Question
1a. What is 1st normal form?
1b. What is 2nd normal form?
1c. What is 3rd normal form?
2. What are cascading triggers?
3. What are snapshots?
4. What Oracle package allows you
to schedule one-off or recurring jobs
in your database?
5. What packages has Oracle
provided for use by developers?
6. What are some methods for
transferring a table from one schema
to another?
7. What happens if a tablespace
clause is left off a primary key
constraint?
8. Where is most tuning done?
9. What is a mutating table?
10. What is a bind variable and why A bind variable is a placeholder in a query. The way
is it important?
Answer
There are no repeating groups; all key attributes are
defined; all attributes are dependent on the primary
key.
It's in 1st normal form and it includes no partial
dependencies ( where an attribute is dependent on
only a part of a primary key ).
All items are atomic, all tables have a primary key,
every row is determined by its primary key, there are
no duplicate rows, every column is dependent on
ONLY the primary key.
Executing one trigger may cause another trigger to
also be executed.
Snapshots are copies of remote data, based upon
queries. In their simplest form, they can be thought
of as a table created by a command such as: create
table t as select * from z;
DBMS_JOB
The DBMS_ series of packages, i.e.
DBMS_JOB,DBMS_OUTPUT, DBMS_UTILITY,
UTL_FILE, UTL_HTTP, UTL_SMTP, UTL_TCP,
DBMS_SQL, DBMS_PIPE,
DBMS_TRANSACTION, DBMS_LOCK,
DBMS_ALERT, DBMS_DDL.
Export-Import, Create table as .. Select .., Copy
This results in the index automatically generated
being placed in the users' default tablespace, which is
usually the same tablespace as where the table is
being created which can cause performance
problems.
80-90 percent at application level, 10-20 percent at
database level
A mutating table is a table that is in the process of
being modified by an UDPATE, DELETE or
INSERT statement. For example, if your trigger
contains a select statement or an update statement
referencing the table it is triggering off of you will
receive the error.
the Oracle shared pool (a very important shared
memory data structure) operates is predicated on
 developers using bind variables.
11. How are reads and writes handled Reads are not blocked by writes.
in Oracle that is different than almost
every other database?
12. Why should you care about the Because its' value (dd-mon-yy or dd-mon-rr)
NLS_DATE_FORMAT? determines the results of your date arithmetic when
you are dealing with years of 99 and 00..nn.
13. What is the purpose of the To return a specified substring from a string.
SUBSTR string function?
14. What's the difference between an An equijoin does an equality test between two fields
equijoin and a self-join? in two different tables; a self join does the same
thing on a copy of the same table.
15. In a Select statement, what is the Both pass in values at runtime, but if the && is used
difference between a & and &&? the user will not be bothered with a second prompt
for the value.
16. What is Oracle*Alert? Oracle*Alert is licensed as an Application but it
functions as an extension of AOL in that it
supplements the features of all the Applications.
Oracle Alert is an end-user tool, and so individual
alerts enjoy support from Oracle at the same level as,
for instance, FSG reports in Oracle General Ledger.
17. What is the TRANSLATE TRANSLATE is a simple function that does an
function? orderly character-by-character substitution in a
string. The format is TRANSLATE(string,if,then).
Example: select TRANSLATE
(7671234,234567890,'BCDEFGHIJ') from DUAL;
The result would be: GFG1BCD. I have found this
useful during some data migrations where special
characters needed to be translated.
18. What are PL/SQL Tables (or This is dependent upon your Oracle version. PL/SQL
Arrays)? Tables have only one dimension, but after PLSQL
2.3 that dimension could be a record. Their main
advantage is that when relatively small tables must
be constantly consulted, if they can be put in
memory via a PL/SQL table, performance can be
enhanced.
19. What's the most important 'Best Ask for Help if you find yourself spending more than
Practice' guideline you follow? 30 minutes to solve a problem. I follow this advice
when at a client site; when I'm at home, I act like the
Duracell bunny and just keep going and going.
20. What's another Best Practice? Make code reviews a regular part of your
development process.
21. Describe the PL/SQL Block Declare Begin Exception End
structure.
22. Describe a nested PL/SQL Block. Declare Begin Begin End; Begin End; End;
23. What is %TYPE used for? v_min_bal sales.balance%TYPE := 10.00; - the var
v_min_bal takes on the Type of sales.balance and the
value of 10.00.
