6/23/2015

AdvancedSQLInterviewQuestionsandAnswers
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AdvancedSQLInterviewQuestionsandAnswers

Java

HerearesomecomplexSQLinterviewproblemsthatareforpeoplewhoarelookingfor
moreadvancedandchallengingquestions,alongwiththeanswersandcomplete

C/C++
Databases/SQL
SQLInterviewQuestions

explanations.Trytofigureouttheanswertothequestionsyourselfbeforereadingthe
answers.
Supposewehave2tablescalledOrdersandSalespersonshownbelow:
Salesperson

Innervs.Outerjoins

Orders

SQLKeyDefinition

ID Name Age Salary

Number order_date cust_id salesperson_id Amount

DifferencesbetweenPrimaryand
ForeignKeys

Abe

61

140000

10

8/2/96

540

Bob

34

44000

20

1/30/99

1800

SecondaryKey

Chris

34

40000

30

7/14/95

460

SimplekeyinSQL

Dan

41

52000

40

1/29/98

2400

SuperkeyExample

Ken

57

115000

50

2/3/98

600

WhatisReferentialIntegrity

11 Joe

38

38000

60

3/2/98

720

70

5/6/98

150

NaturalKeyInDatabase

Havingvs.Whereclause
Howdodatabaseindexeswork?
Whatisaselfjoin?

NowsupposethatwewanttowriteSQLthatmustconformtotheSQLstandard.

ExampleofDISTINCTinSQL
Retrieveuniquerowswithout
DISTINCT

Wewanttoretrievethenamesofallsalespeoplethathavemorethan1order
fromthetablesabove.YoucanassumethateachsalespersononlyhasoneID.

PracticeInterviewQuestion1
PracticeInterviewQuestion1
continued
PracticeInterviewQuestion1
continued
PracticeInterviewQuestion2
AdvancedSQLInterviewQuestions
andAnswers
AdvancedSQLInterviewQuestions
andAnswersPart2

Ifthatisthecase,thenwhat(ifanything)iswrongwiththefollowingSQL?:

SELECTName
FROMOrders,Salesperson
WHEREOrders.salesperson_id=Salesperson.ID
GROUPBYsalesperson_id
HAVINGCOUNT(salesperson_id)>1

PracticeInterviewQuestion2
continued

TheanswerandexplanationtoadvancedSQLquestion1

DataMiningvs.DataWarehousing

ThereisdefinitelysomethingwrongwiththeSQLabove,anditisprobablysomethingthat
mostbeginnerSQLprogrammersmaynotnotice.TheproblemisthattheSQLStandard
saysthatwecannotselectacolumnthatisnotpartofthegroupbyclauseunlessitis
alsocontainedwithinanaggregatefunction.IfwetrytoruntheSQLaboveinSQL
Server,wewouldgetanerrorthatlookslikethis:

Ternary/ThreevaluedLogicinSQL
FindMaximumValueWithoutUsing
Aggregate
SQLInjectionExampleandTutorial
SQLInjectionPrevention
BlindSQLInjectionExample
ParameterizedQueriesvsPrepared
Statements
PreparedStatementExample
Differencebetweenafulljoinandan
innerjoin?
Differencebetweenaleftouterjoin
andrightouterjoin?

Column'Name'isinvalidintheselectlistbecauseitis
notcontainedineitheranaggregatefunctionor
theGROUPBYclause.

Youmightbeconfusednow,soletsexplainwhatthaterrormeansinplainEnglishand
throughsomesimpleexamples.Themostimportantthingyoushouldtakeoutofthis
discussionisunderstandingexactlywhywegetthaterror,andhowtoavoidit.There
isagoodreasonfortheerrorreadontounderstandwhy.

Differencebetweenaleftjoinanda
leftouterjoin?

YoucanseeinthebadSQLabovethattheNamecolumnisclearlynotalsoapartofthe
groupbystatement,norisitcontainedwithinanaggregatefunction(likeSUM,MAX,etc).

SQL:HavingvsGroupBy

Astheerrorabovesuggests,wecanfixtheerrorbyeitherwrappingtheNamecolumn
insideanaggregatefunctionoraddingittotheGroupByclause.

