What is the difference between an aggregate and an analytic function?

I'm lookin
g for them knowing that a sum aggregate (or any other aggregate function) will r
eturn one row for a group and a sum analytic will return one result for each row
in the group. If they mention the "Window", they get a bonus point. ;-)

How do you create a hierarchical query? Connect by.

How would you generate XML from a query? The answer here is "A lot of different
ways". They should know that there are SQL functions: XMLELEMENT, XMLFOREST, etc
and PL/SQL functions: DBMS_XMLGEN, DBMS_XMLQUERY, etc.

What do you need before implementing a member function? You need to create a typ
e.

How do you tune a query? I'm looking for a discussion of autotrace and/or explai
n plan. Ask them what they're looking for in a plan. This should not be a single
sentence. Look for a comfort level.
What is the default value of a boolean? NULL. This is somewhat tricky but appare
ntly there are languages that default boolean to false. A PL/SQL developer needs
to know all variables default to NULL.

Why is using implicit conversions a poor programming practice? For dates, you mu
st ASSUME that the default date format will always be the same (and it won't be)
. In some cases, implicit conversion is slower. I want to feel like they don't b
elieve writing to_char or to_number is more work than it's worth. BTW, this also
applies to SQL.

How can you tell if an UPDATE updated no rows? SQL%NOTFOUND.

How can you tell if a SELECT returned no rows. NO_DATA_FOUND exception.

How do you run Native Dynamic SQL? Execute immediate.

What is an autonomous transaction? Identified by pragma autonomous. A child tran

saction separate from the parent that MUST be committed or rolled back.
How can you find within a PL/SQL block, if a cursor is open?
Expected answer: Use the %ISOPEN cursor status variable.
What are the types of triggers?
Expected Answer: There are 12 types of triggers in PL/SQL that consist of
combinations of the BEFORE, AFTER, ROW, TABLE, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE and
ALL key words:
BEFORE ALL ROW INSERT
AFTER ALL ROW INSERT
BEFORE INSERT
AFTER INSERT etc.
Describe the use of %ROWTYPE and %TYPE in PL/SQL
Level: Low
Expected answer: %ROWTYPE allows you to associate a variable with an entire tabl
e row.
The %TYPE associates a variable with a single column type.
What is a mutating table error and how can you get around it?
Level: Intermediate
Expected answer: This happens with triggers. It occurs because the trigger is tr
ying to update a row it is currently using. The usual fix involves either use of
views or temporary tables so the database is selecting from one while updating
the other.