24. What is %ROWTYPE used for? Similar to %TYPE but for a record, not just a field.
25. What is an anonymous block? A stored procedure without a name.
26. Is PL/SQL truly compiled when PL/SQL on the server is run in much the same
stored in the database or is it fashion as Java is run anywhere. PL/SQL is compiled
interpreted? into PCode and the PCode is interpreted at runtime.
27. What is the purpose of the The FETCH command retrieves values returned by
PL/SQL FETCH command? the cursor from the active set into the local variables.
28. What does truncating a table do? It deletes the data from the table.
29. What else may truncating a table It can reset the high water mark for a table if the
do? REUSE STORAGE clause is not used.
30. Why is the high water mark The high water mark is used in association with each
important? individual table and tells Oracle 1. where to start
loading data during a SQL*Loader process 2. how
far to scan a table's information when doing a full-
table scan.
31. What does the TO_NUMBER It converts VARCHAR2 values to numbers.
function do?
32. What is the default length of the 1.
CHAR column?
33. What is the purpose of a Enforce the rule that a child foreign key must have a
referential integrity constraint? valid parent primary key.
34. What is the purpose of the Get the contents of a previously saved operating
SQL*Plus command GET? system file into the buffer.
35. What is the order of the stages of 1. Strategy and analysis 2. Design 3. Build and
the system development cycle? document 4. Transition 5. Production.
36. In a SELECT statement, which The '&' character or the '&&' characters.
character is used to pass in a value at
runtime?
37. What is DNS? What does it stand Dynamic Name Server is what allows us to type in
for and why do we care that it exists? names instead of IP addresses to get to Web servers,
use Telnet, FTO, etc.
38. What are realms? Application security in Oracle Applications is
maintained and managed by assigning
responsibilities, excluding attributes, and securing
attributes to users. Internet Procurement 11i uses a
security realm as an additional layer for application
security. A security realm is a list of objects (item
source or a category) to which a user is granted
access.
39. What occurs during the Perform normal routine maintenance.
production phase of the system
development cycle?
40. A database trigger is fired a DML statement
automatically when what is
executed?
41. In a PL/SQL block, what needs to All SQL statements, all PL/SQL statements and the
be followed with a semicolon? END clause
42. What character do you type to The / character.
execute an anonymous block?
43. What data type is used to store The BFILE data type
large binary objects outside the
database?
44. Which variable type accepts only CHAR
character strings of a specified
length?
45. Which variable type accepts any VARCHAR2
length of character up to 32767
bytes?
46. What operator is used to assign a :=
value to a variable that doesn't have a
typical value?
47. What keyword is used to assign a DEFAULT
value to a variable that has a typical
value?
48. How frequently are block Every time a block is executed
declared variables initialized?
49. With which symbol do you prefix :
a bind variable when you reference it
in PL/SQL?
50. What are two statements that are 1. You have to specify the same number of variables
true about the INTO clause? in the INTO clause as the values returned by the
SELECT statement. 2. The data types of the
variables specified in the INTO clause need to
correspond with the values returned by the SELECT
statement.
51. What keyword is used when you The VARIABLE keyword
populate a host variable from the
SQL prompt?
52. How do you end each SQL With a ;
statement in a PL/SQL block?
53. Can you have more than one Yes
transaction in a PL/SQL block?
54. What is common among these They are all Boolean attributes.
cursor attributes; SQL%FOUND,
SQL%NOTFOUND,
SQL%ISOPEN?
55. What does it mean when the The most recent SQL statement issued affects one or
cursor attribute SQL%FOUND more rows.
returns the result TRUE?
56. What are two true statements 1. You can't reference it outside the loop. 2. You can
concerning the index in a FOR loop? use an expression to reference its existing value
within the loop.
57. How do you begin defining a TYPE emp_record_type IS RECORD
record type?
58. Do PL/SQL records have a No.
predefined data type?
59. Give an example of the correct Dept_table(15)
syntax to reference a row in a
PL/SQL table.
60. The primary key of a PL/SQL scalar
table must be of what data type?
61. What is the term used for the Active set
rows produced by a query?
62. Name three things that are true 1. They are manipulated through specific statements
about explicit cursors. in the block's executable actions. 2. They
individually process each row returned by a multi
row SELECT statement. 3. They need to be declared
and named before they can be used.
63. Name two things true about 1. They process rows in an explicit cursor. 2. They
cursor FOR loops. automate processing as the cursor is automatically
opened and the rows fetched for each iteration in the
loop, and the cursor is closed when all the rows have
been processed.
64. What are four attributes that 1. %ISOPEN 2. %NOTFOUND 3. %FOUND 4.
provide status information about a %ROWCOUNT
cursor?
