 for
relation schema &, gi"en set of ,Ds ,
<. Set 9 to & that is ma*e 9 a set of all
attributes in &
2. ,or each attribute A in 9
a. .ompute E9 [ AFZ with respect to ,
b. f E9 [ AFZ H & then set 9 H E9 [ AFZ
<>+. What do you understand by
dependency preser"ation?
Bi"en a relation & and a set of ,Ds ,,
dependency preser"ation states that
the closure of the union of the
proCection of , on each decomposed
relation &i is e@ual to the closure of ,.
i.e.,
EE?&<E,FF ' G ' E?&nE,FFFZ H ,Z
if decomposition is not dependency
preser"ing, then some dependency is
lost in the decomposition.
<>/. What is meant by (roacti"e,
&etroacti"e and Simultaneous 'pdate.
(roacti"e 'pdate0
$he updates that are applied to
database before it becomes effecti"e
in real world .
&etroacti"e 'pdate0
$he updates that are applied to
database after it becomes effecti"e in
real world .
Simulatneous 'pdate0
$he updates that are applied to
database at the same time when it
becomes effecti"e in real world .