UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2014/2015
ORDINARY EXAMINATION FOR THE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE
IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BIT 1207 DATABASE SYSTEMS PRINCIPLES
DATE: APRIL, 2015 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question ONE and any other TWO
QUESTION ONE. (COMPULSORY)
a) With respect to information management, compare the following concepts;
(i) Instance and schema (4 Marks)
(ii) Tuple and attribute (4 Marks)
(iii) File system and DBMS (4 Marks)
b) There are three default database schemas that found in SQL namely informationschema, mysql and test. Discuss each showing its role in DBMS. (6 Marks)
c) Identify the roles of the following people
(i) Database designer (1 Mark)
(ii) Database administrator (1 Mark)
(iii) Database user (1 mark)
d) Describe any four disadvantages of the file-based systems (4 Marks)
e) Discuss the five components of the database management system (5 Marks)
QUESTION TWO
(a) Below is a list of potential entities for a hotel database;
– Student
– Lecturer
– Courses
Draw an ERD diagram showing all possible attributes together with PK and FK.
(10 Marks)
(b) (i) What is data integrity (2 Marks)
(ii) Discuss four important database security features (4 Marks)
(iii) What are constraints? Discuss three benefits of constraints. (4 Marks)
QUESTION THREE
a) i) Define the term ‘SQL’ with reference to database systems (2 Marks)
ii) Distinguish between data definition and data manipulation (2 Marks)
b) Demonstrate, where possible with the use of a table, how to use the following
commands in SQL:
(i) CREATE TABLE ….. (4 Marks)
(ii) INSERT INTO ….. (4 Marks)
(iii) SELECT ……WHERE ……. (4 Marks)
(iv) UPDATE ….. (4 Marks)
QUESTION FOUR
(a) Discuss three levels of database design. (6 Marks )
(b) Write short notes on the following topics: (8 Marks)
(i) Data warehouse
(ii) Data mining
(iii) Client/Server database
(iv) Web database
(c) Discuss three dependencies’ used during normalization (6 Marks)
QUESTION FIVE
(a) Discuss normalization. Show why its is important in database design and
demonstrate how it is done. Include UNF, 1NF, 2NF and 3NF. (10 Marks)
(b) Discuss, with the help of a diagrams, the database life cycle. (10 Marks)
