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Errors and Complications in SQL Query Formulation

Published: 09 August 2018 Publication History

Abstract

SQL is taught in almost all university level database courses, yet SQL has received relatively little attention in educational research. In this study, we present a database management system independent categorization of SQL query errors that students make in an introductory database course. We base the categorization on previous literature, present a class of logical errors that has not been studied in detail, and review and complement these findings by analyzing over 33,000 SQL queries submitted by students. Our analysis verifies error findings presented in previous literature and reveals new types of errors, namely logical errors recurring in similar manners among different students. We present a listing of fundamental SQL query concepts we have identified and based our exercises on, a categorization of different errors and complications, and an operational model for designing SQL exercises.

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  • (2024)Curriculum Analysis for Data Systems EducationProceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 210.1145/3649405.3659529(761-762)Online publication date: 8-Jul-2024
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Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Computing Education
ACM Transactions on Computing Education  Volume 18, Issue 3
September 2018
120 pages
EISSN:1946-6226
DOI:10.1145/3266362
Issue’s Table of Contents
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 09 August 2018
Accepted: 01 December 2017
Revised: 01 October 2017
Received: 01 September 2016
Published in TOCE Volume 18, Issue 3

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Author Tags

  1. Human factors
  2. SQL
  3. errors
  4. exercise design
  5. languages
  6. query languages
  7. standardization

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Cited By

View all
  • (2024)A Feasibility Study on Automated SQL Exercise Generation with ChatGPT-3.5Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Data Systems Education: Bridging education practice with education research10.1145/3663649.3664368(13-19)Online publication date: 9-Jun-2024
  • (2024)False Positives and Deceptive Errors in SQL Assessment: A Large-Scale Analysis of Online Judge SystemsACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/365467724:3(1-23)Online publication date: 28-Mar-2024
  • (2024)Curriculum Analysis for Data Systems EducationProceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 210.1145/3649405.3659529(761-762)Online publication date: 8-Jul-2024
  • (2024)Building Blocks Towards More Effective SQL Error MessagesProceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3649217.3653552(241-247)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2024
  • (2024)DeSQL: Interactive Debugging of SQL in Data-Intensive Scalable ComputingProceedings of the ACM on Software Engineering10.1145/36437611:FSE(767-788)Online publication date: 12-Jul-2024
  • (2023)“There is no ambiguity on what to return”: Investigating the Prevalence of SQL MisconceptionsProceedings of the 23rd Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research10.1145/3631802.3631821(1-12)Online publication date: 13-Nov-2023
  • (2023)Framework for SQL Error Message Design: A Data-Driven ApproachACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology10.1145/360718033:1(1-50)Online publication date: 23-Nov-2023
  • (2023)Mining SQL Problem Solving Patterns using Advanced Sequence Processing AlgorithmsProceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Data Systems Education: Bridging education practice with education research10.1145/3596673.3596973(37-43)Online publication date: 23-Jun-2023
  • (2023)Learning from Errors: An Empirical Study on the Impact of Gamification on SQL Query FormulationProceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3587102.3588821(341-347)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2023
  • (2023)Engaging Databases for Data Systems EducationProceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3587102.3588804(334-340)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2023
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