Question

Which of the following is a correctly formatted SELECT statement to show the following result set with the media type's name and the track's name?

a) SELECT media_type.name, track.name FROM media_type JOIN track ON media_type.media_type_id = track.media_type_id;
b) SELECT track.name, media_type.name FROM track JOIN media_type ON media_type.media_type_id = track.media_type_id;
c) SELECT name FROM media_type, track;
d) SELECT name FROM media_type JOIN track USING (media_type_id);

Answer 1

The correct SELECT statement to show the media type's name and the track's name is either option a) or b), depending on the desired order of columns; the other options are incorrect or less reliable without specific assumptions about the database schema.

Step-by-step explanation:

The correct SELECT statement to show the media type's name and the track's name, assuming that the database follows a typical structure where the media_type and track tables are joined on a media_type_id, would be option a) or b) since they both specify the correct syntax and join condition for combining the two tables. Both of these queries would be able to produce a result set that includes the media type's name and the track's name. However, the only difference between them is the order in which they display the names, i.e., the media type's name first or the track's name first.

Option c) lacks the necessary join condition and would result in a Cartesian product, which is not the intended result. Option d) incorrectly uses the USING clause; to use this correctly, we need to assume that both tables have a column with the exact name media_type_id. The USING clause is an alternative way to specify join conditions when the joining fields have the same name in both tables, and it would not be appropriate here as we are not sure this is the case. By default, it is safer to use the ON clause for join conditions, as it is more explicit and versatile.