Explain an outer join?

An outer join includes rows from tables when there are no matching values in the tables.

What is subselect? Is it different from a nested select?

Subselect is a select which works in conjunction with another select. A nested select is a
kind of subselect where the

inner select passes to the where criteria for the outer select.

What is the difference between group by and order by?

Group by controls the presentation of the rows, order by controls the presentation of the
columns for the results of the

SELECT statement.

What keyword does an SQL SELECT statement use for a string search?

The LIKE keyword allows for string searches. The % sign is used as a wildcard.

What are some SQL aggregates and other built-in functions?

The common aggregate, built-in functions are AVG, SUM, MIN, MAX, COUNT and
DISTINCT.

How is the SUBSTR keyword used in SQL?

SUBSTR is used for string manipulation with column name, first position and string length
used as arguments. E.g.

SUBSTR (NAME, 1 3) refers to the first three characters in the column NAME.

Explain the EXPLAIN statement?

The explain statement provides information about the optimizer's choice of access path of
the SQL.

What is referential integrity?

Referential integrity refers to the consistency that must be maintained between primary
and foreign keys, i.e. every
foreign key value must have a corresponding primary key value.

What is a NULL value? What are the pros and cons of using NULLS?

A NULL value takes up one byte of storage and indicates that a value is not present as
opposed to a space or zero

value. It's the DB2 equivalent of TBD on an organizational chart and often correctly
portrays a business situation.

Unfortunately, it requires extra coding for an application program to handle this situation.

What is a synonym? How is it used?

A synonym is used to reference a table or view by another name. The other name can
then be written in the

application code pointing to test tables in the development stage and to production
entities when the code is migrated.

The synonym is linked to the AUTHID that created it.

What is an alias and how does it differ from a synonym?

An alias is an alternative to a synonym, designed for a distributed environment to avoid

having to use the location

qualifier of a table or view. The alias is not dropped when the table is dropped.

When can an insert of a new primary key value threaten referential integrity?

Never. New primary key values are not a problem. However, the values of foreign key
inserts must have

corresponding primary key values in their related tables. And updates of primary key
values may require changes in

foreign key values to maintain referential integrity.

What is the difference between static and dynamic SQL?

Static SQL is hard-coded in a program when the programmer knows the statements to be
executed. For dynamic SQL

the program must dynamically allocate memory to receive the query results.

Compare a sub select to a join?

Any sub select can be rewritten as a join, but not vice versa. Joins are usually more
efficient as join rows can be

Returned immediately, subselects require a temporary work area for inner selects results
while processing the outer

select.

What is the difference between IN sub selects and EXISTS sub select?

If there is an index on the attributes tested an IN is more efficient since DB2 uses the
index for the IN. (IN for index is

he mnemonic).

What is a Cartesian product?

Cartesian product results from a faulty query. It is a row in the results for every
combination in the join tables.

What is a tuple?

A tuple is an instance of data within a relational database.

What is the difference between static and dynamic SQL?

Static SQL is compiled and optimized prior to its execution; dynamic is compiled and
optimized during execution.

Any SQL implementation covers data types in couple of main categories. Which of
the following are those data

types ? (Check all that apply)

A). NUMERIC

B). CHARACTER
C). DATE AND TIME

D). BLOBS E. BIT

A,B,C. Not all SQL implementations have a BLOB or a BIT data types.

We have a table with a CHARACTER data type field. We apply a ">" row
comparison between this field and

nother CHARACTER field in another table. What will be the results for records with
field value of NULL?

(Check one that applies the best)

TRUE

B. FALSE

C. UNKNOWN

D. Error.

E. Those records will be ignored

C. NULL in a row when compared will give an UNKNOWN result.

Any database needs to go through a normalization process to make sure that data
is represented only once. This

will eliminate problems with creating or destroying data in the database. The
normalization process is done

usually in three steps which results in first, second and third normal forms. Which
best describes the process to

obtain the third normal form? (Check one that applies the best)

Each table should have related columns.

Each separate table should have a primary key.

We have a table with multi-valued key. All columns that are dependent on only one or on
some of the keys should be moved in a different table.

If a table has columns not dependent on the primary keys, they need to be moved in a
separate table.
E. Primary key is always UNIQUE and NOT NULL.

D. All columns in a table should be dependent on the primary key. This will eliminate
transitive dependencies in

which A depends on B, and B depends on C, but we're not sure how C depends on A.

