Computing (9691) and (2506)RevisionNotes

Hardware Partofthemachinery/physicalofa(computer)system

Software Partoftheinstructions/program/codetomakethehardwarework

Systemssoftware (Asetofprograms)tocontrolthehardware/operatingsystem allowingcommunicationwiththesystem provideaplatformtoruntheapplicationssoftware allowcommunicationbetweenthesoftwareandthehardware

Translator Theprocessorcannotobeyhighlevellanguageinstructions Sosomethingmustchangetheseinstructionsinto Alanguagebasedaroundthecomputersinstructionset

Operatingsystemsoftware Allowsthehardwaretowork interfacebetweenhardwareandsoftware communicationbetweenthehardware providesenvironmentforapplicationsoftwaretorun userinterface sharingofresources securityandprivacyoffile

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

Integratedapplicationspackage Anumberofpiecesofsoftware Thatallowtheusertodosomethinguseful/usefulthings Thatcancommunicatewitheachother/exchangedata

Multiuseroperatingsystem 20072008 JimTang Page2of17

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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

Memory Storageof(anypartof)OSand Applicationsprogramsand Userfiles

Harddrive Tostoresoftware/OS/application Tostoreuserfiles Dataisnotlostwhenthepoweristurnedoff

DVDDigitalVersatileDisc 20072008 JimTang Page3of17

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ComputingRevision2506 Importationofsoftware Playingmusic Backingupfilesonharddrive CopyingotherDVDs Storeslargepermanentfiles,e.g.encyclopaedia Creatingarchive Transportdata

ROMReadOnlyMemory Cannotbealtered Nonvolatile ContentsofROMnotlostwhenthepowerisswitchedoff Storebootstrap

RAMRandomAccessMemory RAMneedstoberefreshed Store(user)files/software/OS/data(thatareinuse) RAMisvolatile

CDROM Portable Storedoptically Storeusersoftware,etc

Octalnumbersystem Anumbersysteminbase8 Relationshipwithbinaryform o Octalisbinarydigitsingroupsof3 o Fromtheright/addleadingnoughtsattheleft

Hexadecimal Anumbersysteminbase16 Relationshipwithbinaryform o First4bitsfromrightgivetheunitsdigitwhenturnedintodecimal o Nextforgivesixteensdigit o Andsoonforlengthofnumber

BCDBinarycodeddecimal Uses4bitstorepresentonedecimalnumber JimTang Page4of17

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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

ASCII Astandardsetofcharacters(availabletocomputerengineers/softwaredesigners) Thesetofcharactersthatacomputercanrecognize CharactersonaQWERTYkeyboard Storedasasetof8/7bits Allowing128characterstoberepresented/256characters

Backup Regularly Toremovablestoragedevice Morethanonecopy Storedindifferentplaces Copiesmustbedistinguishableastoversion Useoftransactionlog/realisationthatbackwillnotrecoverlatestversionoffiles

Archive Online Onlineiswhentheuserhasdirectcommunication/interactwiththe processor/computer JimTang Page5of17 Copytoanothermedia forlongtermstorage Deletefromsystemtofreeupharddrivespace Neededforfuturerequestsforreference

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ComputingRevision2506 Offline whenthereisnodirectcommunicationlink(Internet) whencomputerdevicesarenotunderthedirectcontrolofthecomputer

Batchsystem Theprocessingoflargequantities Similartypesofdata Datainputiscollectedtogether Processedasasingleoperation/ataparticulartime(whenprocessorisfree) Date/jobsrequiresimilarprocessing Resultsarenottimedependent Nohumanintervention/Batchisofflinetouser E.g. o AtanATM Requestsforfullstatements

Realtimesystem Inputisprocessedfastenough(quickly/immediately) Toinfluencethenextinput Onlinetoprocessor E.g. o AtanATM CheckingofPIN/Accountstatus/cardlegitimacy

Sourcecode Theprogramsisproducedbytheprogrammer

Objectcode Programcodeaftertranslation/executablecode/intermediatecode/machinecode

