Self-test RDBMS concepts

Document: E1034Test.fm

05/03/2003

ABIS Training & Consulting

P.O. Box 220
B-3000 Leuven
Belgium

TRAINING & CONSULTING

1. INTRODUCTION
With this self-test you can see for yourself if you have enough background on relational database
concepts to follow more advanced courses in this domain. The test is based on topics treated in the
RDBMS concepts course.

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2. QUESTIONS
2.1 True or false
1. The domain of a column containing the date of birth of employees is the same as the domain of
a column with employment dates of employees working for an enterprise that was started up in
1974.

2. The restriction on the domain for the employment date can be implemented with a check con-
straint.

3. The restriction on the domain for the date of birth must be implemented with a check constraint
when the aim is that for every employee the date of birth must be known.

4. A NULL value means that the value is not known.

5. The primary key column must contain unique values and can contain null values.

6. The foreign key column must contain unique values and can contain null values.

7. A view is an alternative method to save data.

8. A stored procedure is only executed when asked explicitly.

9. A trigger can be used instead of a foreign key to implement referential integrity.

10. A trigger can be used instead of a check constraint.

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2.2 Which of the following constructions can be used
in a relational system?
1.

person number name phone number

1 Wouters Peter 016/549216, 0498/526984
2 Peeters Jan 0488/965235
3 Janssens Wouter 03/5214963, 0478/625398

2.

person number name phone number

1 Wouters Peter 016/549216, 0498/526984
1 Peeters Jan 0488/965235
1 Janssens Wouter 03/5214963, 0478/625398

3.

person number name phone number

1 Wouters 016/549216
1 Peter 016/549216
2 Peeters 0488/965235
2 Jan 0488/965235
3 Janssens 03/5214963
3 Wouter 03/5214963

4.

person phone person

ID name
number number number
1 1 016/549216 1 Wouters Peter
2 1 0498/526984 2 Peeters Jan
3 2 0488/965235 3 Janssens Wouter
4 3 03/5214963
5 3 0478/625398

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5.

Foreign Primary
PK
Key Key
person person
ID phone number name
number number
1 1 016/549216 1 Wouters Peter
2 1 0498/526984 2 Peeters Jan
3 2 0488/965235 3 Janssens Wouter
4 3 03/5214963
5 3 0478/625398
6 4 016/359621

6.

Foreign Primary
PK
Key Key
person person
ID phone number name
number number
1 1 016/549216 1 Wouters Peter
5 3 0478/625398 2 Peeters Jan
3 2 0488/965235 3 Janssens Wouter
4 3 03/5214963
2 1 0498/526984

7.

Foreign Primary
PK
Key Key
person person
ID phone number name
number number
1 1 016/549216 1 Wouters Peter
2 1 0498/526984 2 Peeters Jan
3 2 0488/965235 3 Janssens Wouter
4 3 03/5214963
5 3 0478/625398
6 NULL 016/359621

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8.

Primary Key
person number name
1 Wouters Peter
2 Peeters Jan
NULL Janssens Wouter

9. Domain of the language column = {N,F,E}

Primary Key
person number name language
1 Wouters Peter N
2 Peeters Jan N
3 Janssens Wouter F

10. Delete rule for de primary key: ‘on delete cascade’

Foreign Primary
PK
Key Key
person person
ID phone number name
number number
1 1 016/549216 1 Wouters Peter
2 1 0498/526984 2 Peeters Jan
3 2 0488/965235 3 Janssens Wouter
4 3 03/5214963
5 3 0478/625398

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3. SOLUTIONS
3.1 True or false
1. false

2. true

3. false

4. true

5. false

6. false

7. false

8. true

9. true

10. true

3.2 Which of the following constructions can be used

in a relational system?
1. not usable

2. not usable

3. not usable

4. usable

5. not usable

6. usable

7. usable

8. not usable

9. usable

10. usable

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4. EVALUATION
If you have less than 5 correct answers on both questions, we advise you to follow the RDBMS con-
cepts course.

If you have more than 7 correct answers on both questions, it is not useful anymore to follow this
course. You can immediately register for other database courses (SQL fundamentals, DB2 concepts,
...).

In the other cases, you have already some background knowledge on relational databases, but you
will certainly still learn a lot in the RDBMS concepts course.

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