M E S Wadia College of Engineering, Pune

Department of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering

Class: TE
Subject: Database Management
Oral Questions

1. What is Database?
A Database is a logical, consistent and organized collection of data that it can easily be
accessed, managed and updated. Databases, also known as electronic databases are structured
to provide the facility of creation, insertion, updating of the data efficiently and are stored in
the form of a file or set of files, on the magnetic disk, tapes and another sort of secondary
devices. Database mostly consists of the objects (tables), and tables include of the records and
fields. Fields are the basic units of data storage, which contain the information about a
particular aspect or attribute of the entity described by the database. DBMS is used for
extraction of data from the database in the form of the queries.

2. What is DBMS?
DBMS is a collection of programs that facilitates users to create and maintain a database. In
other words, DBMS provides us an interface or tool for performing different operations such as
the creation of a database, inserting data into it, deleting data from it, updating the data, etc.
DBMS is a software in which data is stored in a more secure way as compared to the file-based
system. Using DBMS, we can overcome many problems such as- data redundancy, data
inconsistency, easy access, more organized and understandable, and so on.

There is the name of some popular Database Management System- MySQL, Oracle, SQL
Server, Amazon simple DB (Cloud-based), etc.
Working of DBMS is defined in the figure below.

3. What is a database system?

The collection of database and DBMS software together is known as a database system. Through
the database system, we can perform many activities such as-

The data can be stored in the database with ease, and there are no issues of data redundancy and data
inconsistency.

The data will be extracted from the database using DBMS software whenever required. So, the
combination of database and DBMS software enables one to store, retrieve and access data with
considerate accuracy and security.

4. What are the advantages of DBMS?

o Redundancy control
o Restriction for unauthorized access
 o Provides multiple user interfaces
o Provides backup and recovery
o Enforces integrity constraints
o Ensure data consistency
o Easy accessibility
o Easy data extraction and data processing due to the use of queries

5. What are the unary operations in Relational Algebra?

PROJECTION and SELECTION are the unary operations in relational algebra. Unary operations are
those operations which use single operands. Unary operations are SELECTION, PROJECTION, and
RENAME.

As in SELECTION relational operators are used for example - =,<=,>=, etc.

6. What are the binary operations in Relational Algebra?

7. What is RDBMS (relational database Management System)?

RDBMS stands for Relational Database Management Systems. It is used to maintain the data records
and indices in tables. RDBMS is the form of DBMS which uses the structure to identify and access
data concerning the other piece of data in the database. RDBMS is the system that enables you to
perform different operations such as- update, insert, delete, manipulate and administer a relational
database with minimal difficulties. Most of the time RDBMS use SQL language because it is easily
understandable and is used for often.

8. How many types of database languages are?

There are four types of database languages:

o Data Definition Language (DDL) e.g., CREATE, ALTER, DROP, TRUNCATE, RENAME,
etc. All these commands are used for updating the data that?s why they are known as Data
Definition Language.
o Data Manipulation Language (DML) e.g., SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, DELETE, etc.
These commands are used for the manipulation of already updated data that's why they are the
part of Data Manipulation Language.
o DATA Control Language (DCL) e.g., GRANT and REVOKE. These commands are used for
giving and removing the user access on the database. So, they are the part of Data Control
Language.
o Transaction Control Language (TCL) e.g., COMMIT, ROLLBACK, and SAVEPOINT.
These are the commands used for managing transactions in the database. TCL is used for
managing the changes made by DML.

Database language implies the queries that are used for the update, modify and manipulate the data.
9. What do you understand by Data Model?

The Data model is specified as a collection of conceptual tools for describing data, data relationships,
data semantics and constraints. These models are used to describe the relationship between the entities
and their attributes.

There is the number of data models:

o Hierarchical data model

o network model
o relational model
o Entity-Relationship model and so on.

10. Define a Relation Schema and a Relation.

A Relation Schema is specified as a set of attributes. It is also known as table schema. It defines what
the name of the table is. Relation schema is known as the blueprint with the help of which we can
explain that how the data is organized into tables. This blueprint contains no data.

