Oracle Campus Interview Q & A

1. given a square matrix which consists only of 1 and 0......find which rows,which cols and which diagonals consist entirely of 1's.
2. given an array of integers find all possible combinations of the numbers whose sum equal to 90.....
ans : knapsack problem (in data structures - aho ullman)
Note : for them solution was not the criteria.......but the approach was important......the solution should be generalised and optimized........optimization was given the top priority........
here is the techincal paper :
plz try to solve them urself by trying on comp.
1. const int MAX=10;
main()
{ enum a {a,b,MAX};
print MAX;
}
ans. 2
2. enum variable is a const variable which can only be assigned a value at initialization or a non const variable which can be assigned any value in the middle of the program?
ans. const variable
3. void *p;
what operation cannot be performed on p?
ans : arithmetic operation unless it is properly typecasted
4. char **p="Hello";
print p,*p,**p
ans. Hello (null)
warning: suspicious pointer conversion
5. main()
{ char str[]="Geneius";
print (str);
}
print(char *s)
{ if(*s)
print(++s);
printf("%c",*s);
}
ans. suiene
6. what does the function fcloseall() does ?
ans. fcloseall() closes all open streams except stdin,stdout,stderr,stdprn and stdaux
7. main()
{ printf("Genius %d",fun(123));
}
fun(int n)
{ return (printf("%d",n));
}
ans. 123genius3
8. difference between definition and declaration.
ans. definition once while declaration more than once
9. find the error?
main()
{ void fun();
fun();
}
void fun()
{ int i=10;
if(i<10)
return 2.0;
return 3.0;
}
ans. no error but warning
10. int a=9,b=5,c=3,d;
d=(b-c)<(c-a) ? a : b;
print d
ans 5
11. 1+2/3*4+1=?
ns. 2
12. In C++, a variable can be defined wherever needed whereas not in C
13. main()
{ int i=4;
fun(i=i/4);
print i;
}
fun(int i)
{ return i/2;
}
ans 1
14. what is an array ?
ans. contiguous collection of memory occupied by similar data types
15. printf("\"NITK %%SURAHKAL%% !\"");
ans. "NITK %SURATHKAL% !"
16. difference between scanf and gets in case of string input ans. scanf does not accepts white space while gets does
17. table t1 m rows and x cols
table t2 n rows and y cols
in t1*t2 rows? cols=?
ans. m*n ,x+y
18. symbol of realtionship between 2 entities?
19. which one cannot come in data modelling
a. customer b. student c. office d. speed
ans speed
20. can a database table exist without a primary key ?
21. whether higher normal forms better than lower forms as far redundancy is concerned ?
ans. higher
22. file is at which level
ans. conceptual level
23. what is a foreign key
ans. primary key in some other table

July 13 - Question Paper from Campus Test conducted at Chennai 2003
* some questions are Code Snippet based.
* Some questions are compiler based i.e. given code snippet will compile or not, if not the reason.
* some question are from the prfix/postfix inc/dec operation based code snippets.
* More than 3 question are based on the sorting algorithms.
* some questions are from the pointers based.
* Code snippets involving memory allocation function.
* All the questions are from c
Some of the question ,i remember, are the following
1.
#include
#define sqr(x) (x*x)
int main()
{
int x=2;
printf("value of x=%d",sqr(x+1));
}

What is the value of x?
a)4 b)5 c)None d)can not compile
Ans: 5
2. what is the wrong in the following program?
#define LBRACKET {
#define RBRACKET }
#define MAIN main
int MAIN()
LBRACKET
int x=2;
printf("%d",x);
RBRACKET
a) This program will compile
b) compilation error
3.
#include
int main()
{
int x=4;
{
{
{
int x=2;
printf("%d",x);
}
}
}
}
a) 4 b)2 c)Nesting not allowed d)dependent on the compiler
4. Go through the following code sinippet
char a[20];
a="Hello Orcale Test";
will this compile?
a) Compilation Error b) Strings are allowed in c but cannot be assigned directly.
c) dependent on compiler
d) will work fine.
5. the expression a+b*c should be conveted to +a*bc. Using tree structure,
Which traversal is the correct one?
a) Postfix traversal b) prefix traversal c) infix traversal d) None
6. what about brk, sbrk
a) system calls b) function calls c) user defined functions
7. Why the use of alloca() is discouraged?
8. Macros support multiple arguments ?
9. the header file
a) contains only compiler directives and extern variables
b) contail only structures and unitions
c) a & b
10. what about "char *(*(*a[])())();"

Campus Interview 21st june 2003

30 qns. technical - 30 mins. - mostly on DBMS,Oracle(like what would be the output), C, C++,Java(2-3 qns. on class and constructors) and datastructures.

30 qns. general - 30 mins. - 7 qns. aptitude, more like English (filling up prepositions, same meaning,
reading comprehension, four sentences would be given - you have to order them to form a paragraph, similarly four questions would be given - you have to say which one is a inference statement, which one is a judgement,etc.)

The technical test would be easy and general test would be little difficult.
In the interview questions.
=============

1. what are the macros other than C macros (the macros in word,excel) A macro in MS-word is used to group a sequence of jobs and make it as a button or keyboard shortcut. Suppose, if you need always to draw a table containing 2 rows and 5 cols, you can start,record a macro and make it as a button and put in taskbar, sothat when you press it, you will be provided with a fixed table.


2. can you delete a column from a table. In oracle 9i, you can do it by the statement ALTER TABLE table1 DROP COLUMN column1; In oracle 8,you can't.

3. can you store a image in oracle and by which datatype? Yes, you can and it can be acheived by using
a BLOB (binary large object) type and store upto 4GB in a single column.

4. have you used reports and forms in oracle?

5. have you written applications to retrieve stored images in a table?

6. some DOS commands and UNIX.

7. project desription (both academic and miniprojects,if any)

8. some situation questions like what would you do if your company is burning,etc.

