1 a.What is normalization? -
Well a relational database is basically composed of tables that contain related data. So the Process of organizing this data into tables is actually referred to as normalization.
1.b What is a Stored Procedure?
Its nothing but a set of T-SQL statements combined to perform a single task of several tasks. Its basically like a Macro so when you invoke the Stored procedure, you actually run a set of statements.
2.What is a trigger?
- Triggers are basically used to implement business rules. Triggers is also similar to stored procedures. The difference is that it can be activated when data is added or edited or deleted from a table in a database.
3.What is an Index?
When queries are run against a db, an index on that db basically helps in the way the data is sorted to process the query for faster and data retrievals are much faster when we have an index.
4.What are the types of indexes available with SQL Server?
There are basically two types of indexes that we use with the SQL Server. Clustered and the Non-Clustered.
5.What is the basic difference between clustered and a non-clustered index?
The difference is that, Clustered index is unique for any given table and we can have only one clustered index on a table. The leaf level of a clustered index is the actual data and the data is resorted in case of clustered index. Whereas in case of non-clustered index the leaf level is actually a pointer to the data in rows so we can have as many non-clustered indexes as we can on the db.
6.What are cursors?
Well cursors help us to do an operation on a set of data that we retrieve by commands such as Select columns from table. For example : If we have duplicate records in a table we can remove it by declaring a cursor which would check the records during retrieval one by one and remove rows which have duplicate values.
7.Can you tell me the difference between DELETE & TRUNCATE commands?
Delete command removes the rows from a table based on the condition that we provide with a WHERE clause. Truncate will actually remove all the rows from a table and there will be no data in the table after we run the truncate command.
8.Can we use Truncate command on a table which is referenced by FOREIGN KEY? -
No. We cannot use Truncate command on a table with Foreign Key because of referential integrity.
9.What command do we use to rename a db?
sp_renamedb ‘oldname’ , ‘newname’
10.What is the difference between a HAVING CLAUSE and a WHERE CLAUSE?
Having Clause is basically used only with the GROUP BY function in a query. WHERE Clause is applied to each row before they are part of the GROUP BY function in a query.
11.What is a Join in SQL Server? -
Join actually puts data from two or more tables into a single result set.
12.Can you explain the types of Joins that we can have with Sql Server? - There are three types of joins: Inner Join, Outer Join, Cross Join
13.What are the authentication modes in SQL Server? - Windows mode and mixed mode (SQL & Windows).
14.What is denormalization and when would you go for it?
As the name indicates, denormalization is the reverse process of
normalization. It's the controlled introduction of redundancy in to
the database design. It helps improve the query performance as the
number of joins could be reduced.
15.What's the difference between a primary key and a unique key?
Both primary key and unique enforce uniqueness of the column on which they are defined. But by default primary key creates a clustered index on the column, where are unique creates a nonclustered index by default. Another major difference is that, primary key doesn't allow NULLs, but unique key allows one NULL only.
16.Define candidate key, alternate key, composite key.
A candidate key is one that can identify each row of a table uniquely.
Generally a candidate key becomes the primary key of the table.
If the table has more than one candidate key, one of them will become the
primary key, and the rest are called alternate keys.
A key formed by combining at least two or more columns is called
composite key.
17.What is a transaction and what are ACID properties?
A transaction is a logical unit of work in which, all the steps must
be performed or none. ACID stands for Atomicity, Consistency,
Isolation, Durability. These are the properties of a transaction.
18.What is RAID and what are different types of RAID configurations?
RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, used to provide fault tolerance to database servers.
19.What are triggers?
How many triggers you can have on a table? How to invoke a trigger on demand?
Triggers are special kind of stored procedures that get executed
automatically when an INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE operation takes place
on a table.
1. Which is the subset of SQL commands used to manipulate Oracle Database structures, including tables?
Data Definition Language (DDL)
2. What operator performs pattern matching?
LIKE operator
3. What operator tests column for the absence of data?
IS NULL operator
4. Which command executes the contents of a specified file?
START
5. What is the parameter substitution symbol used with INSERT INTO command?
&
6. Which command displays the SQL command in the SQL buffer, and then executes it?
RUN
7. What are the wildcards used for pattern matching?
_ for single character substitution and % for multi-character substitution
8. State true or false. EXISTS, SOME, ANY are operators in SQL.
True
9. State true or false. !=, <>, ^= all denote the same operation.
True
10. What are the privileges that can be granted on a table by a user to others?
Insert, update, delete, select, references, index, execute, alter, all
11. What command is used to get back the privileges offered by the GRANT command?
REVOKE
12. Which system tables contain information on privileges granted and privileges obtained?
USER_TAB_PRIVS_MADE, USER_TAB_PRIVS_RECD
13. Which system table contains information on constraints on all the tables created?
USER_CONSTRAINTS
14. TRUNCATE TABLE EMP;
DELETE FROM EMP;
Will the outputs of the above two commands differ?