SQL:GroupBywithmultiplecolumns
SQLSelectDistinctandOrderBy
SQLOrderBydefaultsortorder

SoifwewanttowriteSQLthatcomplieswiththestandard,thenwecouldwrite
somethinglikethisbyaddingtheNamecolumntotheGroupBy:

Derivedtablevssubquery

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6/23/2015

AdvancedSQLInterviewQuestionsandAnswers

CorrelatedvsUncorrelatedSubquery
FindnthhighestsalarySQL
CardinalityinSQL
SelectivityinSQLDatabases
CardinalityversusSelectivity

SELECTName
FROMOrders,Salesperson
WHEREOrders.salesperson_id=Salesperson.ID
GROUPBYsalesperson_id,Name
weaddedthenamecolumntothegroupby,andnowitworks!
HAVINGCOUNT(salesperson_id)>1

Clusteredvs.NonClusteredIndex
Pageversusblock

TheSQLabovewillrunjustfinewithoutgivinganyerror.

DatabaseLocking
LockEscalation

WecouldalsofixtheproblembyputtingtheNamecolumninanyaggregatefunction,and
thensimplymakethatapartofourselectstatement.So,wecouldjustwritethisSQL

DatabaseDeadlockExample

instead,anditwouldbeperfectlylegalaccordingtotheSQLstandard.Wechosetouse

Whatisadatabasetransaction?

theMAXaggregatefunction,butanyotheraggregatewouldworkjustfineaswell:

SQLServerTransaction
OracleTransaction
MySQLTransaction
DB2Transaction
ConcurrentUpdateProblem

SELECTMAX(Name)putnameinanaggregatefunction
FROMOrders,Salesperson
WHEREOrders.salesperson_id=Salesperson.ID
GROUPBYsalesperson_id
HAVINGCOUNT(salesperson_id)>1

HowtoTuneDatabasePerformance
DatabaseFullTableScan
Whatiscostbasedoptimization?
HowtotuneSQLqueries
SQLIndexPerformance

AddingtheNamecolumntothegroupby,orwrappingtheNamecolumninanaggregate
willcertainlyfixtheerrorbutitsveryimportanttonotethatbothofthosethingswill
changethedatathatisreturnedtoastatethatyoumaynotwant.

Whydoestheselectedcolumnhavetobeinthegroupby
clauseorpartofanaggregatefunction?

Whatisabitmapindex?
OracleIndexesExamples
Systemprivilegesvs.object
privileges
SQLGrant

So,nowyouunderstandhowtofixtheerrorbutdoyouunderstandwhyitisa
probleminthefirstplace?Well,youshouldbecausethatisthemostimportant
thingtounderstand!So,letsexplainsomemoreaboutwhySQLgivesthaterror
shownabove.

SQLRevoke

Firstoff,letstalkalittlebitmoreaboutaggregatefunctions.Youprobablyknowwhat
aggregatefunctionsinSQLareweusedoneintheexampleabove.Incaseyouforgot,

SQLCreateUser

aggregatefunctionsareusedtoperformamathematicalfunctiononthevaluesinsidea

DatabaseRoles

givencolumn,whichispassedintotheaggregatefunction.Herearesomeofthe
commonlyusedaggregatefunctions:

SQLCASEStatement
SQLSearchedCASEStatement
SQLInlineView
RANK()versusDENSE_RANK()
Javascript
PHP

AVG()Returnstheaveragevalue
COUNT()Returnsthenumberofrows
FIRST()Returnsthefirstvalue
LAST()Returnsthelastvalue
MAX()Returnsthelargestvalue
MIN()Returnsthesmallestvalue
SUM()Returnsthesum

DataStructures
DesignPatternQuestions
ExcelInterviewQuestions

ToillustratewhytheSQLstandardsaysthataselectedcolumnhastobeinthegroupby
clauseorpartofanaggregatefunction,letsuseanotherexample.Supposewehave
sometablescalledStarbucks_StoresandStarbucks_Employees.Incaseyoudontalready
know,Starbucksisapopularcoffeeshop/cafeintheUSA:

HTML5
Networking
OperatingSystems
Recursion

Starbucks_Employees

Starbucks_Stores

ID Name Age HourlyRate StoreID

store_id city

Abe

61

14

10

10

SanFrancisco

Bob

34

10

30

20

LosAngeles

Chris

34

40

30

SanFrancisco

ApacheInterviewQuestions

Dan

41

11

50

40

LosAngeles

General/Miscellaneous

Ken

57

11

60

50

SanFrancisco

11 Joe

38

13

70

60

NewYork

70

SanFrancisco

NonTechnicalQuestions
InterviewinginIndia

Now,giventhetablesaboveletssaythatwewritesomeSQLlikethis:
WorkingAsaSoftwareEngineer
FinancialAnalystQuestions

