14 Questions
What are the characteristics of the database approach?
A single repository maintains data that is defined once and then accessed by various users.
Who are the three primary types of database users?
DBA (Database Administrator), database designers, and end users.
What are the advantages of using a DBMS (Database Management System)?
Data independence, centralized data management, and reduced data redundancy.
What is ER Modeling in the context of a database system?
ER Modeling involves defining entity types, attributes, keys, and relationship types in a database.
What is the self-describing nature of a database system?
The database system contains a complete definition or description of the database structure and constraints, stored in the DBMS catalog as meta-data.
How does the database software access diverse databases?
By extracting the database definitions from the catalog and using these definitions.
What is the role of the DBMS catalog in database management?
It contains information such as the structure of each file, the type and storage format of each data item, and various constraints on the data.
How does the self-describing nature of a database system differ from traditional file processing?
In traditional file processing, data definition is typically part of the application programs themselves, whereas in a database system, the complete definition of the database structure and constraints is stored in the DBMS catalog.
What is the significance of the insulation between programs and data in a DBMS?
It allows changes to the structure of a file without requiring changes to all programs that access that file.
How does the DBMS software handle changes to the structure of data files?
It allows changes to the structure of data files without requiring changes to all programs that access those files.
What is the role of the DBMS catalog in determining the structure of a file?
The DBMS software refers to the catalog to determine the structure of a file, including the position and size of data items within the file.
How does the file structure access differ between DBMS software and file-processing software?
File-processing software can access only specific databases, while DBMS software can access diverse databases by referring to the catalog for their definitions.
What is the database catalog used for prior to creating the actual database?
The database catalog is used to store the definitions specified by the database designer before creating the actual database.
How does the self-describing nature of a database system affect application programs?
Application programs in a database system are not constrained to work with only one specific database, as the database definition is stored in the catalog.
This quiz covers the characteristics of the database approach, database users such as DBA, designers, and end users, advantages of using DBMS, data modes schemas and instances, DBMS architecture and data independence. It also includes ER modeling topics like entity types, entity sets, attributes, keys, relationship types, relationship sets, relationship instances, and constraints on relations.
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