SQL can be embedded in a host program that uses a relational database as a

persistent data repository. Some of

the most important pre-defined structures for this mechanism are SQLDA ("SQL
Descriptor Area") and

SQLCA ("SQL Communications Area") SQLCA contains two structures - SQLCODE

and SQLSTATE.

SQLSTATE is a standard set of error messages and warnings in which the first two
characters defines the class

and the last three defines the subclass of the error. Which of the following
SQLSTATE codes is interpreted as

"No data returned"?(Check one that applies the best)

A). 00xxx

B). 01xxx

C). 02xxx

D). 22xxx

E). 2Axxx

C. 00 - is successful completion, 01 - warnings, 22 - is data exception and 2A is syntax

error. The SQLSTATE code

format returned for "No data returned" is "02xxx".

What are common SQL abend codes? (e.g. : 0,100 etc.,)

-818 time stamp mismatch

180 wrong data moved into date field

What is meant by dynamic SQL?

Dynamic SQL are SQL statements that are prepared and executed within a program while
the program is executing.

The SQL source is contained in host variables rather than being hard coded into the
program. The SQL statement may

Change from execution to execution.

What is meant by embedded SQL?

They are SQL statements that are embedded with in application program and are
prepared during the program

preparation process before the program is executed. After it is prepared, the statement
itself does not change(although

values of host variables specified within the statement might change).

What is meant by entity integrity?

Entity integrity is when the primary key is in fact unique and not null.
What will EXPLAIN do?
EXPLAIN obtains information (which indexes are used, whether sorting is necessary,
which level of locking is
applied) about how SQL statements in the DBRM will be executed, inserting this
information into the
“X”.PLAN.TABLE where the “X” is the authorization ID of the owner of the plan.

What is the foreign key?

A foreign key is a column (or combination of columns) in a table whose values are
required to match those of the
primary key in some other table.

What will GRANT option do?

It will grant privileges to a list of one or more users. If the GRANT option is used in
conjunction with the “PUBLIC”
option, then all users will be granted privileges. Also you can grant privileges by
objects and types.

What does the term “grant privileges” mean?

Grant privileges means giving access/authority to DB2 users.

What is an image copy?

It is an exact reproduction of all or part of a tablespace. DB2 provides utility programs to
make full-image copies (to
copy the entire tablespace) or incremental image copies to copy only those pages
that have been modified since the last
image copy.

What is meant by an index?

An index is a set of row identifiers (RIDs) or pointers that are logically ordered by the
values of a column that has
been specified as being an index. Indexes provide faster access to data and can
enforce uniqueness on the row in a
table.

What is an index key?

It is a column or set of columns in a table used to determine the order of index entries.

What is a join?
A join is a relational operation that allows retrieval of data from two or more tables based
on matching columns
values.

What is meant by locking?

Locking is a process that is used to ensure data integrity. It also prevents concurrent users
from accessing inconsistent
Data. The data (row) is locked until a commit is executed to release the updated
data.

What is meant by null?

This is a special value that indicates the absence of data in a column. This value is
indicated by a negative value,
Usually -1.

What is an object?
An object is anything that is managed by DB2 (that is databases, table spaces, tables,
views, indexes or synonyms), but
Not the data itself.

Describe referential integrity?

Referential integrity refers to a feature in DB2 that is used to ensure consistency of the
data in the database.

Describe a primary key?

A primary key is a key that is unique, non-null, and is part of the definition of a table. A
table must have a primary key
to be defined as a parent.

How would you find out the total number of rows in a table? - GS
Use SELECT COUNT (*)...

How do you eliminate duplicate values in SELECT? - GS

Use SELECT DISTINCT...

How do you select a row using indexes? - GS

Specify the indexed columns in the WHERE clause.

What are aggregate functions?

Bulit-in mathematical functions for use in SELECT clause.

How do you find the maximum value in a column? - GS

Use SELECT MAX(...

Can you use MAX on a CHAR column?

YES.

My SQL statement SELECT AVG(SALARY) FROM EMP-TABLE yields inaccurate

results. Why?
Because SALARY is not declared to have Null’s and the employees for whom the salary is
not known are also
counted.

How do you retrieve the first 5 characters of FIRSTNAME column of EMP table?
SELECT SUBSTR(FIRSTNAME,1,5) FROM EMP;

How do you concatenate the FIRSTNAME and LASTNAME from EMP table to give a
complete name?
SELECT FIRSTNAME || ' ' || LASTNAME FROM EMP;

What is the use of VALUE function?

