The Reading List for the Midterm Exam

I. History and Future of Computers

1) What is technology? Why we use Technology? How technology has made a difference in our
lives? What is the impact of technology?
Technology is a tool that allows you to achieve your desired outcome.

2) Cloud computing P50 and Google Cloud Platform P60

II. ABC of Information Technology

• Artificial intelligence • Big data • Cloud computing
III. HTML

HTML code (i.e. bold, underline, italics, hyperlink, frame, table, align …)

IV. System Development

1) The traditional systems development life cycle (SDLC) and the 7 major phases within it.
2) The outsourcing environment and how outsourcing works.
3) Compare and contrast the various system development methodologies.
• Rapid Application Development (RAD)
• XP
• SCRUM

V. Database
1) Relational database
2) Database Management System (DBMS) components
3) OLTP, OLAP
4) Data Integrity
5) Business Intelligence
6) Database design
• ERD (Entity Relationship Diagram)
• ERD to Relation
7) SQL Queries
 Mid-term Exam Preparation Questions
Multiple choice and Short Answers

1) In your opinion, what is the best definition of Technology?

• The sum of techniques, skills, methods, and processes used in the production of goods or
services or in the accomplishment of objectives
• Tools that help achieve a desired outcome
2) What is the difference between Information Technology and Information Systems?
Information technology: systems of hardware and software that capture, process, exchange, store and/or
present information using electrical, magnetic and/or electromagnetic energy
Information systems: • A set of interrelated components that collect, manipulate, store data and distribute
information to users and provide a feedback mechanism to monitor performance.
• An organized combination of people, hardware, software, communications
networks, data resources that collects data, transforms it, and disseminates info.
Information systems incorporates the technology, people and processes involved with information.
Information technology is the design and implementation of information, or data, within the IS
3) Which statement is not true about information?
1. It is organized collection of facts
2. It is unorganized collection of facts
3. It has value beyond the collection of facts
4. Its value is directly linked to how it helps decision makers

4) The most significant innovation in the 4th generation computers over the 3rd generation
computers was:
1) The development of the integrated circuit.
2) Transistors were miniaturized and placed on semiconductors.
3) Users interacted with computers through keyboards and monitors.
4) The microprocessor, were thousands of integrated circuits were built onto a single
silicon chip.

5) Which statement best describes the Stockholder theory?

1) Management must enact and follow policies that balance the rights of all stakeholders.
2) Management are expected to create more value to society that it consumes.
3) Managers are bound to the interests of the shareholders.
4) None of the above.

6) A critical question one should ask about privacy is:

1) Who is responsible for the reliability and accuracy of information?
2) What information must a person reveal about one’s self to others?
3) Who owns the channels of distribution?
4) What information does a person or an organization have a right to obtain?

7) Which word best describes the environment in which Vasa project was implemented?
1) Stable
2) Established
3) Uncertain
4) Well Defined
8) List three reasons why Vasa capsized?
o Unclear or Missing Requirements:
▪ No design / mathematical calculation
▪ Shipbuilder doesn’t show everything to his apprentice (loss of knowledge)
▪ Master shipbuilder died and brought undocumented info to grave
▪ Kind changes the measurements and number of ships
• Changes building order from small, small, big, big to big, small, big, small (two at 108 feet
and two at 136 feet)
• Later changed all sizes to medium (four at 120 feet)
o Skipping / Minimizing Phases:
▪ Testing phase showed big problems but was brushed off
• Did the flip test (men running back and forth width wise) and it almost capsized
• Went ahead with building despite this
▪ No scientific theory of vessel design or stability was available
o Failure to Manage Project Scope:
▪ Ornamentation added to design weighed more than the guns themselves (Feature Creep)
▪ 2 Large and 2 Small changed to 4 Medium = Scope Creep
o Failure to Manage the Project Plan:
▪ King wanted 3 ships in 5 years, then 4 in 5 years
• On avg. took 2-3 years to build a ship
▪ Originally asked for 36 (24lbs), 24 (12lbs), later wanted 58 and 8 respectively
• 48 and 0 when sunk
o Changing Technology:
▪ In order to fit the number of guns the vasa needed more room, led to multiple gun decks.
Too much innovation too fast, king kept changing his mind, disregarded failed tests, only the leader
knew what to do then he died

9) Which of the following is NOT true in explaining characteristics of HTML Markup tags?
1) HTML tags are case sensitive
2) HTML tags come in pairs
3) HTML tags are nested
4) HTML tags can have properties

10) During which phase is it most expensive to fix an error in SDLC?

