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A Levels Computing 9691 Revision Notes
A Levels Computing 9691 Revision Notes
Hardware Partofthemachinery/physicalofa(computer)system
Software Partoftheinstructions/program/codetomakethehardwarework
Utilitysoftware Systemsoftware Designedtoperformacommonplacetask E.g. o Backup Tomakeasecondcopyoffiles Incasetheoriginaliscorrupted o Filehandling/filetransfer/sorting Tocontrolaccesstofilesonstorage/movementoffiles Usedtoindexfilesandkeeparecordofwheretheyare Usedtosortandorderfiles JimTang Page1of17
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ComputingRevision2506 Usedtosearchforfiles Usedtorenamefiles Copyingoffiles Toallowamendment Errorchecking Toensuredatatransmissionisnotcorrupted Viruschecker Tocontinuallyscanfor(andremove)viruses Formatting/configuring/defragmenting Toorganisestoragespace Peripheraldrivers Tocontrolperipheraldevices Compressionsoftware Toreducethesizeoffiles Recoverysoftware/diskchecker/diskscan Torecoveroffixeitherlostofcorruptfiles Spooler Toqueuefiles
o o o o o o o
Applicationssoftware (Aprogramto)allowthesystemtoproduceusefulwork/performusefultasks whichwouldhavetobedoneinsomeotherwayifnotonacomputer. E.g. o Wordprocessor o toproduceletters/documents o Spreadsheet o toproduceaccounts o Database o tostorerecordsofcustomers o DTP(DeskTopPublishing) o toproduceinhousemagazine
Genericapplicationssoftware Theapplicationssoftwarethatcanbeusedinarangeofcircumstances
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ComputingRevision2506 Eachterminalis(relatively)dumb Def.Manyusersusingthesinglecomputer(simultaneously) Timesliceforeachuser Computerswitchesbetweenusers/jobs Roundrobinsystemvisitingeachterminalinturn Terminalspolled Useflagstosignifywhethertheyneedtheirtimesliceorotherwise Triggersthatnextterminalismovedto Ifslicenotcompletedmovestonextterminal
Multitaskoperatingsystem CPU ALU(ArithmeticLogicUnit) o Carriesoutallarithmeticcalculations o Comparisonsbasedonlogicoperations o Inputandoutputtoandfromtheprocessor/communicationwiththeoutside world ControlUnit o Managestheexecutionofinstructions o Sendsclockpulses o Timestheprocessor Memoryunit/IAS o Data/instructionsareheld(allowingaccessbytheprocessor) Registers o Locationsusedforspecificpurposes PCisabletorunmorethanonetask Apparentlysimultaneously
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ComputingRevision2506 E.g.Denary:124toBCD:000100100100
Characterset Definition:Theindividualcharactersthatacomputercandistinguish Usage: o Eachcharacterisassignedaunique o Binarycode o Thenumberofbitsnecessarytocodeeachcharacterisabyte/2bytes o Commonly,ASCIIcodeareused o Assigning7bits/8bitstoeachcharacter o EBCDIC/extendedASCII/using16bitspercharacterarealternatives Relationshipwithabyte o Thenumberofcharactersinthecharactersetmustbe o Lessthanorequaltothenumberofuniquecodesavailableinonebye
Archive Online Onlineiswhentheuserhasdirectcommunication/interactwiththe processor/computer JimTang Page5of17 Copytoanothermedia forlongtermstorage Deletefromsystemtofreeupharddrivespace Neededforfuturerequestsforreference
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Batchsystem Theprocessingoflargequantities Similartypesofdata Datainputiscollectedtogether Processedasasingleoperation/ataparticulartime(whenprocessorisfree) Date/jobsrequiresimilarprocessing Resultsarenottimedependent Nohumanintervention/Batchisofflinetouser E.g. o AtanATM Requestsforfullstatements
Sourcecode Theprogramsisproducedbytheprogrammer
Objectcode Programcodeaftertranslation/executablecode/intermediatecode/machinecode
Bottomupprogramming
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ComputingRevision2506 Modules Differentpeoplecanworkonit/willbecompletesooner/useindividualskills Testingcanbedonemorethoroughly/individually.(Modulesseparatelytested) Debuggingcanbecarriedoutmoreeasily/smallersectionsofcodetobesearchedfor errors. Libraryroutinescanbeused/smallroutinesmayberepeatedwhereaswholeprograms areunlikely. Fewererrors/programmerwillmakefewererrorsonasmallprogram Easiertomaintain/easiertounderstand(program/algorithm/problem) Programsmallmodulesthencombiningthemtoproducealargerstructure
Toolsforidentifyingprogrammingerrors Translatordiagnostics o Producedbytranslator o Givingindicationoftypeoferror o Positionoferror Tracetable o Givingvaluesofvariables o Throughouttherunofcode Variabledumps o Givingvaluesofall(specified)variables o Ataspecificpointinthecode Steppingthroughtheprogram o Onelineatatimeto JimTang Page7of17
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Whiteboxtesting Teststheroutesthroughaprogram/Testingofthealgorithm(logic)ofthesolution
Alphatesting Isperformedbytheprogrammer/inhouse
Betatesting Isperformedbymembersofthepublic/users
20072008