Both will result in deleting all the rows in the table EMP.
15. What is the difference between TRUNCATE and DELETE commands?
TRUNCATE is a DDL command whereas DELETE is a DML command. Hence DELETE operation can be rolled back, but TRUNCATE operation cannot be rolled back. WHERE clause can be used with DELETE and not with TRUNCATE.
16. What command is used to create a table by copying the structure of another table?
Answer :
CREATE TABLE .. AS SELECT command
Explanation :
To copy only the structure, the WHERE clause of the SELECT command should contain a FALSE statement as in the following.
CREATE TABLE NEWTABLE AS SELECT * FROM EXISTINGTABLE WHERE 1=2;
If the WHERE condition is true, then all the rows or rows satisfying the condition will be copied to the new table.
17. What will be the output of the following query?
SELECT REPLACE(TRANSLATE(LTRIM(RTRIM('!! ATHEN !!','!'), '!'), 'AN', '**'),'*','TROUBLE') FROM DUAL;
TROUBLETHETROUBLE
18. What will be the output of the following query?
SELECT DECODE(TRANSLATE('A','1234567890','1111111111'), '1','YES', 'NO' );
Answer :
NO
Explanation :
The query checks whether a given string is a numerical digit.
19. What does the following query do?
SELECT SAL + NVL(COMM,0) FROM EMP;
This displays the total salary of all employees. The null values in the commission column will be replaced by 0 and added to salary.
20. Which date function is used to find the difference between two dates?
MONTHS_BETWEEN
21. Why does the following command give a compilation error?
DROP TABLE &TABLE_NAME;
Variable names should start with an alphabet. Here the table name starts with an '&' symbol.
22. What is the advantage of specifying WITH GRANT OPTION in the GRANT command?
The privilege receiver can further grant the privileges he/she has obtained from the owner to any other user.
23. What is the use of the DROP option in the ALTER TABLE command?
It is used to drop constraints specified on the table.
24. What is the value of ‘comm’ and ‘sal’ after executing the following query if the initial value of ‘sal’ is 10000?
UPDATE EMP SET SAL = SAL + 1000, COMM = SAL*0.1;
sal = 11000, comm = 1000
25. What is the use of DESC in SQL?
Answer :
DESC has two purposes. It is used to describe a schema as well as to retrieve rows from table in descending order.
Explanation :
The query SELECT * FROM EMP ORDER BY ENAME DESC will display the output sorted on ENAME in descending order.
26. What is the use of CASCADE CONSTRAINTS?
When this clause is used with the DROP command, a parent table can be dropped even when a child table exists.
27. Which function is used to find the largest integer less than or equal to a specific value?
FLOOR
28. What is the output of the following query?
SELECT TRUNC(1234.5678,-2) FROM DUAL;
1200
SQL – QUERIES
I. SCHEMAS
Table 1 : STUDIES
PNAME (VARCHAR), SPLACE (VARCHAR), COURSE (VARCHAR), CCOST (NUMBER)
Table 2 : SOFTWARE
PNAME (VARCHAR), TITLE (VARCHAR), DEVIN (VARCHAR), SCOST (NUMBER), DCOST (NUMBER), SOLD (NUMBER)
Table 3 : PROGRAMMER
PNAME (VARCHAR), DOB (DATE), DOJ (DATE), SEX (CHAR), PROF1 (VARCHAR), PROF2 (VARCHAR), SAL (NUMBER)
LEGEND :
PNAME – Programmer Name, SPLACE – Study Place, CCOST – Course Cost, DEVIN – Developed in, SCOST – Software Cost, DCOST – Development Cost, PROF1 – Proficiency 1
QUERIES :