1) Planning phase
2) Testing phase
3) Design phase
4) Maintenance phase
11) As a method of implementation phase in SDLC methodology, is
implementing the whole new system with smaller group, whereas is
implementing a part of system to a whole group.
1) phased implementation, pilot implementation
2) pilot implementation, parallel implementation
3) pilot implementation, phased implementation
4) parallel implementation, pilot implementation
5)
 12) What are the 7 phases of SDLC?

13) What are the three main activities during the planning phase?
1) Define the system to be developed – Critical success factor (CSF)
2) Set the project scope
3) Develop the project plan including tasks, resources, and timeframes
14) Which of the following is NOT true in explaining characteristics of Scrum?
1) Product progresses in a series of 2 to 4 week “sprints”
2) Requirements are captured as items in a list of “product backlog”
3) There are no changes during a sprint
4) Tasks are assigned to the team by the project manager
15) What is the difference between proof-of-concept prototyping and self-use prototyping?
• Proof of concept is when the prototype is used as a model for the actual system to be built
• Self-use is when you go through the development and then the porotypes becomes the system
16) What is a component in a component-based software system?
Component is a small self-contained block of code which performs certain actions or features;
self-contained meaning you don’t have to change it; within an enterprise
17) What is Infrastructure as a Service?

• The capability provided to the consumer is to provision

processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental
computing resources.

• The consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software,

which can include operating systems and applications.
• The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over
operating systems, storage, deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networking
components (e.g., host firewalls)
18) What is platform as a service?

• The capability provided to the consumer is to

deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-
created or acquired applications created using
programming languages and tools supported by
the provider.

• The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure.
• Consumer has control over the deployed applications and possibly application hosting environment
configurations.
 19) What is software as a service?

• The capability provided to the consumer is to use

the provider’s applications running on a cloud
infrastructure.
• The applications are accessible from various client
devices such as a web browser (e.g., web-based
email).

• The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network,
servers, operating systems, storage.
20) What is a service in a service-based software system?
• Service is a self-contained system which performs a very specific purpose; services across companies
• A service provides a discrete business function that operates on data. Its job is to ensure the
business functionality is applied consistently, returns predictable results, and operates within the
quality of service required.
• SOA services become the building blocks that form business flows
21) Explain what the following diagram signifies?

Extreme programming (XP) - Breaks a project into tiny phases and developers cannot continue on
to the next phase until the first phase is complete

21) Which of the following uses a series of logically related two-dimensional tables or files to
store information in the form of a database?
A) Html file
B) Relational database
C) Data warehouse
D) Data mart
22) A key is always a key in another relation.
A) Primary, foreign
B) Foreign, primary
C) Composite primary, foreign
D) Foreign, composite primary
23) Students enroll in multiple classes and a class has many students enrolled in it. To show this
on an E-R diagram, we would create an intersection relation with a composite primary key of?
A) Student ID, Class ID
B) Student Name, Class Name
C) Student ID, Class Name
D) Student Name, Class ID
24) What is a burn down chart in SCRUM? Explain with an example, benefits of a burn down chart.
On a given day, what is the amount of work remaining; the straight decreasing line is the Burn Down
Velocity
E.g. A team is working on developing a software system. The burndown chart shows what has been done,
what still needs to be done, and how much time is left

25) What is a Burndown Chart and how does it help the SCRUM Master/Manager to keep a Sprint
on track
Amount of work remaining

Burndown velocity

Time

• A burn down chart is a graphical representation of the amount of work left to do versus time.
That is, it is a run down chart of outstanding work. It is useful for predicting when all of the
work will be completed.

• Burn down charts are useful tools used to monitor completed work and work that still needs to
be done during a sprint.

26) What is the difference between database and data warehouse?

Database is where you are storing logically information including transactions (OLTP)
Data Warehouse is the summarized data made for decision making (OLAP)

27) Define Business Intelligence.

a collection information about customers, competitors, business partners, competitive
environment, and your internal operations for making important, effective, and strategic
business decisions

28) List Tools for data mining.

