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1. Advantages of DBMS (Database Management System):

A Database Management System (DBMS) provides several advantages that make it an essential tool in
managing and organizing data effectively:
• Data Integrity and Accuracy: DBMS ensures data consistency and accuracy by enforcing
constraints such as primary keys, foreign keys, and data types.
• Data Security: DBMS provides security mechanisms that restrict unauthorized access to
sensitive data. Permissions and roles can be assigned to users, controlling access at various
levels.
• Data Redundancy Control: DBMS reduces data redundancy by organizing data in a centralized
repository, avoiding the duplication of data across different files.
• Data Independence: DBMS offers a level of abstraction, separating data from application
programs, allowing for easier changes to the data structure without affecting application
logic.
• Concurrent Access: Multiple users can access and modify the database simultaneously
without interfering with each other’s operations, which is achieved through transaction
management and concurrency control mechanisms.
• Backup and Recovery: DBMS supports automated backup and recovery mechanisms to
prevent data loss in case of system failures.
• Data Sharing and Access Control: DBMS supports data sharing across various applications
and ensures that access control policies are enforced to maintain privacy and security.
2. Building Blocks of an ER Diagram:
An Entity-Relationship (ER) diagram is a visual representation of the entities and their relationships in
a database. The building blocks of an ER diagram are:
• Entities: Represent real-world objects or concepts (e.g., "Student," "Employee") that have
attributes.
• Attributes: Characteristics or properties of entities (e.g., "Student Name," "Employee ID").
Attributes can be of different types: simple, composite, derived, or multi-valued.
• Relationships: Represent associations between entities (e.g., "Employee works for
Department").
• Primary Key: A unique identifier for an entity (e.g., "Student ID" for the Student entity).
• Cardinality Constraints: Define the number of instances of one entity related to the number of
instances of another entity, such as one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many.
• Weak Entities: Entities that do not have a sufficient unique identifier and depend on a "strong"
entity to ensure uniqueness.
• Participation Constraints: Indicate whether all or some entities are involved in a relationship
(total or partial participation).
3. Advantages of QBE (Query By Example):
Query By Example (QBE) is a database query language that allows users to construct queries by
providing examples rather than writing explicit SQL statements. Some of the key advantages include:
• User-Friendly: QBE is intuitive and user-friendly, making it easier for non-technical users to
build queries.
• Visual Query Creation: QBE uses a grid-like interface where users can specify values or
conditions by filling in columns, making it easier to visualize and create complex queries
without needing to know the exact syntax.
• No Need for SQL Knowledge: Users do not need to know SQL, as they can simply fill in the
desired fields in a structured format to get the result.
• Flexibility: QBE can be used to perform a wide variety of queries, including selection,
projection, and joins, just like SQL, but in a more visual manner.
• Error Reduction: The user is guided by the interface, reducing the chances of syntax errors in
query construction.
4. Purpose of Normalizing the Data:
Normalization is the process of organizing data in a database to minimize redundancy and
dependency. The primary purposes of normalizing data are:
• Eliminate Redundancy: By dividing a database into smaller, more manageable tables,
normalization helps remove duplicate data, which reduces storage space and improves
efficiency.
• Avoid Update Anomalies: Normalization helps ensure that updates, deletions, and insertions
are consistent and do not lead to data anomalies (e.g., partial or transitive dependencies).
• Improve Data Integrity: Normalizing data ensures that relationships between different tables
are consistent, making it easier to maintain data integrity and enforce constraints like foreign
keys.
• Simplify Queries: By reducing redundancy and organizing the data logically, normalized data is
easier to query, with fewer chances for confusion and errors.
5. Transaction Processing:
Transaction processing refers to the process of handling and managing database transactions in a
reliable, secure, and consistent manner. Key points include:
• Transaction: A transaction is a sequence of one or more operations performed as a single unit
of work. It must satisfy the ACID properties (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability).
• ACID Properties:
o Atomicity: Ensures that all operations within a transaction are completed
successfully; if not, the transaction is rolled back.
o Consistency: The transaction must bring the database from one valid state to another
valid state.
o Isolation: Transactions are isolated from each other; intermediate states are invisible
to other transactions.
o Durability: Once a transaction is committed, its changes are permanent and survive
system crashes.
• Concurrency Control: Multiple transactions can be executed concurrently, but the DBMS must
ensure that they do not interfere with each other.
• Log-Based Recovery: DBMS keeps a transaction log to record changes, which helps in
recovering from failures by rolling back or redoing transactions.
6. Set Operations in SQL:
SQL provides set operations that allow you to combine results from multiple SELECT queries. The
common set operations are:
• UNION: Combines the results of two or more SELECT statements, excluding duplicates.
• UNION ALL: Combines the results of two or more SELECT statements, including duplicates.
• INTERSECT: Returns only the rows that are common to both SELECT queries.
• EXCEPT (or MINUS in some DBMSs): Returns rows from the first query that do not exist in the
second query.
Example:
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SELECT column_name FROM table1
UNION
SELECT column_name FROM table2;
7. What is a Cursor? Steps to Create a Cursor:
A cursor is a database object used to retrieve, manipulate, and navigate through the result set of a
SQL query one row at a time. Cursors are particularly useful for processing queries that return
multiple rows when you need to handle each row individually.
Steps to Create a Cursor:
1. Declare the Cursor: Define the cursor and the SQL query it will use to retrieve data.
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DECLARE cursor_name CURSOR FOR
SELECT column1, column2 FROM table_name WHERE condition;
2. Open the Cursor: Open the cursor to establish the context for fetching rows.
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OPEN cursor_name;
3. Fetch Data: Fetch the next row from the cursor into variables for processing.
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FETCH NEXT FROM cursor_name INTO @variable1, @variable2;
4. Process Data: Perform operations with the fetched data.
5. Close the Cursor: After all rows have been processed, close the cursor.
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CLOSE cursor_name;
6. Deallocate the Cursor: Finally, deallocate the cursor to free up resources.
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DEALLOCATE cursor_name;
Example:
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DECLARE employee_cursor CURSOR FOR
SELECT employee_id, employee_name FROM employees WHERE department = 'HR';

OPEN employee_cursor;
FETCH NEXT FROM employee_cursor INTO @emp_id, @emp_name;

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
PRINT @emp_id + ' ' + @emp_name;
FETCH NEXT FROM employee_cursor INTO @emp_id, @emp_name;
END

CLOSE employee_cursor;
DEALLOCATE employee_cursor;