65. Describe at least one way explicit You can use the explicit cursor attributes to test the
cursor attributes are used. success of each fetch before any further references
are made to the cursor.
66. What clause do you use to apply
updates and deletes to the row
currently being addressed, without
having to explicitly reference the
ROWID?
67. How long does the Oracle server indefinitely
wait if it cannot acquire the locks on
the rows it needs in a SELECT FOR
UPDATE?
68. Name three things about using 1. You can use parameters to pass values to a cursor
cursors with parameters. when it is open. 2. Parameters are used in a query
when it executes. 3. In the OPEN statement, each
formal parameter in the cursor declaration must have

69. Name three things true about
trapping exceptions.
70. Describe two aspects about
exceptions.
71. What exception occurs when the INVALID_NUMBER
conversion of a character string to a
number fails?
72. Name three things about user-
defined exceptions.
73. What's another Best Practice?
74. Explain the relationship between Most of the objects in the logical model correspond
a Conceptual Data Model (CDM)
and a Physical Data Model (PDM). logical model contains entities, attributes, and key
75. Elaborating on 74, describe
a corresponding real parameter.
1. when an exception occurs, PL/SQL processes only
one handler before leaving the block. 2. If you use
the OTHERS clause, it should be placed last of all
the exception-handling clauses. 3. Exceptions cannot
appear in assignment statements or SQL statements.
1. Once an Oracle error occurs, the associated
exception is raised automatically. 2. You can raise an
exception explicitly by issuing the RAISE statement
within the block.
1. When defining your own exceptions, you need to
declare them in the DECLARE section of a PL/SQL
block. 2. They are raised explicitly with RAISE
statements. 3. You need to reference your declared
exception within the corresponding exception-
handling routine.
Set standards and guidelines for your application
before anyone starts writing code. 1. Selection of
development tools 2. How SQL is written in PL/SQL
code. 3. How the exception handling architecture is
designed. 4. Processes for code review and testing.
to a related object in the physical model, e.g. the
groups, which are represented in the physical model
as tables, columns, and indexes, respectively. The
CDM allows the designer to concentrate solely on
defining the objects in the information system and
the relationships between them, without having to
consider the numerous parameters associated with
the physical implementation such as data integrity
constraints, data access speed and data storage
efficiency. The CDM thus provides a clear and
succinct picture of the information system, which is
independent of the targeted DBMS. A single CDM
may therefore be associated with a number of PDMs
targeting different DBMSs. The conceptual level
schema, should present to the user a simple, physical
implementation-independent clear view of the format
of the data sets and their descriptions. A Conceptual
Data Model lays the foundation for building shared
databases and re-engineering the business.
Conceptual database design is the process of
conceptual vs logical vs physical building a model of the essential part of the
designs. enterprise business process and the used information,
independent of all physical considerations. Logical
database design - The process of constructing a
model of information used in an enterprise based on
a specific data model, using natural objects of
information and natural associations between them.
The model of information is independent of a
particular implementation and other physical
consideration. Physical database design - The
process of producing a description of the
implementation of the database on secondary
storage. It describes the storage structures and access
methods used to achieve efficient access to the data.
76. What is a pseudo-column? A pseudo-column is a "column" that yields a value
when selected, but which is not an actual column of
the table.
77. What are the more common sequence.CurrVal, sequence.NextVal, RowID,
pseudo-columns? RowNum, SysDate, UID, User
78. What is the difference between The VARCHAR data type is currently synonymous
VARCHAR and VARCHAR2? with the VARCHAR2 data type. It is recommended
that you use VARCHAR2 rather than VARCHAR. In
a future version of Oracle, VARCHAR might be a
separate data type used for variable length character
strings compared with different comparison
semantics.
79. Give an example of overloaded date_string := TO_CHAR (SYSDATE,
Built-in functions. 'MMDDYY'); number_string := TO_CHAR (10000);
If overloading was not supported in PL/SQL
(TO_CHAR is a function in the STANDARD
package), then two different functions would be
required to support conversions to character format.
80. What is the difference between The CALL statement is SQL(and only understands
call and execute sqlplus commands.? SQL types). EXEC is really shorthand for
begin/end;.
81. How can I check for duplicates? select count(*), job from emp group by job having
count(*) > 0; 4 CLERK 4 SALESMAN 3
MANAGER 2 ANALYST 1 PRESIDENT
82. What is another name for ref cursor variables
cursors?
83. What data type column can not LONG
be used with INTERSECT?
