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ScotlandComputer Science

Database Design and Development

4 dot points across 4 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do you turn a description of a real-world situation into a sound relational database design?

Analyse data requirements and design a relational database using entities, attributes and relationships, entity-relationship diagrams, a data dictionary, and primary, foreign and composite keys.
A focused answer to the SQA Advanced Higher Computing Science content on database analysis and design, covering entities, attributes and relationships, entity-relationship diagrams, the data dictionary, and primary, foreign and composite keys.
12 min answer →

How do you prove a database returns the right data and keeps its data consistent?

Test SQL queries against expected results, maintain referential integrity, and evaluate a database solution for fitness for purpose and data integrity.
A focused answer to the SQA Advanced Higher Computing Science content on database testing and evaluation, covering testing SQL queries against expected results, referential integrity, entity integrity and evaluating a database for fitness for purpose.
12 min answer →

How does normalisation remove the redundancy and update anomalies from a flat table?

Normalise data from unnormalised form to first, second and third normal form, using functional dependency and primary, foreign and composite keys to remove redundancy and anomalies.
A focused answer to the SQA Advanced Higher Computing Science content on normalisation, covering unnormalised form, first, second and third normal form, functional dependency, and how normalisation removes redundancy and update anomalies.
13 min answer →

How do you create, query and update a relational database in SQL?

Implement and query a relational database in SQL, using data definition (CREATE, ALTER) and data manipulation (SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE) with joins, aggregate functions, GROUP BY and HAVING, subqueries, wildcards and computed columns.
A focused answer to the SQA Advanced Higher Computing Science content on SQL, covering data definition and data manipulation, multi-table joins, aggregate functions with GROUP BY and HAVING, subqueries, wildcards and computed columns.
14 min answer →