Please have a look on DBMS, and some simple queries like 'select * from dual' for the technical test.f

Oracle Important Questions

1. Difference between group functions and single row functions.

Group Function Single Row Function

A group function operates A single row function

on many rows returns one and result for one row.

returns single result.

Not allowed in Pl/sql procedural Allowed in Pl/Sql

Procedural statements

statements.

eg SUM(),AVG,MIN,MAX etc eg UPPER,LOWER,CHR...

2. Difference between DECODE and TRANSLATE



DECODE is value by value TRANSLATE is character by

character replacement. replacement.

Ex SELECT DECODE('ABC','A',1,'B',2,'ABC',3) eg SELECT

from dual; o/p 3 TRANSLATE('ABCGH',

'ABCDEFGHIJ', 1234567899)

FROM DUAL; o/p 12378



(DECODE command is used to bring IF,THEN,ELSE logic to SQL.It tests for the IF values(s) and then aplies THEN value(s) when true, the ELSE value(s) if not.)

3. Difference between TRUNCATE and DELETE



TRUNCATE deletes much faster than DELETE



Truncate Delete

It is a DDL statement It is a DML statement

It is a one way trip,cannot One can Rollback

ROLLBACK

Doesn't have selective features (where clause) Has

Doesn't fire database triggers Does

It requires disabling of referential Does not require

constraints.

4. What is a CO-RELATED SUBQUERY

A CO-RELATED SUBQUERY is one that has a correlation

name as table or view designator in the FROM clause of the outer

query and the same correlation name as a qualifier of a search

condition in the WHERE clause of the subquery.



eg

SELECT field1 from table1 X

WHERE field2>(select avg(field2) from table1 Y

where

field1=X.field1);



(The subquery in a correlated subquery is revaluated

for every row of the table or view named in the outer query.)

5. What are various joins used while writing SUBQUERIES



Self join-Its a join foreign key of a table references the same table.



Outer Join--Its a join condition used where One can query all the rows of one of the

tables in the join condition even though they don't satisfy the join condition.



Equi-join--Its a join condition that retrieves rows from one or more tables in which one

or more columns in one table are equal to one or more columns in the second table.





6. What are various constraints used in SQL



NULL

NOT NULL

CHECK

DEFAULT



7. What are different Oracle database objects



TABLES

VIEWS

INDEXES

SYNONYMS

SEQUENCES

TABLESPACES etc

8. What is difference between Rename and Alias

Rename is a permanent name given to a table or column whereas Alias is a temporary

name given to a table or column which do not exist once the SQL statement is

executed.



9. What is a view

A view is stored procedure based on one or more tables, it’s a virtual table.



What are various privileges that a user can grant to another user



SELECT

CONNECT

RESOURCES

10. What is difference between UNIQUE and PRIMARY KEY constraints



A table can have only one PRIMARY KEY whereas there can be any number of UNIQUE keys.

The columns that compose PK are automatically define NOT NULL, whereas a column that compose a UNIQUE is not automatically defined to be mandatory must also specify the column is NOT NULL.



11. Can a primary key contain more than one columns



Yes



12. How you will avoid duplicating records in a query



By using DISTINCT



13. What is difference between SQL and SQL*PLUS



SQL*PLUS is a command line tool where as SQL and PL/SQL language interface and

reporting tool. Its a command line tool that allows user to type SQL commands to be

executed directly against an Oracle database. SQL is a language used to query the

relational database(DML,DCL,DDL). SQL*PLUS commands are used to format query

result, Set options, Edit SQL commands and PL/SQL.



14. Which datatype is used for storing graphics and images



LONG RAW data type is used for storing BLOB's (binary large objects).

15. How will you delete duplicating rows from a base table

DELETE

FROM table_name A

WHERE rowid>(SELECT min(rowid) from table_name B where

B.table_no=A.table_no);



CREATE TABLE new_table AS SELECT DISTINCT * FROM old_table;



DROP old_table

RENAME new_table TO old_table

DELETE FROM table_name A

WHERE rowid NOT IN (SELECT MAX(ROWID) FROM table_name

GROUP BY column_name)

16. What is difference between SUBSTR and INSTR



SUBSTR returns a specified portion of a string

eg SUBSTR('BCDEF',4) output BCDE

INSTR provides character position in which a pattern

is found in a string.



eg INSTR('ABC-DC-F','-',2) output 7 (2nd occurence of '-')



17. There is a string '120000 12 0 .125' ,how you will find the

position of the decimal place



INSTR('120000 12 0 .125',1,'.')

output 13



18. There is a '%' sign in one field of a column. What will be

the query to find it.



'\' Should be used before '%'.



19. When you use WHERE clause and when you use HAVING clause



HAVING clause is used when you want to specify a condition for a group function and it

is written after GROUP BY clause



The WHERE clause is used when you want to specify a condition for columns, single

row functions except group functions and it is written before GROUP BY clause if it is

used.



20. Which is more faster - IN or EXISTS



EXISTS is more faster than IN because EXISTS returns

a Boolean value whereas IN returns a value.



21. What is a OUTER JOIN



Outer Join--Its a join condition used where you can query all the rows of one of the

tables in the join condition even though they don’t satisfy the join condition.



22. How you will avoid your query from using indexes



SELECT * FROM emp

Where emp_no+' '=12345;



i.e you have to concatenate the column name with

space within codes in the where condition.



SELECT /*+ FULL(a) */ ename, emp_no from emp

where emp_no=1234;

i.e using HINTS



23. What is a pseudo column. Give some examples



It is a column that is not an actual column in the

table.



eg USER, UID, SYSDATE, ROWNUM, ROWID, NULL, AND LEVEL.



24. Suppose customer table is there having different columns

like customer no, payments.What will be the query to select top three max payments.