Avoid negative SQLCODEs by handling nulls and zeroes in computations.
Substitute a numeric value for any nulls used in computation.

What is UNION,UNION ALL? - GS

UNION eliminates duplicates
UNION ALL: retains duplicates
Both these are used to combine the results of different SELECT statements.

Suppose I have five SQL SELECT statements connected by UNION/UNION ALL, how
many times should I
specify UNION to eliminate the duplicate rows? - GS
Once.

What is the restriction on using UNION in embedded SQL?

It has to be in a CURSOR.

In the WHERE clause what is BETWEEN and IN? - GS

BETWEEN supplies a range of values while IN supplies a list of values.

Is BETWEEN inclusive of the range values specified? - GS

Yes.

What is 'LIKE' used for in WHERE clause? What are the wildcard characters? - GS
LIKE is used for partial string matches. '%' ( for a string of any character ) and '_' (for any
single character ) are the
two wild card characters.

When do you use a LIKE statement?

To do partial search e.g. to search employee by name, you need not specify the complete
name; using LIKE, you can
search for partial string matches.

What is the meaning of underscore ( '_' ) in the LIKE statement? - GS

Match for any single character.

What do you accomplish by GROUP BY ... HAVING clause? - GS

GROUP BY partitions the selected rows on the distinct values of the column on which you
group by. HAVING selects
 GROUPs which match the criteria specified

Consider the employee table with column PROJECT nullable. How can you get a
list of employees who are not
assigned to any project?
SELECT EMPNO FROM EMP WHERE PROJECT IS NULL;

What is the result of this query if no rows are selected:

SELECT SUM(SALARY) FROM EMP WHERE QUAL='MSC';
NULL

Why SELECT * is not preferred in embedded SQL programs?

For three reasons:
If the table structure is changed (a field is added), the program will have to be modified
Program might retrieve the columns which it might not use, leading on I/O over head.
The chance of an index only scan is lost.

What are correlated subqueries? - GS

A subquery in which the inner ( nested ) query refers back to the table in the outer query.
Correlated
subqueries must be evaluated for each qualified row of the outer query that is referred to.

What is a cursor? Why should it be used? - GS

Cursor is a programming device that allows the SELECT to find a set of rows but return
them one at a time.
Cursor should be used because the host language can deal with only one row at a time.

How would you retrieve rows from a DB2 table in embedded SQL? - GS
Either by using the single row SELECT statements,or by using the CURSOR.
Apart from cursor, what other ways are available to you to retrieve a row from a
table in embedded SQL? - GS
Single row SELECTs.

How do you specify and use a cursor in a COBOL program? - GS

Use DECLARE CURSOR statement either in working storage or in procedure division
(before open cursor),
to specify the SELECT statement. Then use OPEN, FETCH rows in a loop and finally
CLOSE.

What happens when you say OPEN CURSOR?

If there is an ORDER BY clause, rows are fetched, sorted and made available for the
FETCH statement. Other wise simply the cursor is placed on the first row.

Is DECLARE CURSOR executable?

No.

Can you have more than one cursor open at any one time in a program ? - GS
Yes.

When you COMMIT, is the cursor closed?

Yes.

What RDMS objects are required before you can create a table?

Before you can create a table, you need an existing database and tablespace.

In what RDMS object does one first list column names?

One first uses the column name in the CREATE TABLE statement.

What is the syntax for a CREATE TABLE statement?

CREATE TABLE table name
(column name list
primary key (column name))
in database-name, tablespace-name.

Can one add columns to a table after it has been defined?

Yes, one can add column to a table after it has been defined by using the SQL ALTER
TABLE statement.

Where in a table are added columns located?

The new columns are added to the end of the table.

After a table is defined, can columns be removed?

The only way to remove columns from an existing table involves a migration program that
extracts only the desired
columns of data, redefining the table without the unwanted columns, then populating
the new table. One have to handle
all the old table’s dependents programmatically.

Which RDMS objects can you change with the SQL ALTER statements?
The SQL ALTER statement can change a table index, a table, a tablespace, or a
STOGROUP.

What authority is required to create a table?

In order to create tables, one needs CREATETAB privileges.

What is minimum authority required for one to create a tablespace?

In order to create tablespaces, one needs CREATETS privileges.

When is it necessary to create a table index?

It is necessary to create a table index whenever you want to enforce the uniqueness of the
table’s primary key.

What is a synonym?

A synonym is an unqualified alternative name for a table or view.

What is a foreign key?