Topdownapproach Dividingtheprobleminto Smallerandsmallerparts Untiltheindividualproblemsareeasilysolved byasingleprocess whichcanbelinkedtosolvetheproblem

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

Arithmeticerror Inappropriate/impossibleuseofarithmetic e.g.divisionbyzero

Syntaxerror Errorinthegrammar/languageofaprogram E.g.Plint

Logicerror Errorindesignoftheprogram/errorinlogicalflow/failuretofollowalgorithm E.g.jumptowrongpartoftheprogram/wrongarithmeticstatement

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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ComputingRevision2506 o Findpositionoferror Crossreferencing o Toidentifywherevariablesareusedinthecode o Helpstoidentifyduplicationofvariablenames Useofbreakpoints o Tostoptheexecutionoftheprogramcode o Atsomesensiblepointtoallowcheckonvariables

Blackboxtesting Inputsareappliedtocheckthattheexpectedoutputresults Withoutknowingthemethodofsolution

Whiteboxtesting Teststheroutesthroughaprogram/Testingofthealgorithm(logic)ofthesolution

Alphatesting Isperformedbytheprogrammer/inhouse

Betatesting Isperformedbymembersofthepublic/users

Choosetestdata Boundaries DifferentInputformat Fractionalinput/result Negative,zeroinput Normaldata

Whyaprogrammightnotwork Likesmaybefaulty Orderofmoduleswrong Parameterspassedmaybeillogical Clashesofvariablenames Clashes/callingofmodulenames Variablesdeclaredinonemodulemaybedifferentdatatypeinanother Endlessrecursion

LIFO(Stack) Onepointer JimTang Page8of17

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ComputingRevision2506 Pointertoheadofstack Valuesaddedandremovedatsameend

FIFO(Queue) Twopointers Queuemovesthrougharray Valuesaddedandremovedatdifferentendsofstructure

Techniquesforclarifyingcode Clearannotationofcode/toexplainthelogic/e.g.procedures Modulariseprograms/smallblocksofprogramscanbestudiedindividually Meaningfulvariableandprocedurenames/immediatelyobviouswhatunknowns represent/unlikelytoclashovername Indentation/toshowlimitsofconstructstoshowwhichinstructionsfittogether

Character(char) Integer Wholenumber Anycharacteronthekeyboard/anASCIIcharacter

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

LANLocalAreaNetwork Overshortdistance JimTang Page9of17

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ComputingRevision2506 Hardwired

WANWideAreaNetwork Circuitswitching Lineofcommunicationestablished(fordurationofmessage) Advantage o Messagedoesnotneedtobereorderedatdestination Longdistance Needsotherformofcommunicationexcepthardwired Requiresmodem

Packetswitching Partsofmessagefollowownroutestodestination Advantage o Messagescannotbeintercepted o Efficientuseofnetwork

Serialtransmissionofdata Dataissentonebitatatime/alongasingleline

Paralleltransmissionofdata Onebyteissentatatime/alongthesamenumberofchannelsasbitsinabyte/multiple bitssentsimultaneously

SimplexMode Datacanbetransmittedinonlyonedirection

HalfDuplexMode Datacanbetransmittedinbothdirection Datacanonlybetransmittedinonedirectionatatime

DuplexMode Datacanbetransmittedinbothdirections Atthesametime

Busnetwork 20072008 JimTang Page10of17

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ComputingRevision2506 Allcomputers/terminalslinkedtocentralbus Limitednumberofperipheralsshown Terminatorsonendsofbus Advantage o Simplicityofwiring o Computerscanbeaddedsimply Disadvantage o Susceptibletodamagetocableorasinglemachine. o Restrictedsize

Ringnetwork Machinesconnected/communicationbetweenmachines Inacompleteloop LAN

Starnetwork Eachmachinehasadirectconnectionwithacentralpoint Hub/server Limitednumberofperipheralsshown Advantage o Ifonemachinefailsitdoesnotaffecttheremainder

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

Buffer Temporarystorage Betweentheprocessorandtheperipheraldevice Usedtoovercomespeedmismatch Sothatprocessorcangetonwithothertasks