SELECT customer_no, payments from customer C1

WHERE 3<=(SELECT COUNT(*) from customer C2

WHERE C1.payment <= C2.payment)

25. What is the purpose of a cluster.

Oracle does not allow a user to specifically locate tables, since that is a part of the

function of the RDBMS. However, for the purpose of increasing performance, oracle allows a developer to create a CLUSTER. A CLUSTER provides a means for storing

data from different tables together for faster retrieval than if the table placement were

left to the RDBMS.

26. What is a cursor.



Oracle uses work area to execute SQL statements and store processing information

PL/SQL construct called a cursor lets you name a work area and access its stored

information A cursor is a mechanism used to fetch more than one row in a Pl/SQl

block.



27. Difference between an implicit & an explicit cursor.



PL/SQL declares a cursor implicitly for all SQL data manipulation statements, including

quries that return only one row. However,queries that return more than one row you

must declare an explicit cursor or use a cursor FOR loop.



Explicit cursor is a cursor in which the cursor name is explicitly assigned to a SELECT

statement via the CURSOR...IS statement. An implicit cursor is used for all SQL statements Declare, Open, Fetch, Close. An explicit cursors are used to process multirow SELECT statements An implicit cursor is used to process INSERT, UPDATE,

DELETE and single row SELECT. .INTO statements.





28. What are cursor attributes



%ROWCOUNT

%NOTFOUND

%FOUND

%ISOPEN



29. What is a cursor for loop.



Cursor For Loop is a loop where oracle implicitly declares a loop variable, the loop index that of the same record type as the cursor's record.



30. Difference between NO DATA FOUND and %NOTFOUND



NO DATA FOUND is an exception raised only for the SELECT....INTO statements

when the where clause of the querydoes not match any rows. When the where clause

of the explicit cursor does not match any rows the %NOTFOUND attribute is set to

TRUE instead.



31. What a SELECT FOR UPDATE cursor represent.



SELECT......FROM......FOR......UPDATE[OF column-reference][NOWAIT] The

processing done in a fetch loop modifies the rows that have been retrieved by the

cursor.



A convenient way of modifying the rows is done by a method with two parts: the FOR

UPDATE clause in the cursor declaration, WHERE CURRENT OF CLAUSE in an

UPDATE or declaration statement.



32. What 'WHERE CURRENT OF ' clause does in a cursor.



LOOP

SELECT num_credits INTO v_numcredits FROM classes

WHERE dept=123 and course=101;

UPDATE students

SET current_credits=current_credits+v_numcredits

WHERE CURRENT OF X;

END LOOP

COMMIT;

END;



33. What is use of a cursor variable? How it is defined.



A cursor variable is associated with different statements at run time, which can hold

different values at run time. Static cursors can only be associated with one run time

query. A cursor variable is reference type(like a pointer in C).



Declaring a cursor variable:

TYPE type_name IS REF CURSOR RETURN return_type type_name is the name of

the reference type,return_type is a record type indicating the types of the select list

that will eventually be returned by the cursor variable.



34. What should be the return type for a cursor variable.Can we use a scalar data type as return type.

The return type for a cursor must be a record type.It can be declared explicitly as a

user-defined or %ROWTYPE can be used. eg TYPE t_studentsref IS REF

CURSOR RETURN students%ROWTYPE



35. How you open and close a cursor variable.Why it is required.



OPEN cursor variable FOR SELECT...Statement

CLOSE cursor variable In order to associate a cursor variable with a particular

SELECT statement OPEN syntax is used.In order to free the resources used

for the query CLOSE

statement is used.



36. How you were passing cursor variables in PL/SQL 2.2.

In PL/SQL 2.2 cursor variables cannot be declared in a package.This is because the storage for a cursor variable has to be allocated using Pro*C or OCI with version 2.2,the only means of passing a cursor variable to a PL/SQL block is via bind variable or a procedure parameter.



37. Can cursor variables be stored in PL/SQL tables.If yes how.If not why.



No, a cursor variable points a row which cannot be stored in a two-dimensional PL/SQL table.



38. Difference between procedure and function.



Functions are named PL/SQL blocks that return a value and can be called with arguments procedure a named block that can be called with parameter. A procedure all is a PL/SQL statement by itself, while a Function call is called as part of an expression.



39. What are different modes of parameters used in functions and procedures.



IN

OUT

INOUT



40. What is difference between a formal and an actual parameter



The variables declared in the procedure and which are passed, as arguments are called

actual, the parameters in the procedure declaration. Actual parameters contain the

values that are passed to a procedure and receive results. Formal parameters are the

placeholders for the values of actual parameters



41. Can the default values be assigned to actual parameters.



Yes



42. Can a function take OUT parameters.If not why.



No.A function has to return a value,an OUT parameter cannot return a value.



43. What is syntax for dropping a procedure and a function .Are these operations possible.



Drop Procedure procedure_name

Drop Function function_name





44. What are ORACLE PRECOMPILERS.



Using ORACLE PRECOMPILERS ,SQL statements and PL/SQL blocks can be contained

inside 3GL programs written in C,C++,COBOL,PASCAL, FORTRAN,PL/1 AND ADA.



The Precompilers are known as Pro*C,Pro*Cobol,...

This form of PL/SQL is known as embedded pl/sql,the language in which pl/sql is

embedded is known as the host language.



The prcompiler translates the embedded SQL and pl/sql ststements into calls to the

precompiler runtime library.The output must be compiled and linked with this library to

creater an executable.







45. What is OCI. What are its uses.



Oracle Call Interface is a method of accesing database

from a 3GL program. Uses--No precompiler is required,PL/SQL blocks are executed like

other DML

statements.

