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DBMS Short Answer Questions - 1

The document provides an overview of databases and database management systems (DBMS), including definitions, advantages, and disadvantages. It covers various concepts such as data abstraction levels, entity-relationship models, attributes, keys, and transaction properties. Additionally, it discusses SQL commands, ACID properties, and issues related to concurrency and deadlocks.

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Pankaj Mahanta
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
4 views

DBMS Short Answer Questions - 1

The document provides an overview of databases and database management systems (DBMS), including definitions, advantages, and disadvantages. It covers various concepts such as data abstraction levels, entity-relationship models, attributes, keys, and transaction properties. Additionally, it discusses SQL commands, ACID properties, and issues related to concurrency and deadlocks.

Uploaded by

Pankaj Mahanta
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1. What is database? What does DBMS stand for?


A collection of related data organised as tables is known as database
DBMS stands for DataBase Management System. It is a computer-based
record
keeping system.

2. Define database management system?


Database management system (DBMS) is a collection of interrelated data and a
set of programs to access those data.

3. What is a database model?


A database model is the theoretical foundation of a database and fundamentally
determines in which manner data can be stored, organized, and manipulated in
a database system. It thereby defines the infrastructure offered by a particular
database system.

4. What are the disadvantages of file processing system?


The disadvantages of file processing systems are:
Data redundancy and inconsistency, Difficulty in accessing data, Data isolation,
Integrity problems, Atomicity problems, Concurrent access anomalies, etc.

5. What are the advantages of using a DBMS?


The advantages of using a DBMS are:
Controlling redundancy, Restricting unauthorized access, Providing multiple
user interfaces, Enforcing integrity constraints, Providing backup and recovery,
etc.

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6. Give the levels of data abstraction?


a) Physical level
b) Logical level
c) View level

7. Define instance and schema?


Instance: Collection of data stored in the data base at a particular moment is
called an Instance of the database.
Schema: The overall design of the data base is called the data base schema.

8. Define the terms


a) Physical schema
b) logical schema.
Physical schema: The physical schema describes the database design at the
physical level, which is the lowest level of abstraction describing how the data
are actually stored.
Logical schema: The logical schema describes the database design at the logical
level, which describes what data are stored in the database and what
relationship exists among the data.

9. What is a data dictionary?


A data dictionary is a data structure which stores meta data about the structure
of the database i.e., the schema of the database.

10. What is an entity relationship model?


The entity relationship model is a collection of basic objects called entities and
relationship among those objects. An entity is a thing or object in the real world
that is distinguishable from other objects.

11. What are attributes? Give examples.


An entity is represented by a set of attributes. Attributes are descriptive
properties possessed by each member of an entity set.

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Example: possible attributes of customer entity are customer_name,


customer_id, Customer_Street, customer city.

12. What is relationship? Give examples


A relationship is an association among several entities.
Example: A depositor relationship associates a customer with each account that
he/she has.

13. Define the terms:


a) Entity set
b) Relationship set
Entity set: The set of all entities of the same type is termed as an entity set.
Relationship set : The set of all relationships of the same type is termed as a
relationship set.

14. Define single valued and multivalued attributes.


Single valued attributes: attributes with a single value for a particular entity are
called single valued attributes.
Multivalued attributes : Attributes with a set of value for a particular entity are
called multivalued attributes.

15. What are stored and derived attributes?


Stored attributes: The attributes stored in a data base are called stored
attributes.
Derived attributes: The attributes that are derived from the stored attributes
are called derived attributes.

16. What are composite attributes?


Composite attributes can be divided in to sub parts.

17. Define null values


In some cases a particular entity may not have an applicable value for an

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attribute or if we do not know the value of an attribute for a particular entity. In


these cases null value is used.

18. Define the terms:


a) Entity type
b) Entity set
Entity type: An entity type defines a collection of entities that have the same
attributes.
Entity set: The set of all entities of the same type is termed as an entity set.

19. What is meant by the degree of relationship set?


The degree of relationship type is the number of participating entity types.

20. Define the terms


i) Key attribute
ii) Value set
Key attribute : An entity type usually has an attribute whose values are distinct
from each individual entity in the collection. Such an attribute is called a key
attribute.
Value set: Each simple attribute of an entity type is associated with a value set
that specifies the set of values that may be assigned to that attribute for each
individual entity.

21. Define weak and strong entity sets?


Weak entity set: entity set that do not have key attribute of their own are called
weak entity sets.
Strong entity set: Entity set that has a primary key is termed a strong entity set.

22. What does the cardinality ratio specify?

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Mapping cardinalities or cardinality ratios express the number of entities to


which another entity can be associated. Mapping cardinalities must be one of
the following:
a) One to one
b) One to many
c) Many to one
d) Many to many

24. Define the terms:


a) DDL
b) DML
DDL: Data base schema is specified by a set of definitions expressed by a special
language called a data definition language.
DML:A data manipulation language is a language that enables users to access or
manipulate data as organized by the appropriate data model.

25. Explain in brief relational model


The relational model uses a collection of tables to represent both data and the
relationships among those data. The relational model is an example of a record
based model.
26. Define the term relation.
Relation is a subset of a Cartesian product of list domains.

27. Define tuple variable


Tuple variable is a variable whose domain is the set of all tuples.

28. Define the term Domain.


For each attribute there is a set of permitted values called the domain of
that attribute.

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29. What is a candidate key?


Minimal super keys are called candidate keys.

30. What is a primary key?


Primary key is chosen by the database designer as the principal means of
identifying an entity in the entity set.

31. What is a super key?


A super key is a set of one or more attributes that collectively allows us to
identify uniquely an entity in the entity set.

32. List the table modification commands in SQL?


 Deletion
 Insertion
 Updates
 Update of a view
1.

33. What are the ACID properties?


(Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) is a set of properties that
guarantee database transactions are processed reliably. In the context of
databases, a single logical operation on the data is called a transaction.
For example, a transfer of funds from one bank account to another, even though
that might involve multiple changes (such as debiting one account and
crediting another), is a single transaction.

34. What is transaction?


Collections of operations that form a single logical unit of work are called
transactions.

35. What are the properties of transaction?


The properties of transactions are:

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 Atomicity
 Consistency
 Isolation
 Durability

36. What is recovery management component?


Ensuring durability is the responsibility of a software component of the base
system called the recovery management component.
37. When is a transaction rolled back?
Any changes that the aborted transaction made to the database must be undone.
Once the changes caused by an aborted transaction have been undone, then the
transaction has been rolled back.
38. List out the statements associated with a database transaction?
Commit work
Rollback work
39. Give the reasons for allowing concurrency?
The reasons for allowing concurrency is if the transactions run serially, a short
transaction may have to wait for a preceding long transaction to complete, which
can lead to unpredictable delays in running a transaction. So concurrent
execution reduces the unpredictable delays in running transactions.

40. Define deadlock?


Neither of the transaction can ever proceed with its normal execution. This
situation is called deadlock.

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