CIS 2750 LATEST 2026 STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS MARKED A+
✔✔a relation is - ✔✔a set of tuples
✔✔what paper does the field of relational database technology have its origins in? -
✔✔1970, E.F. Codd at IBM Research Labs in San Jose, California: "A Relational Model
of Data for Large Shared Data Banks"*
✔✔SEQUEL (1974-75) - ✔✔first prototype and original name of SQL at IBM called
SEQUEL-XRM
✔✔SEQUAL stands for - ✔✔"Structured English Query Language"
✔✔SEQUEL/Z. - ✔✔A revised version of SEQUEL-XRM that was defined in 1976-77
✔✔why was the name changed to SQL? - ✔✔legal reasons
✔✔System R - ✔✔a successful prototype of SQL
✔✔ANSI standard for SQL was created in - ✔✔1986
✔✔ANSI became the ISO standard in - ✔✔1987
✔✔The original standard is also known as - ✔✔SQL/86
✔✔what was SQL/89 an improvement on - ✔✔included an Integrity Enhancement
Feature
✔✔what was SQL/92 an improvement on - ✔✔ISO and ANSI developed a revised
standard also known as SQL2
✔✔what was SQL/99 an improvement on - ✔✔"SQL3" incorporates object-oriented
access
✔✔SQL Access Group - ✔✔A consortium of vendors working to enhance
interoperability across different systems
✔✔SQL is used to - ✔✔define, manipulate, and control data in relational databases.
✔✔relational database - ✔✔a database that is seen as a collection of tables by the user
✔✔table - ✔✔an unordered collection of unique rows
, ✔✔SQL statements can be invoked either - ✔✔interactively or from within an
application.
✔✔Interactive SQL function - ✔✔displays the results on the screen.
✔✔Invocation from a program means - ✔✔the results are made available as input to the
program
✔✔Tables - ✔✔can be thought of as files, with rows representing records and the
columns as fields.
✔✔The SQL standard always uses the terms - ✔✔row, table, and column
✔✔primary key of a table - ✔✔a column that uniquely identifies each row (record) in the
table
✔✔why do we use the underscore method instead of the camelCase method for multi-
word column names? - ✔✔This practice avoids ambiguity when working with platforms
that are not case sensitive, and helps comply with some aspects of the SQL standard
✔✔underscore method is called - ✔✔snake case
✔✔SQL keywords are - ✔✔case sensitive and written in all caps
✔✔Table and column names are can be either - ✔✔case sensitive or case insensitive -
implementation dependant
✔✔SELECT is used for - ✔✔data retrieval
✔✔FROM indicates - ✔✔the table from which to retrieve the data
✔✔WHERE is used to - ✔✔describe column features that are desired in the retrieved
data.
✔✔not providing WHERE will cause - ✔✔all rows to be returned
✔✔literal strings in SQL use - ✔✔'single quotes'
✔✔Empty tables are constructed using the - ✔✔CREATE TABLE statement
CREATE TABLE S (SNO CHAR(5),
SNAME CHAR(20),
STATUS DECIMAL(3),
CITY CHAR(15),
PRIMARY KEY (SNO) )
ANSWERS MARKED A+
✔✔a relation is - ✔✔a set of tuples
✔✔what paper does the field of relational database technology have its origins in? -
✔✔1970, E.F. Codd at IBM Research Labs in San Jose, California: "A Relational Model
of Data for Large Shared Data Banks"*
✔✔SEQUEL (1974-75) - ✔✔first prototype and original name of SQL at IBM called
SEQUEL-XRM
✔✔SEQUAL stands for - ✔✔"Structured English Query Language"
✔✔SEQUEL/Z. - ✔✔A revised version of SEQUEL-XRM that was defined in 1976-77
✔✔why was the name changed to SQL? - ✔✔legal reasons
✔✔System R - ✔✔a successful prototype of SQL
✔✔ANSI standard for SQL was created in - ✔✔1986
✔✔ANSI became the ISO standard in - ✔✔1987
✔✔The original standard is also known as - ✔✔SQL/86
✔✔what was SQL/89 an improvement on - ✔✔included an Integrity Enhancement
Feature
✔✔what was SQL/92 an improvement on - ✔✔ISO and ANSI developed a revised
standard also known as SQL2
✔✔what was SQL/99 an improvement on - ✔✔"SQL3" incorporates object-oriented
access
✔✔SQL Access Group - ✔✔A consortium of vendors working to enhance
interoperability across different systems
✔✔SQL is used to - ✔✔define, manipulate, and control data in relational databases.
✔✔relational database - ✔✔a database that is seen as a collection of tables by the user
✔✔table - ✔✔an unordered collection of unique rows
, ✔✔SQL statements can be invoked either - ✔✔interactively or from within an
application.
✔✔Interactive SQL function - ✔✔displays the results on the screen.
✔✔Invocation from a program means - ✔✔the results are made available as input to the
program
✔✔Tables - ✔✔can be thought of as files, with rows representing records and the
columns as fields.
✔✔The SQL standard always uses the terms - ✔✔row, table, and column
✔✔primary key of a table - ✔✔a column that uniquely identifies each row (record) in the
table
✔✔why do we use the underscore method instead of the camelCase method for multi-
word column names? - ✔✔This practice avoids ambiguity when working with platforms
that are not case sensitive, and helps comply with some aspects of the SQL standard
✔✔underscore method is called - ✔✔snake case
✔✔SQL keywords are - ✔✔case sensitive and written in all caps
✔✔Table and column names are can be either - ✔✔case sensitive or case insensitive -
implementation dependant
✔✔SELECT is used for - ✔✔data retrieval
✔✔FROM indicates - ✔✔the table from which to retrieve the data
✔✔WHERE is used to - ✔✔describe column features that are desired in the retrieved
data.
✔✔not providing WHERE will cause - ✔✔all rows to be returned
✔✔literal strings in SQL use - ✔✔'single quotes'
✔✔Empty tables are constructed using the - ✔✔CREATE TABLE statement
CREATE TABLE S (SNO CHAR(5),
SNAME CHAR(20),
STATUS DECIMAL(3),
CITY CHAR(15),
PRIMARY KEY (SNO) )