The OCI library provides

-functions to parse SQL statemets

-bind input variables

-bind output variables

-execute statements

-fetch the results



46. Difference between database triggers and form triggers.



a) Data base trigger(DBT) fires when a DML operation is performed on a data base table.Form trigger(FT) Fires when user presses a key or navigates between fields on the screen



b) Can be row level or statement level No distinction between row level and statement level.



c) Can manipulate data stored in Oracle tables via SQL Can manipulate data in Oracle tables as well as

variables in forms.



d) Can be fired from any session executing the triggering DML statements. Can be fired only from the form that define the trigger.



e) Can cause other database triggers to fire.Can cause other database triggers to fire,but not other form triggers.



47. What is an UTL_FILE.What are different procedures and functions associated with it.



UTL_FILE is a package that adds the ability to read and write to operating system files

Procedures associated with it are FCLOSE, FCLOSE_ALL and 5 procedures to output

data to a file PUT, PUT_LINE, NEW_LINE, PUTF, FFLUSH.PUT, FFLUSH.PUT_LINE,FFLUSH.NEW_LINE. Functions associated with it are FOPEN, ISOPEN.



48. Can you use a commit statement within a database trigger.

No

49. What is the maximum buffer size that can be specified using the DBMS_OUTPUT.ENABLE function?

1,000,000

RDBMS Concepts

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.

What is DBMS?
It is a collection of programs that enables user to create and maintain a database. In other words it is general-purpose software that provides the users with the processes of defining, constructing and manipulating the database for various applications.

What is a Database system?
The database and DBMS software together is called as Database system.

Advantages of DBMS?
Redundancy is controlled.
Unauthorised access is restricted.
Providing multiple user interfaces.
Enforcing integrity constraints.
Providing backup and recovery.

Disadvantage in File Processing System?
Data redundancy & inconsistency.
Difficult in accessing data.
Data isolation.
Data integrity.
Concurrent access is not possible.
Security Problems.

Describe the three levels of data abstraction?
The are three levels of abstraction:
Physical level: The lowest level of abstraction describes how data are stored.
Logical level: The next higher level of abstraction, describes what data are stored in database and what relationship among those data.
View level: The highest level of abstraction describes only part of entire database.
Define the "integrity rules"
There are two Integrity rules.
Entity Integrity: States that “Primary key cannot have NULL value”
Referential Integrity: States that “Foreign Key can be either a NULL value or should be Primary Key value of other relation.

What is extension and intension?
Extension -
It is the number of tuples present in a table at any instance. This is time dependent.
Intension -
It is a constant value that gives the name, structure of table and the constraints laid on it.

What is System R? What are its two major subsystems?
System R was designed and developed over a period of 1974-79 at IBM San Jose Research Center. It is a prototype and its purpose was to demonstrate that it is possible to build a Relational System that can be used in a real life environment to solve real life problems, with performance at least comparable to that of existing system.
Its two subsystems are
Research Storage
System Relational Data System.

How is the data structure of System R different from the relational structure?
Unlike Relational systems in System R
Domains are not supported
Enforcement of candidate key uniqueness is optional
Enforcement of entity integrity is optional
Referential integrity is not enforced

What is Data Independence?
Data independence means that “the application is independent of the storage structure and access strategy of data”. In other words, The ability to modify the schema definition in one level should not affect the schema definition in the next higher level.
Two types of Data Independence:
Physical Data Independence: Modification in physical level should not affect the logical level.
Logical Data Independence: Modification in logical level should affect the view level.
NOTE: Logical Data Independence is more difficult to achieve

What is a view? How it is related to data independence?
A view may be thought of as a virtual table, that is, a table that does not really exist in its own right but is instead derived from one or more underlying base table. In other words, there is no stored file that direct represents the view instead a definition of view is stored in data dictionary.
Growth and restructuring of base tables is not reflected in views. Thus the view can insulate users from the effects of restructuring and growth in the database. Hence 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 E-R model?
This data model is based on real world that consists of basic objects called entities and of relationship among these objects. Entities are described in a database by a set of attributes.

What is Object Oriented model?
This model is based on collection of objects. An object contains values stored in instance variables with in the object. An object also contains bodies of code that operate on the object. These bodies of code are called methods. Objects that contain same types of values and the same methods are grouped together into classes.

What is an Entity?
It is a 'thing' in the real world with an independent existence.

What is an Entity type?
It is a collection (set) of entities that have same attributes.

What is an Entity set?
It is a collection of all entities of particular entity type in the database.

What is an Extension of entity type?
The collections of entities of a particular entity type are grouped together into an entity set.

What is Weak Entity set?
An entity set may not have sufficient attributes to form a primary key, and its primary key compromises of its partial key and primary key of its parent entity, then it is said to be Weak Entity set.

What is an attribute?
It is a particular property, which describes the entity.

What is a Relation Schema and a Relation?
A relation Schema denoted by R(A1, A2, …, An) is made up of the relation name R and the list of attributes Ai that it contains. A relation is defined as a set of tuples. 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).

What is degree of a Relation?
It is the number of attribute of its relation schema.

What is Relationship?
It is an association among two or more entities.

What is Relationship set?
The collection (or set) of similar relationships.

What is Relationship type?
Relationship type defines a set of associations or a relationship set among a given set of entity types.

What is degree of Relationship type?
It is the number of entity type participating.

What is DDL (Data Definition Language)?
A data base schema is specifies by a set of definitions expressed by a special language called DDL.

What is VDL (View Definition Language)?
It specifies user views and their mappings to the conceptual schema.

What is SDL (Storage Definition Language)?
This language is to specify the internal schema. This language may specify the mapping between two schemas.

What is Data Storage - Definition Language?
The storage structures and access methods used by database system are specified by a set of definition in a special type of DDL called data storage-definition language.

What is DML (Data Manipulation Language)?
This language that enable user to access or manipulate data as organised by appropriate data model.
Procedural DML or Low level: DML requires a user to specify what data are needed and how to get those data.
Non-Procedural DML or High level: DML requires a user to specify what data are needed without specifying how to get those data.

What is DML Compiler?
It translates DML statements in a query language into low-level instruction that the query evaluation engine can understand.