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Boolean Yesorno/Trueorfalse/2statevariable
Comparisonbetweennetworkingandstandalonecomputers AdvantageofNetworking o Sharehardware o Sharesoftware o Sharefiles o Communicateusingemail o Automaticbackup o Useanymachinetoaccessrecords DisadvantageofNetworking o Fileslesssecure o Moredifficulttomanage/needtechnician/relianceonserver o Spreadofviruses
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ComputingRevision2506 Hardwired
Serialtransmissionofdata Dataissentonebitatatime/alongasingleline
SimplexMode Datacanbetransmittedinonlyonedirection
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ComputingRevision2506 Allcomputers/terminalslinkedtocentralbus Limitednumberofperipheralsshown Terminatorsonendsofbus Advantage o Simplicityofwiring o Computerscanbeaddedsimply Disadvantage o Susceptibletodamagetocableorasinglemachine. o Restrictedsize
Protocol Asetofrules Tocontroltransmissionofdata Partsofprotocol o Baudrate Toensurethatbothdevicesareworkingatthesamespeed o Errorchecking Toensurethatdataistransferredcorrectly(bothechoingbackand parityareacceptable) o Transmissiontype Toensuredeviceknowswhethertosendorlisten o Packetsize Toenablereceivertoknowwhenpacketiscomplete o Format(orcoding)ofdata e.g.ASCIIorEBCDIC o Controlsignals Toinformrecipientofdatatype/startingandending
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ComputingRevision2506 Layeringaprotocol Therulesarearrangedfromafoundationlevelup Usingconnections Whichwillallowalterationtotheprotocolbysimplysubstitutingalternatelayers Modules Inpredefinedorder Eachdoesaspecifictask Advantages o Toallowtestingofindividuallayers o Toallowdifferentsystemstohavedifferentimplementationofthelayers o Toallowchangingofonelayerwithoutalteralllayers
HHL(HighLevelLanguage) Sourcecode Asmallinstructionset Whichareclosetospokenlanguageinmeaning Whichcombineinordertoproduceaprogram Problemoriented Onetomanywithlowlevel Advantage o Easierforthehumantounderstand o Easiertospoterrorswhentheprogramdoesnotwork o TendtogetfewererrorsInthecode Differencesbetweenexecutableform o HLLprogramisshorter o HLLiswrittenincharacters/executableinbinary JimTang Page12of17
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Function (Aprocedurewhich)returnsasinglevalue(foreachcall)
RepeatLoop Controlisatendofloop/theloopmustberepeatedatleastonce
WhileLoop Controlisatstartofloop/theloopmaynotbeexecutedatall
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GUIGraphicalUserInterface Graphical Useoficonstorepresentavailablefiles/applications WIMP o Windows o Icon o Menu o Pointer Advantage o Nocommandsnecessary/learned o Promptsuserbyofferingalternatives o Naturaltousebecauseofpointandclicknature o Picturesusedtoillustrateoperation
Formbaseduserinterface Features o Definedareasofinput/textboxes o Listofpossiblealternativeresponses/(dropdown)lists/menus o (Radio)buttons o Checkboxes/tickboxes o Cursorshowspositionofnextinput o Instructionscanbeoutputonscreen/Labels/Captions o Tabs/Subforms Whyisused? o Clearinstructionstopromptuser o Questionscanbeprintedforusertoaskcustomer o Questionaskedinorder/Inputsareinorder/Standardformat o Fixedoptionsofdropdownmenuscanmakevalidationeasier/fewererrorson input o Ensureoninputsareforgotten o Optionscanchangeaccordingtopreviousinputs
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Menubasedinterface Menutopoint/choose Menulistsrestrictedoptions Restrictsuser Usesfunctionkeysorpointer Furtherchoices Intreefashion Reasontouse o Requiresnospecialistknowledge/userfriendlyinterface o Canmakeallowancesforpooruserpresentationusingcomputer o Requiresnospecialhardware
Sequentialfileaccess Describe o Recordsstoredoneaftertheother o Inorderofkey Reasonsforusing o Naturallystoredinlogicalorder o Allowsforbatchprocessingofstatements/matchedeasilywithsortedTF o Sothattherearenoduplicationsmissedcustomers/everycustomerneedsto beaccessed Disadvantage o Whenlargenumberofrecordsinfile o Makeaccesstoanindividualrecordtootimeconsuming o Forthesatisfactionofthecustomer/whoexpectsanimmediateresponse
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MICR OCR OMR Standardformofdataentry JimTang Page16of17 Shapeofcharacterisscannedin optically andthencomparedwithabankofshapesstoredinmemory sensibleusee.g.turnarounddocuments/produceeditabledocuments Dataprintedusingaspecialink whichismagnetisedbeforethecharactersareread Inputdevicecanrecognisecharactersbytheirmagnetic(signature) Asensibleusee.g.dataonbankcheques
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Keyfield Fieldthatuniquely/identifiesarecord
Sizeofdata Surname string Dateofbirth date Number Integer,real Yes/No Boolean NB: o dividedby1024 o add10% 1030 6/8 2/4 1
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