What does 'updating a database' usually mean in day-to-day operations?

Difficulty: Easy

Correct Answer: Modifying existing records or adding new record occurrences (routine DML)

Explanation:


Introduction / Context:
Terminology matters in data operations. ‘‘Updating a database’’ in everyday practice usually refers to changing the stored data values—adding new rows and editing or deleting existing rows—not reorganizing files or altering the schema.



Given Data / Assumptions:

  • Operations are routine, periodic, and content-focused.
  • No physical storage reorganization is implied.
  • No schema redesign is requested.


Concept / Approach:
Data Manipulation Language (DML) covers INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE. These change record occurrences and values. By contrast, physical reorganization is a performance/maintenance task, and schema revision is a DDL change. Therefore, ‘‘updating’’ maps to modifying or adding record occurrences.



Step-by-Step Solution:

Distinguish DML (content) from DDL (structure) and admin tasks (reorg).Identify day-to-day ‘‘update’’ work as data edits and inserts.Choose the option that explicitly states modifying or adding records.


Verification / Alternative check:
Job logs and audit trails label content changes as updates, inserts, and deletes; structural changes are tracked separately as migrations.



Why Other Options Are Wrong:

  • Reorganization: storage-level task, not an ‘‘update’’ in the everyday sense.
  • Schema revision: structural, not content change.
  • All of the above: incorrect because only the DML-focused definition matches routine updating.


Common Pitfalls:
Using ‘‘update’’ ambiguously; always separate content edits from structural or physical maintenance activities.



Final Answer:
Modifying existing records or adding new record occurrences (routine DML)

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