A foreign key is the key defined in one table to reference the primary key of a reference
table. This foreign key must
have the same structure as the reference table’s primary key.

What is referential integrity?

Referential integrity is the automatic enforcement of referential constraints that exist
between a reference table and a
referencing table. When referential integrity is enforced, the value of a foreign key
exists as a primary key value in the
reference table. In other words, when referential integrity is enforced, all of the
foreign key values in, for example, the
“department code” column in an “employee” table exist as primary key values in a
“department” table.

What are the column name qualifiers?

A column name qualifier are used as a table designator to avoid ambiguity when the
column names referenced exists
in more than one table used in the SQL statement. Column name qualifiers are also
used in correlated references.

What is a correlation name?

A correlation name is a special type of column designator that connects specific columns
in the various levels of a
multilevel SQL query.

What is a results table?

A result table is the product of a query against one or more tables or views (i.e., it is the
place that holds the results of a
query).

What is a cursor?
A cursor is a named control structure used to make a set of rows available to a program.
DB2 is the relational database
system that runs in an MVS environment. It was developed by IBM and interfaces
with SQL. With the use of SQL
DB2, databases can be accessed by a wide range of host languages. SQL is the
relational database " application
language " that interfaces with DB2. Because of its capabilities, SQL and, in turn,
DB2 have gained considerable
acceptance. Thus, a working knowledge of DB2 increases one's marketability.

What is the basic difference between a join and a union?

A join selects columns from 2 or more tables. A union selects rows.

What is normalization and what are the five normal forms?

Normalization is a design procedure for representing data in tabular format. The five
normal forms are progressive
rules to represent the data with minimal redundancy.
What are foreign keys?
These are attributes of one table that have matching values in a primary key in another
table, allowing for relationships between tables.
Describe the elements of the SELECT query syntax?
SELECT element FROM table WHERE conditional statement.

Explain the use of the WHERE clause?

WHERE is used with a relational statement to isolate the object element or
row.

What techniques are used to retrieve data from more than one table in a single SQL
statement?
Joins, unions and nested selects are used to retrieve data.

What is a view? Why use it?

A view is a virtual table made up of data from base tables and other views,
but not stored separately.

What are the Back ground processes in Oracle and what are they?
This is one of the most frequently asked question. There are basically 9 Processes but in
a general system we need to mention the first five background processes. They do the
house keeping activities for the Oracle and are common in any system.
The various background processes in oracle are
a) Data Base Writer (DBWR): Data Base Writer Writes Modified blocks from Database
buffer cache to Data Files. This is required since the data is not written whenever a
transaction is committed.
b)LogWriter (LGWR) : LogWriter writes the redo log entries to disk. Redo Log data is
generated in redo log buffer of SGA. As transaction commits and log buffer fills, LGWR
writes log entries into a online redo log file.
c) System Monitor(SMON) : The System Monitor performs instance recovery at instance
startup. This is useful for recovery from system failure
d)Process Monitor(PMON) : The Process Monitor performs process recovery when user
Process fails. Pmon Clears and Frees resources that process was using.
e) CheckPoint(CKPT) : At Specified times, all modified database buffers in SGA are
written to data files by DBWR at Checkpoints and Updating all data files and control files
of database to indicate the
most recent checkpoint
f)Archieves(ARCH) : The Archiver copies online redo log files to archival storal when they
are busy.
g) Recoveror(RECO) : The Recoveror is used to resolve the distributed transaction in
network
h) Dispatcher (Dnnn) : The Dispatcher is useful in Multi Threaded Architecture
i) Lckn : We can have upto 10 lock processes for inter instance locking in parallel sql.

How many types of Sql Statements are there in Oracle?

There are basically 6 types of sql statements. They are
a) Data Definition Language (DDL): The DDL statements define and maintain objects
and drop objects.
b) Data Manipulation Language (DML): The DML statements manipulate database data.
c) Transaction Control Statements : Manage change by DML
d) Session Control : Used to control the properties of current session enabling and
disabling roles and changing .e.g : Alter Statements, Set Role
e) System Control Statements : Change Properties of Oracle Instance .e.g: Alter System
f) Embedded Sql : Incorporate DDL, DML and T.C.S in Programming Language. e.g:
Using the Sql Statements in languages such as 'C', Open, Fetch, execute and close

What is a Transaction in Oracle?

A transaction is a Logical unit of work that compromises one or more SQL Statements
executed by a single User. According to ANSI, a transaction begins with first executable
statement and ends when it is explicitly committed or rolled back.