What is Query evaluation engine?
It executes low-level instruction generated by compiler.

What is DDL Interpreter?
It interprets DDL statements and record them in tables containing metadata.

What is Record-at-a-time?
The Low level or Procedural DML can specify and retrieve each record from a set of records. This retrieve of a record is said to be Record-at-a-time.

What is Set-at-a-time or Set-oriented?
The High level or Non-procedural DML can specify and retrieve many records in a single DML statement. This retrieve of a record is said to be Set-at-a-time or Set-oriented.

What is Relational Algebra?
It is procedural query language. It consists of a set of operations that take one or two relations as input and produce a new relation.

What is Relational Calculus?
It is an applied predicate calculus specifically tailored for relational databases proposed by E.F. Codd. E.g. of languages based on it are DSL ALPHA, QUEL.

How does Tuple-oriented relational calculus differ from domain-oriented relational calculus
The tuple-oriented calculus uses a tuple variables i.e., variable whose only permitted values are tuples of that relation. E.g. QUEL
The domain-oriented calculus has domain variables i.e., variables that range over the underlying domains instead of over relation. E.g. ILL, DEDUCE.

What is normalization?
It is a process of analysing the given relation schemas based on their Functional Dependencies (FDs) and primary key to achieve the properties
Minimizing redundancy
Minimizing insertion, deletion and update anomalies.

What is Functional Dependency?
A Functional dependency is denoted by X Y between two sets of attributes X and Y that are subsets of R specifies a constraint on the possible tuple that can form a relation state r of R. The constraint is for any two tuples t1 and t2 in r if t1[X] = t2[X] then they have t1[Y] = t2[Y]. This means the value of X component of a tuple uniquely determines the value of component Y.

When is a functional dependency F said to be minimal?
Every dependency in F has a single attribute for its right hand side.
We cannot replace any dependency X A in F with a dependency Y A where Y is a proper subset of X and still have a set of dependency that is equivalent to F.
We cannot remove any dependency from F and still have set of dependency that is equivalent to F.

What is Multivalued dependency?
Multivalued dependency denoted by X Y specified on relation schema R, where X and Y are both subsets of R, specifies the following constraint on any relation r of R: if two tuples t1 and t2 exist in r such that t1[X] = t2[X] then t3 and t4 should also exist in r with the following properties
t3[x] = t4[X] = t1[X] = t2[X]
t3[Y] = t1[Y] and t4[Y] = t2[Y]
t3[Z] = t2[Z] and t4[Z] = t1[Z]
where [Z = (R-(X U Y)) ]

What is Lossless join property?
It guarantees that the spurious tuple generation does not occur with respect to relation schemas after decomposition.

What is 1 NF (Normal Form)?
The domain of attribute must include only atomic (simple, indivisible) values.

What is Fully Functional dependency?
It is based on concept of full functional dependency. A functional dependency X Y is full functional dependency if removal of any attribute A from X means that the dependency does not hold any more.

What is 2NF?
A relation schema R is in 2NF if it is in 1NF and every non-prime attribute A in R is fully functionally dependent on primary key.

What is 3NF?
A relation schema R is in 3NF if it is in 2NF and for every FD X A either of the following is true
X is a Super-key of R.
A is a prime attribute of R.
In other words, if every non prime attribute is non-transitively dependent on primary key.

What is BCNF (Boyce-Codd Normal Form)?
A relation schema R is in BCNF if it is in 3NF and satisfies an additional constraint that for every FD X A, X must be a candidate key.

What is 4NF?
A relation schema R is said to be in 4NF if for every Multivalued dependency X Y that holds over R, one of following is true
X is subset or equal to (or) XY = R.
X is a super key.

What is 5NF?
A Relation schema R is said to be 5NF if for every join dependency {R1, R2, ..., Rn} that holds R, one the following is true
Ri = R for some i.
The join dependency is implied by the set of FD, over R in which the left side is key of R.
What is Domain-Key Normal Form?
A relation is said to be in DKNF if all constraints and dependencies that should hold on the the constraint can be enforced by simply enforcing the domain constraint and key constraint on the relation.

What are partial, alternate,, artificial, compound and natural key?
Partial Key:
It is a set of attributes that can uniquely identify weak entities and that are related to same owner entity. It is sometime called as Discriminator.
Alternate Key:
All Candidate Keys excluding the Primary Key are known as Alternate Keys.
Artificial Key:
If no obvious key, either stand alone or compound is available, then the last resort is to simply create a key, by assigning a unique number to each record or occurrence. Then this is known as developing an artificial key.
Compound Key:
If no single data element uniquely identifies occurrences within a construct, then combining multiple elements to create a unique identifier for the construct is known as creating a compound key.
Natural Key:
When one of the data elements stored within a construct is utilized as the primary key, then it is called the natural key.

What is indexing and what are the different kinds of indexing?
Indexing is a technique for determining how quickly specific data can be found.
Types:
Binary search style indexing
B-Tree indexing
Inverted list indexing
Memory resident table
Table indexing

What is system catalog or catalog relation? How is better known as?
A RDBMS maintains a description of all the data that it contains, information about every relation and index that it contains. This information is stored in a collection of relations maintained by the system called metadata. It is also called data dictionary.

What is meant by query optimization?
The phase that identifies an efficient execution plan for evaluating a query that has the least estimated cost is referred to as query optimization.

What is join dependency and inclusion dependency?
Join Dependency:
A Join dependency is generalization of Multivalued dependency.A JD {R1, R2, ..., Rn} is said to hold over a relation R if R1, R2, R3, ..., Rn is a lossless-join decomposition of R . There is no set of sound and complete inference rules for JD.
Inclusion Dependency:
An Inclusion Dependency is a statement of the form that some columns of a relation are contained in other columns. A foreign key constraint is an example of inclusion dependency.

