Chapter 8

Question 1

Relational database

Answer 1

a database where
the data items are linked by internal
pointers.

Question 2

Table

Answer 2

a group of similar data, in a
database, with rows for each instance of
an entity and columns for each attribute.

Question 3

Record (database)

Answer 3

a row in a table in a

database.

Question 4

Field

Answer 4

a column in a table in a database.

Question 5

Tuple

Answer 5

one instance of an entity, which

is represented by a row in a table.

Question 6

Entity

Answer 6

anything that can have data
stored about it, for example, a person,
place, event, thing.

Question 7

Attribute (database)

Answer 7

an individual data
item stored for an entity, for example, for
a person, attributes could include name,
address, date of birth.

Question 8

Candidate key

Answer 8

an attribute or smallest
set of attributes in a table where no tuple
has the same value.

Question 9

Primary key

Answer 9

a unique identifier for a
table. It is a special case of a candidate
key.

Question 10

Secondary key

Answer 10

a candidate key that is

an alternative to the primary key.

Question 11

Foreign key

Answer 11

a set of attributes in one
table that refer to the primary key in
another table.

Question 12

Relationship

Answer 12

situation in which one
table in a database has a foreign key that
refers to a primary key in another table
in the database.

Question 13

Normalisation (database)

Answer 13

the
process of organising data to be
stored in a database into two or more
tables and relationships between the
tables, so that data redundancy is
minimised.

Question 14

First normal form (1NF)

Answer 14

the status of
a relational database in which entities
do not contain repeated groups of
attributes.

Question 15

Second normal form (2NF)

Answer 15

the
status of a relational database in which
entities are in 1NF and any non-key
attributes depend upon the primary
key.

Question 16

Third normal form (3NF)

Answer 16

the status of
a relational database in which entities
are in 2NF and all non-key attributes are
independent.

Question 17

Composite key

Answer 17

a set of attributes that
form a primary key to provide a unique
identifier for a table.

Question 18

Database management system

DBMS

Answer 18

systems software for the
definition, creation and manipulation of
a database.

Question 19

Data management

Answer 19

the organisation
and maintenance of data in a database to
provide the information required.

Question 20

Data dictionary

Answer 20

a set of data that
contains metadata (data about other
data) for a database.

Question 21

Data modelling

Answer 21

the analysis and
definition of the data structures required
in a database and to produce a data
model.

Question 22

Logical schema

Answer 22

a data model for a
specific database that is independent of
the DBMS used to build that database.

Question 23

Access rights (database)

Answer 23

the
permissions given to database users to
access, modify or delete data.

Question 24

Developer interface

Answer 24

feature of a
DBMS that provides developers with
the commands required for definition,

Question 25

Structured query language (SQL)

Answer 25

the

standard query language used with

Question 26

Query processor

Answer 26

feature of a DBMS
that processes and executes queries
written in structured query language
(SQL).

Question 27

Data definition language (DDL)

Answer 27

a
language used to create, modify and
remove the data structures that form a
database.

Question 28

Data manipulation language (DML)

Answer 28

a
language used to add, modify, delete and
retrieve the data stored in a relational
database.

Question 29

SQL script

Answer 29

a list of SQL commands that
perform a given task, often stored in a
file for reuse.