Query-and-reporting tools – similar to QBE tools, SQL, and report generators
Intelligent agents – utilize AI tools to help you “discover” information and trends
Multidimensional analysis (MDA tools) – slice-and-dice techniques for viewing multidimensional
information
Statistical tools – for applying mathematical models to data warehouse information
29) What is the difference between OLAP and OLTP?
OLTP
• Supports operational processing
• Sales orders, accounts receivable, etc
• Supported by operational databases & DBMSs
OLAP
• Helps build business intelligence
• Supported by data warehouses and data-mining tools

• Online transaction processing (OLTP) – gathering and processing information and updating
existing information to reflect the processed information
• Online analytical processing (OLAP) – manipulation of information to support decision
making

30) Write user statements and state your assumptions about cardinality. Please complete the
ERD given below.

31) Label the information system diagram below.

Decisions Feedback
Analytics Engine Browser
Clients
Client
BigQuery

Monitor
RTPM / Streaming Server CDN Fastly
RTSP Compute Engine Interconnect CDN
Mobile /
Live Event Recording Encoding
Tablet Client
Recording Distribute
Module
Collect Manipulate
Segment Storage
Cloud Storage

Streaming
Store Player
32) Please draw the structure of the frameset in a webpage that will be generated by the
following HTML code. Please label the size of the frames.

<html>
<frameset rows="75%,25%">
<frame src="frame_a.htm">
<frameset cols="25%,75%">
<frame src="frame_b.htm">
75
<frame src="frame_c.htm">
</frameset>
</frameset>
</html>

25 75 25
Entity Relationship Diagram
33) Lafayette Video Inc. wants to create a website for online rental and sales of movies in in
standard and high definition streaming formats.
• Each movie has a title, genre, format, available quantity, consumer rating, producer, and
actor. A movie can be identified by a movie ID.
• Customer ID identifies a customer. Information must be maintained about customer’s
names, billing addresses, e-mail addresses, and credit cards.
• A customer can purchase or rent multiple movies; and many customers can purchase or
rent a movie.
• A studio supplies many movies that they produce and a movie can be supplied by only
one studio. Each studio has a unique studio ID, studio name, address, and phone number.
a. Please draw an entity-relationship diagram (ERD) for the following description and
identify the primary keys. Clearly specify any assumptions you make.
b. Convert the ERD of part (a) into a relational database design. Please appropriately
underline the primary keys and foreign keys in the tables.

ERD SuppID

CustID
CustName
SuppAdd SupName CustID

M N
SuppID SUPPLIER ORDER CUSTOMER CustAdd

1 Payment
ShipDate CustCC

Produce

Relational Database Design

N
SUPPLIER [SuppID, SuppAdd, SupName]
No repeating groups, no partial dependency, no transitive dependency, hence 3NF
PartID PART (Alternate answer: All non-key attributes directly depend upon the key attribute, hence 3NF)
ORDER [SuppID, CustID, ShipDate, Payment]
All non-key attributes directly depend upon the key attribute, hence 3NF
CUSTOMER [CustID, CustName, CustAdd, CustCC]
PartDesc SuppID All non-key attributes directly depend upon the key attribute, hence 3NF
PART [PartID, PartDesc, SuppID]
All non-key attributes directly depend upon the key attribute, hence 3NF
34) UPS prides itself on having up-to-date information on the processing and current location of
each shipped item. To do this, UPS relies on a company-wide information system. Shipped
items are the heart of the UPS product tracking information system. Shipped items can be
characterized by item number (unique), weight, dimensions, insurance amount, destination,
and final delivery date. Shipped items are received into the UPS system at a single retail
center. Retail centers are characterized by their type, uniqueID, and address. Shipped items
make their way to their destination via one or more standard UPS transportation events (i.e.,
flights, truck deliveries). These transportation events are characterized by a unique
scheduleNumber, a type (e.g, flight, truck), and a deliveryRoute.

Please create an Entity Relationship diagram that captures this information about the UPS
system. Be certain to indicate identifiers and cardinality constraints.
35) Please complete the following segment of an ERD (Hint: attributes, key, cardinality). Clearly
state your assumptions.