What is durability in DBMS?
Once the DBMS informs the user that a transaction has successfully completed, its effects should persist even if the system crashes before all its changes are reflected on disk. This property is called durability.

What do you mean by atomicity and aggregation?
Atomicity:
Either all actions are carried out or none are. Users should not have to worry about the effect of incomplete transactions. DBMS ensures this by undoing the actions of incomplete transactions.
Aggregation:
A concept which is used to model a relationship between a collection of entities and relationships. It is used when we need to express a relationship among relationships.

What is a Phantom Deadlock?
In distributed deadlock detection, the delay in propagating local information might cause the deadlock detection algorithms to identify deadlocks that do not really exist. Such situations are called phantom deadlocks and they lead to unnecessary aborts.

What is a checkpoint and When does it occur?
A Checkpoint is like a snapshot of the DBMS state. By taking checkpoints, the DBMS can reduce the amount of work to be done during restart in the event of subsequent crashes.

What are the different phases of transaction?
Different phases are
Analysis phase
Redo Phase
Undo phase

What do you mean by flat file database?
It is a database in which there are no programs or user access languages. It has no cross-file capabilities but is user-friendly and provides user-interface management.

What is "transparent DBMS"?
It is one, which keeps its Physical Structure hidden from user.

Brief theory of Network, Hierarchical schemas and their properties
Network schema uses a graph data structure to organize records example for such a database management system is CTCG while a hierarchical schema uses a tree data structure example for such a system is IMS.

What is a query?
A query with respect to DBMS relates to user commands that are used to interact with a data base. The query language can be classified into data definition language and data manipulation language.

What do you mean by Correlated subquery?
Subqueries, or nested queries, are used to bring back a set of rows to be used by the parent query. Depending on how the subquery is written, it can be executed once for the parent query or it can be executed once for each row returned by the parent query. If the subquery is executed for each row of the parent, this is called a correlated subquery.
A correlated subquery can be easily identified if it contains any references to the parent subquery columns in its WHERE clause. Columns from the subquery cannot be referenced anywhere else in the parent query. The following example demonstrates a non-correlated subquery.
E.g. Select * From CUST Where '10/03/1990' IN (Select ODATE From ORDER Where CUST.CNUM = ORDER.CNUM)

What are the primitive operations common to all record management systems?
Addition, deletion and modification.

Name the buffer in which all the commands that are typed in are stored
‘Edit’ Buffer

What are the unary operations in Relational Algebra?
PROJECTION and SELECTION.

Are the resulting relations of PRODUCT and JOIN operation the same?
No.
PRODUCT: Concatenation of every row in one relation with every row in another.
JOIN: Concatenation of rows from one relation and related rows from another.

What is RDBMS KERNEL?
Two important pieces of RDBMS architecture are the kernel, which is the software, and the data dictionary, which consists of the system-level data structures used by the kernel to manage the database
You might think of an RDBMS as an operating system (or set of subsystems), designed specifically for controlling data access; its primary functions are storing, retrieving, and securing data. An RDBMS maintains its own list of authorized users and their associated privileges; manages memory caches and paging; controls locking for concurrent resource usage; dispatches and schedules user requests; and manages space usage within its table-space structures
.
Name the sub-systems of a RDBMS
I/O, Security, Language Processing, Process Control, Storage Management, Logging and Recovery, Distribution Control, Transaction Control, Memory Management, Lock Management

Which part of the RDBMS takes care of the data dictionary? How
Data dictionary is a set of tables and database objects that is stored in a special area of the database and maintained exclusively by the kernel.

What is the job of the information stored in data-dictionary?
The information in the data dictionary validates the existence of the objects, provides access to them, and maps the actual physical storage location.

Not only RDBMS takes care of locating data it also
determines an optimal access path to store or retrieve the data

How do you communicate with an RDBMS?
You communicate with an RDBMS using Structured Query Language (SQL)

Define SQL and state the differences between SQL and other conventional programming Languages
SQL is a nonprocedural language that is designed specifically for data access operations on normalized relational database structures. The primary difference between SQL and other conventional programming languages is that SQL statements specify what data operations should be performed rather than how to perform them.

Name the three major set of files on disk that compose a database in Oracle
There are three major sets of files on disk that compose a database. All the files are binary. These are
Database files
Control files
Redo logs
The most important of these are the database files where the actual data resides. The control files and the redo logs support the functioning of the architecture itself.
All three sets of files must be present, open, and available to Oracle for any data on the database to be useable. Without these files, you cannot access the database, and the database administrator might have to recover some or all of the database using a backup, if there is one.

What is an Oracle Instance?
The Oracle system processes, also known as Oracle background processes, provide functions for the user processes—functions that would otherwise be done by the user processes themselves
Oracle database-wide system memory is known as the SGA, the system global area or shared global area. The data and control structures in the SGA are shareable, and all the Oracle background processes and user processes can use them.
The combination of the SGA and the Oracle background processes is known as an Oracle instance

What are the four Oracle system processes that must always be up and running for the database to be useable
The four Oracle system processes that must always be up and running for the database to be useable include DBWR (Database Writer), LGWR (Log Writer), SMON (System Monitor), and PMON (Process Monitor).

What are database files, control files and log files. How many of these files should a database have at least? Why?
Database Files
The database files hold the actual data and are typically the largest in size. Depending on their sizes, the tables (and other objects) for all the user accounts can go in one database file—but that's not an ideal situation because it does not make the database structure very flexible for controlling access to storage for different users, putting the database on different disk drives, or backing up and restoring just part of the database.
You must have at least one database file but usually, more than one files are used. In terms of accessing and using the data in the tables and other objects, the number (or location) of the files is immaterial.
The database files are fixed in size and never grow bigger than the size at which they were created
Control Files
The control files and redo logs support the rest of the architecture. Any database must have at least one control file, although you typically have more than one to guard against loss. The 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 synchronization information to ensure that all three sets of files are always in step. Every time you add a new database or redo log file to the database, the information is recorded in the control files.
Redo Logs
Any database must have at least two redo logs. These are the journals for the database; the redo logs record all changes to the user objects or system objects. If 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. In the case of non-data loss failure, Oracle can apply the information in the redo logs automatically without intervention from the DBA.
The redo log files are fixed in size and never grow dynamically from the size at which they were created.

