[Ch#2] Basic Concepts and Terminology 47 Computer Science Part-II
Q1. Define relation.
Ans. In relational database the table in which data is stored is also called a relation.
Collection of rows and columns is called table. Each intersection of a row and
column is called a cell. Table contains the descriptive information about an entity.
Table is also called relation. Each file in a file management system corresponds to
a table in database management system.
Q2. What is and Entity?
Ans. Anything about which we want to store data is called an entity. It can be a person,
place, event etc. Entity always has a unique name with in a domain.
Q3. What is the use of views?
Ans. Views are virtual tables used to keep the data safe and secure from unauthorized
access. Unlike ordinary tables (base tables) in a relational database, a view is not
part of the physical schema. It is a dynamic, virtual table computed from data in
the database. Changing the data in a table alters the data shown in the view.
Q4. What is a key?
Ans. A key field is a field or set of fields of a database (typically a relational database)
table which together form a unique identifier for a database record (a table entry).
The aggregate of these fields is usually referred to simply as "the key". A Key
field also defines searches.
Q5. Define Primary key.
Ans. In a relation the attribute or a combination of attributes that uniquely identifies a
row or a record e.g. A Social Security number (associated with a specific person),
ISBN (associated with a specific book) student roll number (associated with only
one student in a class).
Q6. Define Secondary key.
Ans. Secondary key is a non-unique field. Some times records are required to be accessed
by a field other than the primary key. In these situations another key that is used is
called secondary key or alternate key.
Q7. Define Candidate key.
Ans. There can be more than one keys or key combinations that qualify to be selected
as primary key. In a relation there can be only one primary key at a time. Rest of
the keys or key combinations are called candidate keys.
Q8. Define Composite key.
Ans. Composite key consists of two or more than two fields. Composite key is also
designated as a primary key. It is created in a situation when no single field
fulfills the property of uniqueness. To make it unique more than one field are
combined and used as primary key.
[Ch#2] Basic Concepts and Terminology 48 Computer Science Part-II
Q9. Define Sort key.
Ans. A field or a set of fields in a record that dictate the sequence of the file according
to our requirement. For example the sort keys STATE and NAME arrange the
table data alphabetically by name within state. STATE is the major sort key, and
NAME is the minor sort key.
Q10. What is the use of index file?
Ans. Indexes are stored in index file. DBMS uses index files to speed up the sorting
and searching operations.
Q11. Who is end user?
Ans. It is the person who uses the database management system for his need. He must
have knowledge of information technology. He doesn’t need to have the detail
knowledge of the computer system. He should be aware of the usage details of the
software he intends to use.
Q12. Who is data administrator?
Ans. The DA department is responsible for the definition, organization, supervision,
and protection of data in order to provide good quality, shareable, and accessible
data throughout the enterprise. The DA establishes and implements policies and
procedures. The Data Administrator manages a staff that is responsible for
establishing and implementing the Data Administration Program.
Q13. Who is data base administrator?
Ans. A database administrator (DBA) is a person who is responsible for the
environmental aspects of a database. In general, these include:
Recoverability - Creating and testing Backups
Integrity - Verifying or helping to verify data integrity
Security - Defining and/or implementing access controls to the data
Availability - Ensuring maximum uptime
Performance - Ensuring maximum performance given budgetary constraints
Development and testing support - Helping programmers and engineers to efficiently
utilize the database.
Q.14 List two properties of a relation.
Ans. It has unique column names.
The order of column is insignificant
The order of row is insignificant
Q.15 Discuss the data manipulation in DBMS system?
Ans. Data manipulation of database management system is different from file
management system. In database management system
Data is stored in relations or tables
A database may have more than one relation with unique names.
Relations in a database relate to each other using primary and foreign keys.
DBMS uses index to quickly access the data stored in relations.
[Ch#2] Basic Concepts and Terminology 49 Computer Science Part-II
Database query language i.e. SQL is used for data manipulation in database.