A relation is specified as a set of tuples. A relation is the set of related attributes with identifying key
attributes

See this example:

Let r be the relation which contains set tuples (t1, t2, t3, ..., tn). Each tuple is an ordered list of n-values
t=(v1,v2, ...., vn).

11. What is a degree of Relation?

The degree of relation is a number of attribute of its relation schema. A degree of relation is also
known as Cardinality it is defined as the number of occurrence of one entity which is connected to the
number of occurrence of other entity. There are three degree of relation they are one-to-one(1:1), one-
to-many(1:M), many-to-one(M:M).

12. What is the Relationship?

The Relationship is defined as an association among two or more entities. There are three type of
relationships in DBMS-

One-To-One: Here one record of any object can be related to one record of another object.

One-To-Many (many-to-one): Here one record of any object can be related to many records of other
object and vice versa.

Many-to-many: Here more than one records of an object can be related to n number of records of
another object.
13. What are the disadvantages of file processing systems?

o Inconsistent
o Not secure
o Data redundancy
o Difficult in accessing data
o Data isolation
o Data integrity
o Concurrent access is not possible
o Limited data sharing
o Atomicity problem

14. What is data abstraction in DBMS?

Data abstraction in DBMS is a process of hiding irrelevant details from users. Because database
systems are made of complex data structures so, it makes accessible the user interaction with the
database.

For example: We know that most of the users prefer those systems which have a simple GUI that
means no complex processing. So, to keep the user tuned and for making the access to the data easy, it
is necessary to do data abstraction. In addition to it, data abstraction divides the system in different
layers to make the work specified and well defined.

15. What are the three levels of data abstraction?

Following are three levels of data abstraction:

Physical level: It is the lowest level of abstraction. It describes how data are stored.

Logical level: It is the next higher level of abstraction. It describes what data are stored in the database
and what the relationship among those data is.

View level: It is the highest level of data abstraction. It describes only part of the entire database.

For example- User interacts with the system using the GUI and fill the required details, but the user
doesn't have any idea how the data is being used. So, the abstraction level is entirely high in VIEW
LEVEL.

Then, the next level is for PROGRAMMERS as in this level the fields and records are visible and the
programmers have the knowledge of this layer. So, the level of abstraction here is a little low in VIEW
LEVEL.

And lastly, physical level in which storage blocks are described.

16) What is DDL (Data Definition Language)?

Data Definition Language (DDL) is a standard for commands which defines the different structures in
a database. Most commonly DDL statements are CREATE, ALTER, and DROP. These commands are
used for updating data into the database.

17) What is DML (Data Manipulation Language)?

Data Manipulation Language (DML) is a language that enables the user to access or manipulate data as
organized by the appropriate data model. For example- SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, DELETE.

There is two type of DML:

Procedural DML or Low level DML: It requires a user to specify what data are needed and how to
get those data.

Non-Procedural DML or High level DML: It requires a user to specify what data are needed without
specifying how to get those data.

18) Explain the functionality of DML Compiler.

The DML Compiler translates DML statements in a query language that the query evaluation engine
can understand. DML Compiler is required because the DML is the family of syntax element which is
very similar to the other programming language which requires compilation. So, it is essential to
compile the code in the language which query evaluation engine can understand and then work on
those queries with proper output.

19) What is Relational Algebra?

Relational Algebra is a Procedural Query Language which contains a set of operations that take one or
two relations as input and produce a new relationship. Relational algebra is the basic set of operations
for the relational model. The decisive point of relational algebra is that it is similar to the algebra
which operates on the number.

There are few fundamental operations of relational algebra:

o select
o project
o set difference
o union
o rename, etc.
20) What is Relational Calculus?

Relational Calculus is a Non-procedural Query Language which uses mathematical predicate calculus
instead of algebra. Relational calculus doesn't work on mathematics fundamentals such as algebra,
differential, integration, etc. That's why it is also known as predicate calculus.

There is two type of relational calculus:

o Tuple relational calculus

o Domain relational calculus

21) What do you understand by query optimization?

The term query optimization specifies an efficient execution plan for evaluating a query that has the
least estimated cost. The concept of query optimization came into the frame when there were a number
of methods, and algorithms existed for the same task then the question arose that which one is more
efficient and the process of determining the efficient way is known as query optimization.