1. Find out the selling cost average for packages developed in Oracle.
2. Display the names, ages and experience of all programmers.
3. Display the names of those who have done the PGDCA course.
4. What is the highest number of copies sold by a package?
5. Display the names and date of birth of all programmers born in April.
6. Display the lowest course fee.
7. How many programmers have done the DCA course.
8. How much revenue has been earned through the sale of packages developed in C.
9. Display the details of software developed by Rakesh.
10. How many programmers studied at Pentafour.
11. Display the details of packages whose sales crossed the 5000 mark.
12. Find out the number of copies which should be sold in order to recover the development cost of each package.
13. Display the details of packages for which the development cost has been recovered.
14. What is the price of costliest software developed in VB?
15. How many packages were developed in Oracle ?
16. How many programmers studied at PRAGATHI?
17. How many programmers paid 10000 to 15000 for the course?
18. What is the average course fee?
19. Display the details of programmers knowing C.
20. How many programmers know either C or Pascal?
21. How many programmers don’t know C and C++?
22. How old is the oldest male programmer?
23. What is the average age of female programmers?
24. Calculate the experience in years for each programmer and display along with their names in descending order.
25. Who are the programmers who celebrate their birthdays during the current month?
26. How many female programmers are there?
27. What are the languages known by the male programmers?
28. What is the average salary?
29. How many people draw 5000 to 7500?
30. Display the details of those who don’t know C, C++ or Pascal.
31. Display the costliest package developed by each programmer.
32. Produce the following output for all the male programmers
KEYS:
1. SELECT AVG(SCOST) FROM SOFTWARE WHERE DEVIN = 'ORACLE';
2. SELECT PNAME,TRUNC(MONTHS_BETWEEN(SYSDATE,DOB)/12) "AGE", TRUNC(MONTHS_BETWEEN(SYSDATE,DOJ)/12) "EXPERIENCE" FROM PROGRAMMER;
3. SELECT PNAME FROM STUDIES WHERE COURSE = 'PGDCA';
4. SELECT MAX(SOLD) FROM SOFTWARE;
5. SELECT PNAME, DOB FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE DOB LIKE '%APR%';
6. SELECT MIN(CCOST) FROM STUDIES;
7. SELECT COUNT(*) FROM STUDIES WHERE COURSE = 'DCA';
8. SELECT SUM(SCOST*SOLD-DCOST) FROM SOFTWARE GROUP BY DEVIN HAVING DEVIN = 'C';
9. SELECT * FROM SOFTWARE WHERE PNAME = 'RAKESH';
10. SELECT * FROM STUDIES WHERE SPLACE = 'PENTAFOUR';
11. SELECT * FROM SOFTWARE WHERE SCOST*SOLD-DCOST > 5000;
12. SELECT CEIL(DCOST/SCOST) FROM SOFTWARE;
13. SELECT * FROM SOFTWARE WHERE SCOST*SOLD >= DCOST;
14. SELECT MAX(SCOST) FROM SOFTWARE GROUP BY DEVIN HAVING DEVIN = 'VB';
15. SELECT COUNT(*) FROM SOFTWARE WHERE DEVIN = 'ORACLE';
16. SELECT COUNT(*) FROM STUDIES WHERE SPLACE = 'PRAGATHI';
17. SELECT COUNT(*) FROM STUDIES WHERE CCOST BETWEEN 10000 AND 15000;
18. SELECT AVG(CCOST) FROM STUDIES;
19. SELECT * FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE PROF1 = 'C' OR PROF2 = 'C';
20. SELECT * FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE PROF1 IN ('C','PASCAL') OR PROF2 IN ('C','PASCAL');
21. SELECT * FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE PROF1 NOT IN ('C','C++') AND PROF2 NOT IN ('C','C++');
22. SELECT TRUNC(MAX(MONTHS_BETWEEN(SYSDATE,DOB)/12)) FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE SEX = 'M';
23. SELECT TRUNC(AVG(MONTHS_BETWEEN(SYSDATE,DOB)/12)) FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE SEX = 'F';
24. SELECT PNAME, TRUNC(MONTHS_BETWEEN(SYSDATE,DOJ)/12) FROM PROGRAMMER ORDER BY PNAME DESC;
25. SELECT PNAME FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE TO_CHAR(DOB,'MON') = TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'MON');
26. SELECT COUNT(*) FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE SEX = 'F';
27. SELECT DISTINCT(PROF1) FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE SEX = 'M';
28. SELECT AVG(SAL) FROM PROGRAMMER;
29. SELECT COUNT(*) FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE SAL BETWEEN 5000 AND 7500;
30. SELECT * FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE PROF1 NOT IN ('C','C++','PASCAL') AND PROF2 NOT IN ('C','C++','PASCAL');
31. SELECT PNAME,TITLE,SCOST FROM SOFTWARE WHERE SCOST IN (SELECT MAX(SCOST) FROM SOFTWARE GROUP BY PNAME);
32.SELECT 'Mr.' || PNAME || ' - has ' || TRUNC(MONTHS_BETWEEN(SYSDATE,DOJ)/12) || ' years of experience' “Programmer” FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE SEX = 'M' UNION SELECT 'Ms.' || PNAME || ' - has ' || TRUNC (MONTHS_BETWEEN (SYSDATE,DOJ)/12) || ' years of experience' “Programmer” FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE SEX = 'F';
II . SCHEMA :
Table 1 : DEPT
DEPTNO (NOT NULL , NUMBER(2)), DNAME (VARCHAR2(14)),
LOC (VARCHAR2(13)
Table 2 : EMP
EMPNO (NOT NULL , NUMBER(4)), ENAME (VARCHAR2(10)),
JOB (VARCHAR2(9)), MGR (NUMBER(4)), HIREDATE (DATE),
SAL (NUMBER(7,2)), COMM (NUMBER(7,2)), DEPTNO (NUMBER(2))
MGR is the empno of the employee whom the employee reports to. DEPTNO is a foreign key.