Interrupt Messagefromslowerdevice(storage) Totheprocessor Designedtomakeprocessorputcurrenttasktooneside Anddealwithrequest Mentionofvectoredinterruptsorpriorityofinterrupts

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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ComputingRevision2506 o o Procedure Asubprogram,asetofcommandswhichispartofalargerprogramandcanbereused withouttheneedforrewriting MemorylocationsaregivennamesinHLL Canberuninexecutableform

Function (Aprocedurewhich)returnsasinglevalue(foreachcall)

Recursiveprocedure Aprocedurewhichcallsitself Fromwithintheprocedure

RepeatLoop Controlisatendofloop/theloopmustberepeatedatleastonce

WhileLoop Controlisatstartofloop/theloopmaynotbeexecutedatall

ForLoop Counterusedtocountnumberoftimesloopisvisited/valueofcounterknownbefore loopisaccessed

AParitychecks Thenumberofonesineachbyteofdata Mustbepredeterminedaseitheralwaysoddoralwayseven Anextra(parity)bitasaddedtoeachbyte(tomaintainoddoreven) Checkedaftertransmission Incorrectparityindicatesanerror

Checksums Allthebytesaretreatedasbinarynumberswhichareaddedup Carryoutofbyteignored Thetotal(checksum)istransmittedwiththedata Thedataisalsoaddedaftertransmission Thesumiscomparedwiththetransmittedvalue Differentvaluesindicateanerror

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ComputingRevision2506 UserInterface Providesameansofcommunicationbetweentheuserandthecomputer

HCIHumancomputerInterface Thehardwarethatallowstheuserandthecomputertocommunicate/interact Thesoftwarethatallowstheuserandthecomputertocommunicate

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

Commandlineinterface 20072008 JimTang Page14of17

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ComputingRevision2506 Requiresusertotypecommandwords Whichstandforinstructionstotheoperatingsystem Requiresusertoknow(restrictedseof)commands Allowsuserfulluseofsystem Requiresqwertykeyboard Includemanyinstructionsinoneline Rigidgrammar

Naturallanguage Allowsusertouseownlanguage Looksforoccurrenceofwordsinitsdictionary Manyerrors/noncontextbased conversational

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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ComputingRevision2506 Indexedsequentialfileaccess Reasonsforusing o Itallowsbothsequentialanddirectaccesstothedata o Ifallowsfastaccesstodatawhilemaintainingsequentialnature

Randomfileaccess(Hash) Reasonsforusing o Itgivesdirectaccesstodata/fasteraccesstodata o Immediateaccessisallowedwhilestatementsmaybeproducedserially Dealingwithclash o ReadaddressesseriallyfromhashedaddressUntilaspaceappears o Useabucketreadduplicatesseriallyinbucketuntilspaceisfound o Treatoriginalasheadofalinkedlistfollowlisttonullvalueandaddnewvalue toendoflist

Serialfileaccess Reasonsforusing o Nologicalordertoinputofrecords

Magneticstripes Usage o Onbankcards o Tostoredetailsofaccount o Readbycardreaderinordertoaccessdetails

MICR OCR OMR Standardformofdataentry JimTang Page16of17 Shapeofcharacterisscannedin optically andthencomparedwithabankofshapesstoredinmemory sensibleusee.g.turnarounddocuments/produceeditabledocuments Dataprintedusingaspecialink whichismagnetisedbeforethecharactersareread Inputdevicecanrecognisecharactersbytheirmagnetic(signature) Asensibleusee.g.dataonbankcheques

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ComputingRevision2506 Allowsbackgroundinformationtobeprintedoninitially Inputisinbinaryform/eitheramarkornomark Applicationrequireshighstandardofreliability/Removeshumanerror Highrateofdataentry(becauseoftimesensitivityofdata) E.g. o Multichoiceexampapers/registersinschools/lotteryticketordering

Record Acollectionofpiecesofinformationthatrefertoasingleentity/allrecordsmustcontain thesametypesofinformation/arowofinformationinatable

Field Afield/attributeisasingleitemofinformation/whichwillappearinallthe records/headedcolumninatable

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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