There are many benefits of query optimization:

o It reduces the time and space complexity.

o More queries can be performed as due to optimization every query comparatively takes less
time.
o User satisfaction as it will provide output fast

22) What do you mean by durability in DBMS?

Once the DBMS informs the user that a transaction has completed successfully, its effect should
persist even if the system crashes before all its changes are reflected on disk. This property is called
durability. Durability ensures that once the transaction is committed into the database, it will be stored
in the non-volatile memory and after that system failure cannot affect that data anymore.

23) What is normalization?

(different types of anomalies with explanation with example)

Normalization is a process of analysing the given relation schemas according to their functional
dependencies.

It is used to minimize redundancy and also used to minimize insertion, deletion and update
distractions.

Normalization is considered as an essential process as it is used to avoid data redundancy, insertion

anomaly, updation anomaly, deletion anomaly.

There most commonly used normal forms are:

 o First Normal Form(1NF)
o Second Normal Form(2NF)
o Third Normal Form(3NF)
o Boyce & Codd Normal Form(BCNF)

24) What is Denormalization?

Denormalization is the process of boosting up database performance and adding of redundant data
which helps to get rid of complex data. Denormalization is a part of database optimization technique.
This process is used to avoid the use of complex and costly joins. Denormalization doesn't refer to the
thought of not to normalize instead of that denormalization takes place after normalization. In this
process, firstly the redundancy of the data will be removed using normalization process than through
denormalization process we will add redundant data as per the requirement so that we can easily avoid
the costly joins.

25) What is functional Dependency?

Functional Dependency is the starting point of normalization. It exists when a relation between two
attributes allow you to determine the corresponding attribute's value uniquely. The functional
dependency is also known as database dependency and defines as the relationship which occurs when
one attribute in a relation uniquely determines another attribute.

It is written as A->B which means B is functionally dependent on A.

26) What is the E-R model?

E-R model is a short name for the Entity-Relationship model. This model is based on the real world. It
contains necessary objects (known as entities) and the relationship among these objects. Here the
primary objects are the entity, attribute of that entity, relationship set, an attribute of that relationship
set can be mapped in the form of E-R diagram.

In E-R diagram, entities are represented by rectangles, relationships are represented by diamonds,
attributes are the characteristics of entities and represented by ellipses, and data flow is represented
through a straight line.

27) What is an entity?

The Entity is a set of attributes in a database. An entity can be a real-world object which physically
exists in this world. All the entities have their attribute which in the real world considered as the
characteristics of the object.

For example: In the employee database of a company, the employee, department, and the designation
can be considered as the entities. These entities have some characteristics which will be the attributes
of the corresponding entity.
28) What is an Entity type?

An entity type is specified as a collection of entities, having the same attributes. Entity type typically
corresponds to one or several related tables in the database. A characteristic or trait which defines or
uniquely identifies the entity is called entity type.

For example, a student has student_id, department, and course as its characteristics.

29) What is an Entity set?

The entity set specifies the collection of all entities of a particular entity type in the database. An entity
set is known as the set of all the entities which share the same properties.

For example, a set of people, a set of students, a set of companies, etc.

30) What is an Extension of entity type?

An extension of an entity type is specified as a collection of entities of a particular entity type that are
grouped into an entity set.

31) What is Weak Entity set?

An entity set that doesn't have sufficient attributes to form a primary key is referred to as a weak entity
set. The member of a weak entity set is known as a subordinate entity. Weak entity set does not have a
primary key, but we need a mean to differentiate among all those entries in the entity set that depend
on one particular strong entity set.

32) What is an attribute?

An attribute refers to a database component. It is used to describe the property of an entity. An

attribute can be defined as the characteristics of the entity. Entities can be uniquely identified using the
attributes. Attributes represent the instances in the row of the database.

For example: If a student is an entity in the table then age will be the attribute of that student.

33) What are the integrity rules in DBMS?

Data integrity is one significant aspect while maintaining the database. So, data integrity is enforced in
the database system by imposing a series of rules. Those set of integrity is known as the integrity rules.

