Database Programming – INFT224

Spring 2009

Week 3 Assignment 

 

Due Monday, May 27

 

Objectives: 

-          To reinforce your knowledge gained from the reading  and class discussions.

-          To begin our understanding of the database concepts.

 

Deliverables:

 

Hand in your answers (typed, not handwritten) to the following questions.  Question 8 can be hand drawn.

 

Questions – 10 point each

 

  1. What is a database?

 

 

 

  1. Describe what an entity is.

 

 

 

  1. What is a table?

 

 

 

  1. What is a column (or attribute)?

 

 

 

  1. What the purpose of a primary key?

 

 

 

  1. What is SQL?

 

 

 

  1. What is the difference between a desktop DBMS and an Enterprise DBMS?

 

 

 

Problem (20 points)

 

  1. Describe (sketch out) a database that you have used on a job or as a consumer.  List the entities (at least 3) and attributes (at least 3 per entity) that the database contains.

 

 

Short Essay (10 points)

 

A company wants to use a person’s Social Security Number as a primary key.   Why may this not be a good practice?  What alternatives should be considered?