Assumptions (user statements)

- One Bar sells many beers.
- Different beers may have different prices in dofferent bars.
- A Beer is sold by many Bars
- Entity Beers has three attributes, BeerID Name, and manf
(manufacturer).
-Entity Bars has 4 attributes BarID, Name, Address, License

BarID
name addr BeerID

BarID Name
M N Beers
Bars Sells
Manf
license
price

Comment: Students may have fewer attributes. Minimum for full points are: (1) primary keys,
(2) cardinalities, (3) assumption about many-to-many relationship.

36) What is a service in a service-based software system? Sketch an example of a service based
system (hint: use of APIs)

A service provides a discrete business function that operates on data. Its job is to
ensure that the business functionality is applied consistently, returns predictable
results, and operates within the quality of service required.
37) What is Business Intelligence? How does it help managers make better decision?

a collection information about customers, competitors, business partners, competitive

environment, and your internal operations for making important, effective, and strategic
business decisions

Help people understand

• Capabilities of the organization
• State of the art trends and future directions of the market
• Technological, demographic, economic, political, social, and regulatory environments in
which the organization competes
• Actions of competitors

38) What are key characteristics of cloud computing?

• Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a
shared pool of configurable and scalable computing resources (e.g., Compute, storage,
networks, and security)
• It provides high level abstraction of computation, storage, network, and security
models as platforms.
• Resources are rapidly provisioned with minimal management effort.
• It has a growing list of essential characteristics, service models, and deployment
models.
39) What are the steps in creating a storage bucket in Google Cloud Platform.
a) Open the Cloud Storage browser in the Google Cloud Console.
b) Click Create bucket to open the bucket creation form.
c) Enter your bucket information and click Continue to complete each step:
• Specify a Name, subject to the bucket name requirements.
• Select a Default storage class for the bucket. The default storage class will be assigned by
default to all objects uploaded to the bucket. Next, select a Location where the bucket data
will be permanently stored.
• Select an Access control model to determine how you control access to the bucket's objects.
• Optionally, you can add bucket labels, set a retention policy, and choose an encryption method.
d) Click Done
40) Following is a list of SQL statements, example queries, and results. Please practice these
queries first on GCP BigQuery using School database.
• SELECT * FROM `maximal-reserve-287914.school.course`
• SELECT * FROM `maximal-reserve-287914.school.department`
• SELECT DISTINCT school FROM `maximal-reserve-287914.school.department`
• SELECT * FROM `maximal-reserve-287914.school.faculty` WHERE DepartmentID = 100
• SELECT courseno, coursename, facultyid FROM `maximal-reserve-287914.school.course`
WHERE coursename = "MIS" AND facultyid = 208
• SELECT * FROM `maximal-reserve-287914.school.department` WHERE school =
"Krannert" OR school = "Agriculture"
• SELECT * FROM `maximal-reserve-287914.school.department` WHERE NOT school =
"Krannert"
• SELECT * FROM `maximal-reserve-287914.school.department` ORDER BY School
• SELECT * FROM `maximal-reserve-287914.school.department` ORDER BY school DESC
• SELECT * FROM `maximal-reserve-287914.school.student` WHERE AdvisorID IS NOT NULL
• SELECT * FROM `maximal-reserve-287914.school.course` LIMIT 3
• SELECT min (departmentid) FROM `maximal-reserve-287914.school.department`
• SELECT max (departmentid) FROM `maximal-reserve-287914.school.department`
• SELECT count (grade) FROM `maximal-reserve-287914.school.enroll`
• SELECT departmentid AS ID, departmentname AS Dept FROM `maximal-reserve-
287914.school.department`
• SELECT Grade FROM `maximal-reserve-287914.school.enroll` group by Grade
• Two-Table Join: SELECT DepartmentName AS Dept_name, FacultyName AS Dept_Head
FROM `m382-02.school.department` AS d JOIN `m382-02.school.faculty` AS f ON
d.departmenthead = f.facultyID
• Three-Table Join: SELECT e.StudentID AS Student_ID, StudentName, e.CourseNo,
CourseName AS CRS_Name, Grade FROM `m382-02.school.enroll` AS e JOIN `m382-
02.school.course` AS c ON e.CourseNo = c.CourseNo JOIN `m382-02.school.student` AS s
ON e.studentID = s.studentID WHERE e.studentID = 301