{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,12]],"date-time":"2026-01-12T12:37:39Z","timestamp":1768221459516,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,9]],"date-time":"2026-01-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1767916800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Information"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Today, relational databases are widely used in information systems. SQL (structured query language) is taught extensively in universities and professional schools across the globe as a programming language for its data management and accesses. Previously, we have studied a web-based programming learning assistant system (PLAS) to help novice students learn popular programming languages by themselves through solving various types of exercises. For SQL programming, we have implemented the grammar-concept understanding problem (GUP) and the comment insertion problem (CIP) for its initial studies. In this paper, we propose an SQL Query Description Problem (SDP) as a new exercise type for describing the SQL query to a specified request in a MySQL database system. To reduce teachers\u2019 preparation workloads, we integrate a generative AI-assisted SQL query generator to automatically generate a new SDP instance with a given dataset. An SDP instance consists of a table, a set of questions and corresponding queries. Answer correctness is determined by enhanced string matching against an answer module that includes multiple semantically equivalent canonical queries. For evaluation, we generated 11 SDP instances on basic topics using the generator, where we found that Gemini 3.0 Pro exhibited higher pedagogical consistency compared to ChatGPT-5.0, achieving perfect scores in Sensibleness, Topicality, and Readiness metrics. Then, we assigned the generated instances to 32 undergraduate students at the Indonesian Institute of Business and Technology (INSTIKI). The results showed an average correct answer rate of 95.2% and a mean SUS score of 78, which demonstrates strong initial student performance and system acceptance.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/info17010065","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,9]],"date-time":"2026-01-09T14:15:50Z","timestamp":1767968150000},"page":"65","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["An SQL Query Description Problem with AI Assistance for an SQL Programming Learning Assistant System"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-8030-7551","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ni Wayan","family":"Wardani","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama 700-8530, Japan"},{"name":"Faculty of Technology and Information, Indonesian Institute of Business and Technology, Denpasar 80225, Indonesia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nobuo","family":"Funabiki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama 700-8530, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Htoo Htoo Sandi","family":"Kyaw","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama 700-8530, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zihao","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama 700-8530, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4697-7322","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"I Nyoman Darma","family":"Kotama","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama 700-8530, Japan"},{"name":"Faculty of Technology and Information, Indonesian Institute of Business and Technology, Denpasar 80225, Indonesia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Putu","family":"Sugiartawan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama 700-8530, Japan"},{"name":"Faculty of Technology and Information, Indonesian Institute of Business and Technology, Denpasar 80225, Indonesia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"I Nyoman Agus Suarya","family":"Putra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Business and Creative Design, Indonesian Institute of Business and Technology, Denpasar 80225, Indonesia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"022076","DOI":"10.1088\/1742-6596\/1529\/2\/022076","article-title":"Investigation on Designing a Fun and Interactive Learning Approach for Database Programming Subject According to Students\u2019 Preferences","volume":"1529","author":"Rahmalan","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. 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