Computer Science 419

Database Design

Spring 1997


Tim Wahls
office: E-258K Olmsted
phone: 948-6085
email: wahls@psu.edu

ANSWERS to the Final Exam study questions are now available! See the link at the bottom of this page.

Question 7 of the Final Exam study questions has changed (on 5/6/97). Please update your copy of the question, as the old version was not provable.

Final Exam

Table of Contents

  1. Course Syllabus
  2. Course Policies
  3. Assignments
    1. Homework 1
    2. Homework 2
    3. Homework 3
    4. Homework 4
    5. Homework 5
    6. Homework 6
    7. Homework 7
    8. Homework 8
    9. Homework 9
    10. Homework 10
  4. Introduction
    1. Data Abstraction
    2. Data Models
    3. Instances and Schemes
    4. Data Independence
    5. Data Definition Language
    6. Data Manipulation Language
    7. Database Manager
    8. Database Administrator
    9. Database Users
    10. DBMS Components
  5. The Entity-Relationship Model
    1. Representation of Entities and Entity Sets
    2. Relationships and Relationship Sets
    3. Mapping Constraints
    4. Keys
    5. Primary Keys of Relationship Sets
    6. Entity-Relationship Diagrams
    7. Reducing Entity-Relationship Schema to Tables
  6. The Relational Model
    1. Introduction
    2. Relational Database Schemes
    3. Keys
    4. Query Languages
    5. Relational Algebra
      1. Fundamental Operations of Relational Algebra
        1. The Select Operation
        2. The Project Operation
        3. The Cartesian Product Operation
        4. The Rename Operation
        5. The Union Operation
        6. The Set Difference Operation
        7. Inductive Definition of Relational Algebra Expressions
      2. Additional (Non-Fundamental) Operations of Relational Algebra
        1. The Set Intersection Operation
        2. The Natural Join Operation
        3. The Division Operation
        4. The Assignment Operation
  7. SQL

    Hold down the shift key and click here to download a (partial) Microsoft Access database for a university registrar's office.

    1. Querying in SQL
      1. Joins
      2. Set Operations and Duplicates
      3. Tuple Variables
      4. Predicates
      5. Ordering Tuples
      6. Aggregate Functions
      7. Null Values
      8. Nested Queries
      9. Expressive Power of SQL
    2. Database Modification in SQL
      1. Deletion
      2. Insertion
      3. Updates
      4. Views
      5. Updates Through Views
      6. Data Definition
    3. Advanced SQL
      1. Joined Relations
        1. Join Types
        2. Join Conditions
      2. Embedded SQL
  8. Other Relational Query Languages
    1. Query-by-Example (QBE)
    2. Quel
  9. Integrity Constraints
    1. Domain Constraints
    2. Referential Integrity
    3. Testing Referential Integrity Constraints
    4. Referential Integrity in SQL
    5. Functional Dependencies
    6. Closure of a Set of Functional Dependencies
    7. Closure of Attribute Sets
    8. Canonical Cover of a Set of Functional Dependencies
  10. Relational Database Design
    1. Why Some Designs Are Bad
    2. Decomposition
    3. Dependency Preservation
    4. Normalization Using Functional Dependencies
      1. Boyce-Codd Normal Form
      2. Third Normal Form
    5. Normalization Using Multivalued Dependencies
      1. Multivalued Dependencies
      2. Fourth Normal Form
    6. Summary of Normalization
  11. File Structures
    1. Introduction
    2. B+ Trees
    3. Operations on B+ Trees
      1. B+ Tree Lookup
      2. B+ Tree Insertion
      3. B+ Tree Deletion

Exam study questions:

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