84. When is the MINUS keyword To remove those rows which are retrieved by one
used? SELECT from those retrieved by another SELECT
statement.
85. Give an example of the MINUS List the numbers of all managers who do not hold
keyword.
86. When is the INTERSECT
keyword used?
87. Give an example of the
INTERSECT keyword.
88. Write a query to find the
duplicate record(s) of column a, b
and c in a table of columns a..z.
89. Give an example of the NOT
keyword.
90. Give an example of the LIKE
keyword.
91. What is SQLCODE?
92. What is SQLERRM?
93. What is ROWNUM?
94. What are the benefits of using the If you have a whole-number counter, for example in
PLS_INTEGER Datatype in
PL/SQL?
advanced degrees. SELECT MGRNO FROM DEPT
WHERE MGRNO IS NOT NULL MINUS SELECT
EMPNO FROM EMP WHERE EDLEVEL >= 18;
To return only those rows that are the result of two or
more SELECT statements.
List the numbers of all managers who do not hold
advanced degrees. SELECT MGRNO FROM DEPT
WHERE MGRNO IS NOT NULL INTERSECT
SELECT EMPNO FROM EMP WHERE EDLEVEL
< 18;
SELECT count(*), a, b, c FROM t GROUP BY a, b,
c HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;
SELECT c FROM t WHERE c != 'x'; SELECT c
FROM t WHERE NOT c = 'x';
SELECT c FROM t WHERE c LIKE '_EU%L'; ie
the first character can be any character, the next two
must be EU and the last must be L. Any number of
chararcters or numbers could be between the U and
L.
A predefined symbol that contains the Oracle error
status of the previously executed PL/SQL statement.
If a SQL statement executes without errors,
SQLCODE is equal to 0.
A PL/SQL symbol that contains the error message
associated with SQLCODE. If a SQL statement
executes successfully, SQLCODE is equal to 0 and
SQLERRM contains the string ORA-0000: normal,
successful completion
A pseudocolumn that indicates the order of the
retrieved row. The ROWNUM for the first returned
row is 1, ROWNUM can limit the number of rows
that are returned by a query.
a loop or record counter, consider using a datatype of
PLS_INTEGER instead of INTEGER or NUMBER.
When declaring an integer variable, PLS_INTEGER
is the most efficient numeric datatype because its
values require less storage than INTEGER or
NUMBER values, which are represented internally
as 22-byte Oracle numbers. Also, PLS_INTEGER
operations use machine arithmetic, so they are faster
than BINARY_INTEGER, INTEGER, or NUMBER
operations, which use library arithmetic. Jayanta

95. Explain the difference between
NVL and NVL2.
96. Describe RTRIM.
97. Describe UNION and UNION
ALL.
98. What is 1st normal form?
99. What is 2nd normal form?
100. What is 3rd normal form?
(another explanation than #1)
101. What is 4th normal form?
102. What is 5th normal form?
103. What does pragma mean to
Oracle?
104. What is a Latch?
Sengupta Lowell, Massachusetts
NVL(expr1,expr2); NVL2(expr1,expr2,expr3); NVL
- If expr1 is null then return expr2 else return expr1.
NVL2 - If expr1 is not null then the function will
return expr2. Otherwise, the function will return
expr3. The expr1 can have any datatype and
arguments expr2 and expr3 can be of any datatype
other than LONG. The datatype of the return value is
that of expr2.
RTRIM(string [,'set']) RTRIM is the opposite of
RPAD and similar to LTRIM. The function removes
characters from the right-hand portion of a string.
The string passed as the first parameter is returned
with all characters contained in the string passed as
the second parameter removed from the right of the
last character not found in the remove string. The
second parameter is optional and defaults to a single
space. rtrim('ORACLE UPDATE ') --> 'ORACLE
UPDATE' rtrim('ORACLE UPDATE','EDATPU') -->
'ORACLE ' rtrim('ORACLE UPDATE',' EDATPU')
--> 'ORACL'
UNION returns distinct rows selected by both
queries while UNION ALL returns all the rows.
Therefore, if the table has duplicates, UNION will
remove them. If the table has no duplicates, UNION
will force a sort and cause performance degradation
as compared to UNION ALL.
Each cell must be one and only one value, and that
value must be atomic: there can be no repeating
groups in a table that satisfies first normal form.
Every nonkey column must depend on the entire
primary key.
No nonkey column depends on another nonkey
column.
Fourth normal form forbids independent one-to-
many relationships between primary key columns
and nonkey columns.
