CDS Automation & Scripting 5

Question 1

A data steward needs to automate data masking for a test environment cloned from production. Which approach best balances realism and privacy?

Accepted Answer

Use format-preserving encryption or synthetic data generation

Answer

Copy production data as-is into test

Answer

Replace all values with NULL

Answer

Truncate all tables in the test environment

Question 2

Which Python construct is most efficient for processing large files line-by-line in an automation script without loading the entire file into memory?

Accepted Answer

for line in file: (generator/iterator)

Answer

file.read()

Answer

file.readlines()

Answer

pd.read_csv() with low_memory=False

Question 3

A data steward's script must handle a third-party API that intermittently returns 503 errors. Which pattern should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

Implement exponential backoff with a maximum retry limit

Answer

Fail immediately on first 503

Answer

Retry indefinitely until success

Answer

Log the error and skip the record permanently

Question 4

In the context of data stewardship automation, what is a 'pipeline orchestrator' such as Apache Airflow primarily used for?

Accepted Answer

Scheduling, sequencing, and monitoring dependent data workflow tasks

Answer

Visualizing data in dashboards

Answer

Compressing large data files

Answer

Managing database user permissions

Question 5

A data steward is writing a script to validate referential integrity between two tables. Which SQL approach is most direct?

Accepted Answer

LEFT JOIN with a WHERE clause filtering for unmatched foreign keys

Answer

COUNT(*) on each table separately

Answer

Full table scan with Python dictionary lookup

Answer

Compare table names in the schema

Question 6

When automating data retention policy enforcement, what must the script do before permanently deleting any records?

Accepted Answer

Verify the record meets the retention threshold and log the deletion action for audit

Answer

Delete immediately to free space quickly

Answer

Notify every end user who touched the record

Answer

Archive to a third-party cloud before any internal validation

Question 7

A data steward wants to ensure that a newly deployed automation script does not break existing data pipelines. Which practice should be followed?

Accepted Answer

Test in a staging environment that mirrors production, then deploy with rollback capability

Answer

Deploy directly to production and monitor for issues

Answer

Run the new script in parallel with the old one indefinitely

Answer

Disable existing pipelines before testing the new script