Paul DuBois wrote:
At 7:51 -0700 6/10/03, Jeremy Zawodny wrote:
"Is this syntax valid in MySQL?"
[some query]
What's the point of such a question? Anyone with access to MySQL can
find out by simply running the query.
You don't have access to MySQL during the test. You have to know
whether or not the syntax is correct.
I think the point is that this isn't representative of how effectively
we can use MySQL. Yes, the test can measure whether or not we know
syntax details, but in a real-life situation that's not a very critical
piece of knowlege to have.
They did ask at least one "what does this query DO" question. I think
those are much better for a certification exam.
Exactly.
Procedural questions, and questions that probe the depth of
understanding, are harder to write for such an exam... but much more
useful in evaluating how well an individual will perform on the job.
Examples might include:
1) How do you set up replication?
2) How are replication conflicts resolved?
3) How do you recover from a disk failure?
4) To what extent can you recover from data changes introduced by a
rogue program?
5) What is the impact of the CHECK constraint?
6) You create a HEAP table. The server is brought down, and then up
again. You issue a SELECT against the HEAP. What happens?
7) A database table has become corrupt after a power outage. What
should you do?
8) Which of the following queries will not benefit from indexes?
9) Which of the following queries corresponds to the following query
with a NOT EXISTS subquery?
10) Match the following filenames to their corresponding table structures.
And so on. Heck, the commonly asked questions on this list would make a
pretty good test!
Bruce Feist
(retired database instructor / courseware designer)
--
MySQL General Mailing List
For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql
To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