SELECTcount(*)asnum_employees,HourlyRate
FROMStarbucks_EmployeesJOINStarbucks_Stores

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AdvancedSQLInterviewQuestionsandAnswers

JobAdviceForProgrammers

ONStarbucks_Employees.StoreID=Starbucks_Stores.store_id
GROUPBYcity

Puzzles
AssortmentofKnowledge
AmericanVocabulary
TechnicalVocabulary
ScienceQuestions

ItlooksliketheSQLabovewouldjustreturnthenumberofStarbucksemployeesineach
city,alongwiththeHourlyRatebecauseitwillgrouptheemployeesbasedonwhatever
citytheyworkin(thankstothegroupbycitystatement).
Subscribetoournewsletterformorefreeinterviewquestions.

Theproblemwithselectinganonaggregatecolumnthatisnot
inthegroupby
ButtherealquestionhereiswhatexactlywouldbereturnedfortheHourlyRateinthe
SQLabove?Woulditreturneveryemployeeshourlyrateseparatedbycommas?Sincewe
groupbycity,willitreturnthehighesthourlyrateforeachcity?Willitreturnthehourly
rateasadistinctlist,sothose2guysmaking11dollarsanhourwillhavethe11returned
onlyonce?

Email

Theproblemhereisthatwedonotknowwhatwillbereturnedbecausewearenot
Country

UnitedStates

specificenoughwithwhatweareaskingforintheSQL!Ifwhatweareaskingfor
isnotspecificenough,thentheSQLprocessorwillnotknowwhattoreturn.
ThisiswhyalmostalldatabaseimplementationsreturnanerrorwhentheSQLaboveis
run(withthenotableexceptionofMySQL)andthisiswhytheSQLdoesnotconformto
theStandard.InSQLServerrunningtheSQLabovewillreturnthesameerrorthatwe
showedearlier.
LetsexplainevenfurtherincasetheproblemwiththatSQLisnotcrystalclear.Theorder

ProgrammerInterview

ofoperationsinwhichthingswillhappenwiththeSQLaboveis:

Like 23,854

1.The2tablesarejoinedontheconditionthatthe
Starbucks_Employees.StoreIDcolumnvalueisequaltothe
Starbucks_Stores.store_idcolumnvalues.
2.Groupsarethencreatedforeachcitywhichmeansthat
eachdistinctcitywillhaveit'sown"group".So,therewill
beatotalof3groupsoneeachforSanFrancisco,NewYork,
andLosAngeles.
3.Thedataweareinterestedinisselectedfromeachgroup
thatiscreatedinstep2.

Becauseweendupwithdifferentgroupsbasedonthecity,whenweselectacount(*),
thatwillfindthetotalcountofrowsineachandeverygroup.But,theproblemisthat
whenweselectHourlyRate,therewillbemultiplevaluesfortheHourlyRatewithineach
group.Forexample,forthegroupcreatedbythecityofSanFranciscotherewillbe4
differentvaluesfortheHourlyRate14,10,11,and13.
SothequestioniswhichvalueoftheHourlyRateshouldbeselectedfromeachgroup?
Well,itcouldbeanyoneofthosevalueswhichiswhythatSQLresultsinanerror.
ThisisbecausewhatweareaskingforisNOTspecificenoughhopefullythisiscrystal
clearnowtoyou.
IfthesameHourlyRatewerepartofanaggregatefunctionlikeMAXthenitwouldsimply
returnthehighestHourlyRatewithineachgroup.Andthatiswhyhavinganaggregate
functionwouldfixtheSQLerrorbecauseonlyonevaluewillbeselectedfromanygiven
group.
So,thisSQLisperfectlyfinebecausewearemorespecificinwhatweaskforbutthis
SQLwouldonlyworkforyouifyouactuallywantthehighestHourlyRateforeachcity:

SELECTcount(*)asnum_employees,MAX(HourlyRate)
FROMStarbucks_EmployeesJOINStarbucks_Stores
ONStarbucks_Employees.StoreID=Starbucks_Stores.store_id
GROUPBYcity

Fixtheerrorbyaddingcolumntothegroupclause
AnotherwaytofixtheerroristosimplyaddtheHourlyRatecolumntothegroupby
clause.ThisalsomeansthathavingtheHourlyRatecolumnwrappedinaggregatefunction
isnolongernecessary.SoyoucouldwritesomeSQLlikethisanditwouldfixtheerror:

