Explain ACID and isolation levels

Q: Explain ACID and isolation levels

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Question

Explain what a database transaction is, define the ACID properties (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability), and describe common transaction isolation levels: Read Uncommitted, Read Committed, Repeatable Read, and Serializable.

For each isolation level, discuss:

Which anomalies it prevents or allows (e.g., dirty reads, non-repeatable reads, phantom reads).
A concrete example scenario illustrating those anomalies.
When you might choose that level in a real-world application (e.g., financial system vs. analytics system).

Also explain how isolation relates to performance and concurrency in a database system.

Explain ACID and isolation levels

Solution

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