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Info Written Exam 20156autum

The document provides guidance for preparing for a written exam that will contain three questions: 1) about data integrity, 2) about the ACID properties of database transactions, and 3) drawing a simple ER diagram. For question 1, students should understand the three forms of data integrity - entity integrity, domain integrity, and referential integrity - and prepare scenarios illustrating how they protect data and why data integrity is important. For question 2, students should understand the four ACID properties - atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability - and prepare scenarios illustrating their understanding, including one involving locking and the differences between read and write locks. For question 3, students should review ER diagram notations

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102 views2 pages

Info Written Exam 20156autum

The document provides guidance for preparing for a written exam that will contain three questions: 1) about data integrity, 2) about the ACID properties of database transactions, and 3) drawing a simple ER diagram. For question 1, students should understand the three forms of data integrity - entity integrity, domain integrity, and referential integrity - and prepare scenarios illustrating how they protect data and why data integrity is important. For question 2, students should understand the four ACID properties - atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability - and prepare scenarios illustrating their understanding, including one involving locking and the differences between read and write locks. For question 3, students should review ER diagram notations

Uploaded by

Charles Cruz
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Preparation for the Written Exam

General information

.
 As stated in the subject outline, you will answer two questions in the written exam. One is
about data integrity and the other is about the ACID properties of database transactions. The
third will be a small ER diagram.
 The exam will require essay-style answers to demonstrate your understanding.
 The exam is not open-book and you will not be allowed to use any aids.

Preparation for Question 1

 You need to understand data integrity in relational database systems, which has the following
three forms:

 Entity integrity: Primary key values must be unique.

 Domain Integrity: "CHECK" statements ensure plausible values are stored in data
fields.

 Referential integrity: Values of foreign keys either (1) match values from a source table,
or (2) are null.

 You need to prepare one or more scenarios to illustrate how these three forms of data integrity
are help to protect data.
 You need to discuss why data integrity is important.

Prepare for Question 2

 You need to understand the four ACID properties (Atomicity, Consistent, Isolated, and
Durability) of a database transaction, as listed below:

 Atomic:
Atomicity means all or nothing. Transactions often contain multiple separate operations
(update, delete, and insert). For example, a transaction may consists of three operations
(i) insert one row into table-1, (ii) delete a row from table-2, and (iii) update a row in
table-3, which forms a logical unit. Atomicity ensures that either all of three operations
completed successfully or none at all.

 Consistency
Consistency means that transactions always take the database from one consistent state to
another. For example, a transaction consists of two operations, one is to insert an order
line and the other is to update the stock table by decreasing the quantity-remain by the
quantity in the order line. There two operations together keep the database in a consistent
state. Consistency ensures that if any part of the transaction violates the databases
consistency rules, then the entire transaction will be rolled back.

 Isolation:
Isolation means that a transaction in process and not yet committed must remain isolated
from any other transaction. Database management systems allow concurrent transactions.
Isolation ensures that the changes made within the transactions that are in process are not
visible to each other until they complete. The implementation of isolation is quite
different in different DBMS’. Isolation is the property that is most often related to
locking problems.

 Durability:
Durability means that committed transactions will not be lost, even in the event of
abnormal termination/failure. For example, when you submit your answer in the SQL
Test System to check if it is correct, you click the button “Submit to check if your query
is correct”. Once the button is clicked, the transaction is triggered and your answer is
saved in the database and will stay there until it is deleted.

 You need to prepare two or more scenarios to illustrate your understanding of these ACID
properties. At least one scenario should involve locking and show the differences between
read and write locks.

3) You will be asked to draw a simple Erd diagram.

Preparation:

Look at different ERD notations in the lecture slides, by now you will be able to identify
Pk, fk relation ship notations such as one to many etc.

Best wishes

Sri.

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