Fifth normal form breaks tables into the smallest
possible pieces in order to eliminate all redundancy
within a table. Tables normalized to this extent
consist of little more than the primary key.
A pragma is simply a compiler directive, a method to
instruct the compiler to perform some compilation
option.
A Latch is a low level serialization mechanism that

105. Does ROLLUP work with
multiple columns?
106. What is an inline view?
107. Give an example of an inline
view and Top-N Query.
108. What SQL*Plus command is
useful for determining whether the
"N rows selected" message will
appear?
109. What SQL*Plus keyword is
used for defining formats for how
SQL*Plus displays column
information?
110. This phrase describes a query
that feeds one row of results to a
parent query for the purpose of
( released as quickly as it is acquired ) protects
shared data structures. A process acquires and holds
the latch as long as the the data structure is in use.
The basic idea is to prevent concurrent access to
shared data structures in the SGA. In case the
process dies without releasing the latch, the PMON
process will clean up the lock on the data structure
and release the latch. If a process is not able to obtain
a latch, it must wait for the latch to be freed up by
the process holding it. This causes additional
spinning ( looking for availability at fixed intervals
of time ) of the process, thereby causing extra load
on the CPU. This process will spin until the latch is
available. A dba has to monitor the latches for
contention and make sure that CPU cycles are not
being burnt on process spinning.
The ROLLUP feature can in fact be applied to
multiple columns. The result is multiple levels of
rollup, as illustrated here: select deptno, job,
count(*), grouping(deptno), grouping(job) from emp
group by rollup(deptno, job); DEPTNO JOB
COUNT(*) GROUPING(DEPTNO)
GROUPING(JOB) ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 10 CLERK 1
0 0 10 MANAGER 1 0 0 10 PRESIDENT 1 0 0 10 3
0 1 20 ANALYST 2 0 0 20 CLERK 2 0 0 20
MANAGER 1 0 0 20 5 0 1 30 CLERK 1 0 0 30
MANAGER 1 0 0 30 SALESMAN 4 0 0 30 6 0 1 14
1 1 As shown in this example, we're able to count the
employees by 1) department and job; 2) department;
and 3) grand total.
A subquery in the from clause of your main query.
SELECT ename, job, sal, rownum FROM (SELECT
ename, job, sal FROM emp ORDER BY sal)
WHERE rownum <= 3; SMITH CLERK 800 1
JAMES CLERK 950 2 ADAMS CLERK 1100 3
Feedback
Set
Single-row subquery.
selection when the exact where
clause criteria is not known?
111. Use of what command requires autotrace
that you first run the plustrce.sql
script?
112. The database for an scott@PO816> SELECT name, country, age FROM
international athletic competition athletes WHERE ( country, age ) IN ( SELECT
consists of one table, ATHLETES, country, min(age) FROM athletes GROUP BY
containing contestant name, age, and country);
represented country. To determine the
youngest athlete representing each
country, how do you write the code?
113. What is a single-row subquery? The main query expects the subquery to return only
one value.
114. What is an inline view? A subquery in a from clause used for defining an
intermediate result set to query from.
115. What does AUTOTRACE do? Allows us to see the execution plan of the queries
we've executed and the resources they used, without
having to use the EXPLAIN PLAN command.
116. What does SQL_TRACE do? Enables logging of all application SQL, performance
stats and query plan used.
117. What does TKPROF do? Formats the raw trace files into a readable report.
118. What are the two main index B*Tree and Bitmap
types that Oracle uses?
119. When are Bitmap indexes In situations of low cardinality data, i.e. data with
appropriate? few distinct values.
120. What is a top-n query? select * from ( select ename from emp order by sal )
where rownum <= 3; In general it refers to getting
the top-n rows from a result set.
121. What is PostgreSQL? PostgreSQL is a sophisticated Object-Relational
DBMS, supporting almost all SQL constructs,
including subselects, transactions, and user-defined
types and functions. It is the most advanced open-
source database available anywhere. Commercial
Support is also available.
122. What are the three main reasons 1. To increase availability (derived from the fact that
for partitioning a database? partitions are independent entities). 2. To ease
administration burdens (derived from the fact that
performing operations on small objects is inherently
easier, faster, and less resource intensive than
performing the same operation on a large object). 3.
To enhance DML and query performance (potential
to perform parallel DML).
123. What are the two types of Implicit (Oracle's) and explicit (yours).
cursors?
124. Does the order of stored It does if one procedure calls another; if that
procedures in a package matter? happens, the calling procedure must be the earlier of
the two.
125. How does 9i compare to 8i? There are many - click on the link to see some.