Midterm #1

The material on the test was covered in class, and you will also have seen it in

• IDEF1X via ER Studio
• Homeworks 1 and 2
• Labs 1-4

Sample Test: from Fall 2005 (sample answers)

Another simplistic study guide, showing various relationship possibilities usind IDEF1X notation. (Try here if the diagrams don't show up.)

The test will be primarily about data modeling - also you should know basic relational database terminology.

BRING A PENCIL

The questions may be of various forms

• Multiple choice
• True or False
• Short answers
• One or two design problems, for which you give an ER diagram (using ER Studio style)
• We may provide 1 or 2 designs and ask you questions about them.

Be sure to thoroughly understand:

• superkeys, candidate keys, primary keys, foreign keys, composite keys
• entities, attributes, and the relationships between entities.
• how to model the different relationships.
• difference between identifying and non-identifying relationships
• weak vs strong entities (OK, same as above)
• optional vs mandatory relationships
• IDEF1X modeling
• the relational model (using tables)