What is ROWID?
The ROWID is a unique database-wide physical address for every row on every table. Once assigned (when the row is first inserted into the database), it never changes until the row is deleted or the table is dropped.
The ROWID consists of the following three components, the combination of which uniquely identifies the physical storage location of the row.
Oracle database file number, which contains the block with the rows
Oracle block address, which contains the row
The row within the block (because each block can hold many rows)
The ROWID is used internally in indexes as a quick means of retrieving rows with a particular key value. Application developers also use it in SQL statements as a quick way to access a row once they know the ROWID

What is Oracle Block? Can two Oracle Blocks have the same address?
Oracle "formats" the database files into a number of Oracle blocks when they are first created—making it easier for the RDBMS software to manage the files and easier to read data into the memory areas.
The block size should be a multiple of the operating system block size. Regardless of the block size, the entire block is not available for holding data; Oracle takes up some space to manage the contents of the block. This block header has a minimum size, but it can grow.
These Oracle blocks are the smallest unit of storage. Increasing the Oracle block size can improve performance, but it should be done only when the database is first created.
Each Oracle block is numbered sequentially for each database file starting at 1. Two blocks can have the same block address if they are in different database files.

What is database Trigger?
A database trigger is a PL/SQL block that can defined to automatically execute for insert, update, and delete statements against a table. The trigger can e defined to execute once for the entire statement or once for every row that is inserted, updated, or deleted. For any one table, there are twelve events for which you can define database triggers. A database trigger can call database procedures that are also written in PL/SQL.

Name two utilities that Oracle provides, which are use for backup and recovery.
Along with the RDBMS software, Oracle provides two utilities that you can use to back up and restore the database. These utilities are Export and Import.
The Export utility dumps the definitions and data for the specified part of the database to an operating system binary file. The Import utility reads the file produced by an export, recreates the definitions of objects, and inserts the data
If Export and Import are used as a means of backing up and recovering the database, all the changes made to the database cannot be recovered since the export was performed. The best you can do is recover the database to the time when the export was last performed.

What are stored-procedures? And what are the advantages of using them.
Stored procedures are database objects that perform a user defined operation. A stored procedure can have a set of compound SQL statements. A stored procedure executes the SQL commands and returns the result to the client. Stored procedures are used to reduce network traffic.

How are exceptions handled in PL/SQL? Give some of the internal exceptions' name
PL/SQL exception handling is a mechanism for dealing with run-time errors encountered during procedure execution. Use of this mechanism enables execution to continue if the error is not severe enough to cause procedure termination.
The exception handler must be defined within a subprogram specification. Errors cause the program to raise an exception with a transfer of control to the exception-handler block. After the exception handler executes, control returns to the block in which the handler was defined. If there are no more executable statements in the block, control returns to the caller.
User-Defined Exceptions
PL/SQL enables the user to define exception handlers in the declarations area of subprogram specifications. User accomplishes this by naming an exception as in the following example:
ot_failure EXCEPTION;
In this case, the exception name is ot_failure. Code associated with this handler is written in the EXCEPTION specification area as follows:
EXCEPTION
when OT_FAILURE then
out_status_code := g_out_status_code;
out_msg := g_out_msg;
The following is an example of a subprogram exception:
EXCEPTION
when NO_DATA_FOUND then
g_out_status_code := 'FAIL';
RAISE ot_failure;
Within this exception is the RAISE statement that transfers control back to the ot_failure exception handler. This technique of raising the exception is used to invoke all user-defined exceptions.
System-Defined Exceptions
Exceptions internal to PL/SQL are raised automatically upon error. NO_DATA_FOUND is a system-defined exception. Table below gives a complete list of internal exceptions.

PL/SQL internal exceptions.


Exception Name Oracle Error
CURSOR_ALREADY_OPEN ORA-06511
DUP_VAL_ON_INDEX ORA-00001
INVALID_CURSOR ORA-01001
INVALID_NUMBER ORA-01722
LOGIN_DENIED ORA-01017
NO_DATA_FOUND ORA-01403
NOT_LOGGED_ON ORA-01012
PROGRAM_ERROR ORA-06501
STORAGE_ERROR ORA-06500
TIMEOUT_ON_RESOURCE ORA-00051
TOO_MANY_ROWS ORA-01422
TRANSACTION_BACKED_OUT ORA-00061
VALUE_ERROR ORA-06502
ZERO_DIVIDE ORA-01476

In addition to this list of exceptions, there is a catch-all exception named OTHERS that traps all errors for which specific error handling has not been established.

Does PL/SQL support "overloading"? Explain
The concept of overloading in PL/SQL relates to the idea that you can define procedures and functions with the same name. PL/SQL does not look only at the referenced name, however, to resolve a procedure or function call. The count and data types of formal parameters are also considered.
PL/SQL also attempts to resolve any procedure or function calls in locally defined packages before looking at globally defined packages or internal functions. To further ensure calling the proper procedure, you can use the dot notation. Prefacing a procedure or function name with the package name fully qualifies any procedure or function reference.

Tables derived from the ERD
a) Are totally unnormalised
b) Are always in 1NF
c) Can be further denormalised
d) May have multi-valued attributes

(b) Are always in 1NF

Spurious tuples may occur due to
i. Bad normalization
ii. Theta joins
iii. Updating tables from join
a) i & ii b) ii & iii
c) i & iii d) ii & iii

(a) i & iii because theta joins are joins made on keys that are not primary keys.