QUERIES
1. List all the employees who have at least one person reporting to them.
2. List the employee details if and only if more than 10 employees are present in department no 10.
3. List the name of the employees with their immediate higher authority.
4. List all the employees who do not manage any one.
5. List the employee details whose salary is greater than the lowest salary of an employee belonging to deptno 20.
6. List the details of the employee earning more than the highest paid manager.
7. List the highest salary paid for each job.
8. Find the most recently hired employee in each department.
9. In which year did most people join the company? Display the year and the number of employees.
10. Which department has the highest annual remuneration bill?
11. Write a query to display a ‘*’ against the row of the most recently hired employee.
12. Write a correlated sub-query to list out the employees who earn more than the average salary of their department.
13. Find the nth maximum salary.
14. Select the duplicate records (Records, which are inserted, that already exist) in the EMP table.
15. Write a query to list the length of service of the employees (of the form n years and m months).
KEYS:
1. SELECT DISTINCT(A.ENAME) FROM EMP A, EMP B WHERE A.EMPNO = B.MGR; or SELECT ENAME FROM EMP WHERE EMPNO IN (SELECT MGR FROM EMP);
2. SELECT * FROM EMP WHERE DEPTNO IN (SELECT DEPTNO FROM EMP GROUP BY DEPTNO HAVING COUNT(EMPNO)>10 AND DEPTNO=10);
3. SELECT A.ENAME "EMPLOYEE", B.ENAME "REPORTS TO" FROM EMP A, EMP B WHERE A.MGR=B.EMPNO;
4. SELECT * FROM EMP WHERE EMPNO IN ( SELECT EMPNO FROM EMP MINUS SELECT MGR FROM EMP);
5. SELECT * FROM EMP WHERE SAL > ( SELECT MIN(SAL) FROM EMP GROUP BY DEPTNO HAVING DEPTNO=20);
6. SELECT * FROM EMP WHERE SAL > ( SELECT MAX(SAL) FROM EMP GROUP BY JOB HAVING JOB = 'MANAGER' );
7. SELECT JOB, MAX(SAL) FROM EMP GROUP BY JOB;
8. SELECT * FROM EMP WHERE (DEPTNO, HIREDATE) IN (SELECT DEPTNO, MAX(HIREDATE) FROM EMP GROUP BY DEPTNO);
9. SELECT TO_CHAR(HIREDATE,'YYYY') "YEAR", COUNT(EMPNO) "NO. OF EMPLOYEES" FROM EMP GROUP BY TO_CHAR(HIREDATE,'YYYY') HAVING COUNT(EMPNO) = (SELECT MAX(COUNT(EMPNO)) FROM EMP GROUP BY TO_CHAR(HIREDATE,'YYYY'));
10. SELECT DEPTNO, LPAD(SUM(12*(SAL+NVL(COMM,0))),15) "COMPENSATION" FROM EMP GROUP BY DEPTNO HAVING SUM( 12*(SAL+NVL(COMM,0))) = (SELECT MAX(SUM(12*(SAL+NVL(COMM,0)))) FROM EMP GROUP BY DEPTNO);
11. SELECT ENAME, HIREDATE, LPAD('*',8) "RECENTLY HIRED" FROM EMP WHERE HIREDATE = (SELECT MAX(HIREDATE) FROM EMP) UNION SELECT ENAME NAME, HIREDATE, LPAD(' ',15) "RECENTLY HIRED" FROM EMP WHERE HIREDATE != (SELECT MAX(HIREDATE) FROM EMP);
12. SELECT ENAME,SAL FROM EMP E WHERE SAL > (SELECT AVG(SAL) FROM EMP F WHERE E.DEPTNO = F.DEPTNO);
13. SELECT ENAME, SAL FROM EMP A WHERE &N = (SELECT COUNT (DISTINCT(SAL)) FROM EMP B WHERE A.SAL<=B.SAL);
14. SELECT * FROM EMP A WHERE A.EMPNO IN (SELECT EMPNO FROM EMP GROUP BY EMPNO HAVING COUNT(EMPNO)>1) AND A.ROWID!=MIN (ROWID));
15. SELECT ENAME "EMPLOYEE",TO_CHAR(TRUNC(MONTHS_BETWEEN(SYSDATE,HIREDATE)/12))||' YEARS '|| TO_CHAR(TRUNC(MOD(MONTHS_BETWEEN (SYSDATE, HIREDATE),12)))||' MONTHS ' "LENGTH OF SERVICE" FROM EMP;
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