There are two integrity rules in DBMS:

Entity Integrity : It specifies that "Primary key cannot have a NULL value."
Referential Integrity: It specifies that "Foreign Key can be either a NULL value or should be the
Primary Key value of other relation

34) What is Data Independence?

Data independence specifies that "the application is independent of the storage structure and access
strategy of data." It makes you able to modify the schema definition at one level without altering the
schema definition in the next higher level.

It makes you able to modify the schema definition in one level should not affect the schema definition
in the next higher level.

There are two types of Data Independence:

Physical Data Independence: Physical data is the data stored in the database. It is in the bit-format.
Modification in physical level should not affect the logical level.

For example: If we want to manipulate the data inside any table that should not change the format of
the table.

Logical Data Independence: Logical data in the data about the database. It basically defines the
structure. Such as tables stored in the database. Modification in logical level should not affect the view
level.

For example: If we need to modify the format of any table, that modification should not affect the data
inside it.

35) What are the three levels of data abstraction?

Following are three levels of data abstraction:

Physical level: It is the lowest level of abstraction. It describes how data are stored.

Logical level: It is the next higher level of abstraction. It describes what data are stored in the database
and what relationship among those data.

View level: It is the highest level of data abstraction. It describes only part of the entire database.

For example- User interact with the system using the GUI and fill the required details, but the user
doesn't have any idea how the data is being used. So, the abstraction level is absolutely high in VIEW
LEVEL.

Then, the next level is for PROGRAMMERS as in this level the fields and records are visible and the
programmer has the knowledge of this layer. So, the level of abstraction here is a little low in VIEW
LEVEL.

And lastly, physical level in which storage blocks are described.

36) What is Join?

The Join operation is one of the most useful activities in relational algebra. It is most commonly used
way to combine information from two or more relations. A Join is always performed on the basis of
the same or related column. Most complex queries of SQL involve JOIN command.

There are following types of join:

o Inner joins: Inner join is of 3 categories. They are:

o Theta join
o Natural join
o Equi join
o Outer joins: Outer join have three types. They are:
o Left outer join
o Right outer join
o Full outer join

37) What is 1NF?

1NF is the First Normal Form. It is the simplest type of normalization that you can implement in a
database. The primary objectives of 1NF are to:

o Every column must have atomic (single value)

o To Remove duplicate columns from the same table
o Create separate tables for each group of related data and identify each row with a unique
column

38) What is 2NF?

2NF is the Second Normal Form. A table is said to be 2NF if it follows the following conditions:

o The table is in 1NF, i.e., firstly it is necessary that the table should follow the rules of 1NF.
o Every non-prime attribute is fully functionally dependent on the primary key, i.e., every non-
key attribute should be dependent on the primary key in such a way that if any key element is
deleted, then even the non_key element will still be saved in the database.

39) What is 3NF?

3NF stands for Third Normal Form. A database is called in 3NF if it satisfies the following
conditions:

o It is in second normal form.

o There is no transitive functional dependency.
 o For example: X->Z

Where:
X->Y
Y does not -> X
Y->Z so, X->Z

40) What is BCNF?

BCMF stands for Boyce-Codd Normal Form. It is an advanced version of 3NF, so it is also referred
to as 3.5NF. BCNF is stricter than 3NF.

A table complies with BCNF if it satisfies the following conditions:

o It is in 3NF.
o For every functional dependency X->Y, X should be the super key of the table. It merely
means that X cannot be a non-prime attribute if Y is a prime attribute.

41) Explain ACID properties

ACID properties are some basic rules, which has to be satisfied by every transaction to preserve the
integrity. These properties and rules are:

ATOMICITY: Atomicity is more generally known as ?all or nothing rule.' Which implies all are
considered as one unit, and they either run to completion or not executed at all.

CONSISTENCY: This property refers to the uniformity of the data. Consistency implies that the
database is consistent before and after the transaction.

ISOLATION: This property states that the number of the transaction can be executed concurrently
without leading to the inconsistency of the database state.

DURABILITY: This property ensures that once the transaction is committed it will be stored in the
non-volatile memory and system crash can also not affect it anymore.