A B C is a set of attributes. The functional dependency is as follows
AB -> B
AC -> C
C -> B
a) is in 1NF
b) is in 2NF
c) is in 3NF
d) is in BCNF

(a) is in 1NF since (AC)+ = { A, B, C} hence AC is the primary key. Since C B is a FD given, where neither C is a Key nor B is a prime attribute, this it is not in 3NF. Further B is not functionally dependent on key AC thus it is not in 2NF. Thus the given FDs is in 1NF.

In mapping of ERD to DFD
a) entities in ERD should correspond to an existing entity/store in DFD
b) entity in DFD is converted to attributes of an entity in ERD
c) relations in ERD has 1 to 1 correspondence to processes in DFD
d) relationships in ERD has 1 to 1 correspondence to flows in DFD

(a) entities in ERD should correspond to an existing entity/store in DFD

A dominant entity is the entity
a) on the N side in a 1 : N relationship
b) on the 1 side in a 1 : N relationship
c) on either side in a 1 : 1 relationship
d) nothing to do with 1 : 1 or 1 : N relationship

(b) on the 1 side in a 1 : N relationship

Select 'NORTH', CUSTOMER From CUST_DTLS Where REGION = 'N' Order By
CUSTOMER Union Select 'EAST', CUSTOMER From CUST_DTLS Where REGION = 'E' Order By CUSTOMER
The above is
a) Not an error
b) Error - the string in single quotes 'NORTH' and 'SOUTH'
c) Error - the string should be in double quotes
d) Error - ORDER BY clause

(d) Error - the ORDER BY clause. Since ORDER BY clause cannot be used in UNIONS

What is Storage Manager?
It is a program module that provides the interface between the low-level data stored in database, application programs and queries submitted to the system.

What is Buffer Manager?
It is a program module, which is responsible for fetching data from disk storage into main memory and deciding what data to be cache in memory.

What is Transaction Manager?
It is a program module, which ensures that database, remains in a consistent state despite system failures and concurrent transaction execution proceeds without conflicting.

What is File Manager?
It is a program module, which manages the allocation of space on disk storage and data structure used to represent information stored on a disk.

What is Authorization and Integrity manager?
It is the program module, which tests for the satisfaction of integrity constraint and checks the authority of user to access data.

What are stand-alone procedures?
Procedures that are not part of a package are known as stand-alone because they independently defined. A good example of a stand-alone procedure is one written in a SQL*Forms application. These types of procedures are not available for reference from other Oracle tools. Another limitation of stand-alone procedures is that they are compiled at run time, which slows execution.

What are cursors give different types of cursors.
PL/SQL uses cursors for all database information accesses statements. The language supports the use two types of cursors
Implicit
Explicit

What is cold backup and hot backup (in case of Oracle)?
Cold Backup:
It is copying the three sets of files (database files, redo logs, and control file) when the instance is shut down. This is a straight file copy, usually from the disk directly to tape. You must shut down the instance to guarantee a consistent copy.
If a cold backup is performed, the only option available in the event of data file loss is restoring all the files from the latest backup. All work performed on the database since the last backup is lost.
Hot Backup:
Some sites (such as worldwide airline reservations systems) cannot shut down the database while making a backup copy of the files. The cold backup is not an available option.
So different means of backing up database must be used — the hot backup. Issue a SQL command to indicate to Oracle, on a tablespace-by-tablespace basis, that the files of the tablespace are to backed up. The users can continue to make full use of the files, including making changes to the data. Once the user has indicated that he/she wants to back up the tablespace files, he/she can use the operating system to copy those files to the desired backup destination.
The database must be running in ARCHIVELOG mode for the hot backup option.
If a data loss failure does occur, the lost database files can be restored using the hot backup and the online and offline redo logs created since the backup was done. The database is restored to the most consistent state without any loss of committed transactions.

What are Armstrong rules? How do we say that they are complete and/or sound
The well-known inference rules for FDs
Reflexive rule :
If Y is subset or equal to X then X Y.
Augmentation rule:
If X Y then XZ YZ.
Transitive rule:
If {X Y, Y Z} then X Z.
Decomposition rule :
If X YZ then X Y.
Union or Additive rule:
If {X Y, X Z} then X YZ.
Pseudo Transitive rule :
If {X Y, WY Z} then WX Z.
Of these the first three are known as Amstrong Rules. They are sound because it is enough if a set of FDs satisfy these three. They are called complete because using these three rules we can generate the rest all inference rules.

How can you find the minimal key of relational schema?
Minimal key is one which can identify each tuple of the given relation schema uniquely. For finding the minimal key it is required to find the closure that is the set of all attributes that are dependent on any given set of attributes under the given set of functional dependency.
Algo. I Determining X+, closure for X, given set of FDs F
1. Set X+ = X
2. Set Old X+ = X+
3. For each FD Y Z in F and if Y belongs to X+ then add Z to X+
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until Old X+ = X+

Algo.II Determining minimal K for relation schema R, given set of FDs F
1. Set K to R that is make K a set of all attributes in R
2. For each attribute A in K
a. Compute (K – A)+ with respect to F
b. If (K – A)+ = R then set K = (K – A)+


What do you understand by dependency preservation?
Given a relation R and a set of FDs F, dependency preservation states that the closure of the union of the projection of F on each decomposed relation Ri is equal to the closure of F. i.e.,
((PR1(F)) U … U (PRn(F)))+ = F+
if decomposition is not dependency preserving, then some dependency is lost in the decomposition.

What is meant by Proactive, Retroactive and Simultaneous Update.
Proactive Update:
The updates that are applied to database before it becomes effective in real world .
Retroactive Update:
The updates that are applied to database after it becomes effective in real world .
Simulatneous Update:
The updates that are applied to database at the same time when it becomes effective in real world .

What are the different types of JOIN operations?
Equi Join: This is the most common type of join which involves only equality comparisions. The disadvantage in this type of join is that there