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AdvancedSQLInterviewQuestionsandAnswers
SELECTcount(*)asnum_employees,HourlyRate
FROMStarbucks_EmployeesJOINStarbucks_Stores
ONStarbucks_Employees.StoreID=Starbucks_Stores.store_id
GROUPBYcity,HourlyRate

Thiswouldthencreategroupsbasedontheuniquecombinationofthevaluesinthe
HourlyRateandCitycolumns.Thismeansthattherewillbeadifferentgroupforeach
HourlyRateandCitycombinationso$11,SanFranciscoand$11,LosAngeleswillbe2
differentgroups.Ifyouneedtoreadupmoreonthistopicthenyoucangohere:Group
ByWithMultipleColumns
WiththeSQLabove,eachgroupwillonlyhaveonevaluefortheHourlyRate,whichalso
meansthattherewillbenoambiguityorconfusionwhenselectingtheHourlyRatesince
thereisonlypossiblevaluetoselect.Itisnowveryclearthatoneandonlyone
HourlyRatevaluecanbereturnedforeachgroup.

Addingthecolumntothegroupbyclausefixestheerrorbut
willalterthedatathatisreturned
But,oneveryimportantthingtonoteisthateventhoughaddingthecolumntothe
groupbywillfixtheerror,itwillalsochangethegroupsthatarecreated.Thismeansthat
thedatareturnedwillbecompletelydifferentfromwhatwasreturnedbefore.So,the
count(*)functionwillnolongerreturnthecountofemployeesinagivencity,andwill
insteadreturnthenumberofrowsineachgroupcreatedbytheuniquecombinationof
theHourlyRateandcitycolumns.

MySQLselectingnonaggregatecolumnsnotinthegroupby
OneveryimportantthingthatyoushouldknowisthatMySQLactuallyallowsyouto
havenonaggregatedcolumnsintheselectlisteveniftheyarenotapartofthegroupby
clause(aquicksidenote:anonaggregatedcolumnissimplyacolumnthatisnot
wrappedwithinanaggregatefunction).Whatthismeansisthatyouwillnotreceivean
errorifyoutrytorunanyofthebadSQLaboveinMySQL.Thereasonitisallowedin
MySQLisbecauseMySQLassumesthatyouknowwhatyouaredoinganditdoes
actuallymakesenseinsomescenarios.Forinstance,letsreferbacktotheSQLthatwe
startedwith:

SELECTName
FROMOrders,Salesperson
WHEREOrders.salesperson_id=Salesperson.ID
GROUPBYsalesperson_id
HAVINGCOUNT(salesperson_id)>1

ThereasontheoriginalSQLcode(presentedabove)worksjustfineinMySQLisbecause
thereisa1to1mappingofsalespersonnametoIDmeaningthatforeveryunique
salespersonIDthereisonlyonepossiblename.Anotherwayofsayingthatisthateach
salespersoncanonlyhaveonename.Sowhenwecreategroups(whichisdoneinthe
GROUPBYsalesperson_id)basedonthesalespersonID,eachgroupwillonlyhaveone
andonlyonename.
ThisSQLwillalsorunjustfineinMySQLwithoutreturninganerror:

SELECTcount(*)asnum_employees,HourlyRate
FROMStarbucks_EmployeesJOINStarbucks_Stores
ONStarbucks_Employees.StoreID=Starbucks_Stores.store_id
GROUPBYcity

But,eventhoughthecodeabovewillnotreturnanerror,theHourlyRatethatisreturned
byMySQLwillbesomearbitrary(random)valuewithineachgroup.Thisisbecausewhen
wecreateeachgroupbasedonthecity,eachgroupcanhavedifferentvaluesforthe
HourlyRate.
Inotherwords,thereisnoonetoonemappingbetweentheHourlyRateandthecitylike
wehadbeforewiththesalespersonIDandthename.So,becausewearenotbeing
specificastowhichHourlyRatewewant,MySQLwillreturnanarbitraryvalue.For
instance,inthegroupcreatedbythecityofSanFrancisco,MySQLcouldreturnthe
HourlyRateforanyemployeewhoworksinSanFranciscowhetheritis14,10,11,or
13wedontreallyknowsinceitisarbitrary/randominMySQL.
Thatconcludespart1ofourmoredifficultandcomplexSQLquestions.Clickonnextto

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