42) What is stored procedure?

A stored procedure is a group of SQL statements that have been created and stored in the database.
The stored procedure increases the reusability as here the code or the procedure is stored into the
system and used again and again that makes the work easy, takes less time in processing and decreases
the complexity of the system. So, if you have a code which you need to use again and again then save
that code and call that code whenever it is required.
43) What is the difference between a DELETE command and TRUNCATE command?

DELETE command: DELETE command is used to delete rows from a table based on the condition
that we provide in a WHERE clause.

o DELETE command delete only those rows which are specified with the WHERE clause.
o DELETE command can be rolled back.
o DELETE command maintain a log, that's why it is slow.
o DELETE use row lock while performing DELETE function.

TRUNCATE command: TRUNCATE command is used to remove all rows (complete data) from a
table. It is similar to the DELETE command with no WHERE clause.

o The TRUNCATE command removes all the rows from the table.
o The TRUNCATE command cannot be rolled back.
o The TRUNCATE command doesn't maintain a log. That's why it is fast.
o TRUNCATE use table log while performing the TRUNCATE function.

44) What is 2-Tier architecture?

The 2-Tier architecture is the same as basic client-server. In the two-tier architecture, applications on
the client end can directly communicate with the database at the server side.

45) What is the 3-Tier architecture?

The 3-Tier architecture contains another layer between the client and server. Introduction of 3-tier
architecture is for the ease of the users as it provides the GUI, which, make the system secure and
much more accessible. In this architecture, the application on the client-end interacts with an
application on the server which further communicates with the database system.
46) How do you communicate with an RDBMS?

You have to use Structured Query Language (SQL) to communicate with the RDBMS. Using queries
of SQL, we can give the input to the database and then after processing of the queries database will
provide us the required output.

47) What is the difference between a shared lock and exclusive lock?

Shared lock: Shared lock is required for reading a data item. In the shared lock, many transactions
may hold a lock on the same data item. When more than one transaction is allowed to read the data
items then that is known as the shared lock.

Exclusive lock: When any transaction is about to perform the write operation, then the lock on the data
item is an exclusive lock. Because, if we allow more than one transaction then that will lead to the
inconsistency in the database.

48) Describe the types of keys?

There are following types of keys:

Primary key: The Primary key is an attribute in a table that can uniquely identify each record in a
table. It is compulsory for every table.

Candidate key: The Candidate key is an attribute or set of an attribute which can uniquely identify a
tuple. The Primary key can be selected from these attributes.

Super key: The Super key is a set of attributes which can uniquely identify a tuple. Super key is a
superset of the candidate key.

Foreign key: The Foreign key is a primary key from one table, which has a relationship with another
table. It acts as a cross-reference between tables.
49) Create table – SQL query

50) Create table and assign primary key to one of the attribute.

51) How to assign foreign key in a table

52) What is on delete cascade in relation to assigning foreign key

53) What is function in PL/SQL?

54) How to update name in a student table? (write query)

55) How to find particular student details? (where clause)

56) How to change table name?

57) How to change Name of the student in student table?

58) #Update a particular record in a table

update student set course='DS' where ID=6;

59) #delete a particular record from a table

delete from student where ID=6;

60) Explain autoincrement function

61) Use of aggregate functions – write queries

Unit4: Transaction Management

62) Define Transaction

63) Define Schedule, Types of schedule

64) Difference between Serial and concurrent Schedule.

65) Difference between conflict serializibility and View Serializibility

66) What is Cascaded rollback and cascadeless rollback

67) Recoverable and non-recoverable schedule

68) Starvation of locks

69) Define

Concurrency, Deadlock, Lock, Growing and shrinking phase.

Unit5 &6
70) Define 1. Client 2. Server 3.Parallel Database 4. Distributed Database 5. Tier 6. Scale-up
7. Speed-up

71) Single tier architecture, 2 –tier and 3-tier architecture

72) Advantages of parallel database

73) What is distributed database (DDBMS) and example?

74) Advantages of DDBMS

75) Types of DDBMS

**** Refer another PDF also for questions on SQL