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A-Levels > A-Level Computer Science > Flashcards

A-Level Computer Science Flashcards

1
Q

What is the SDLC?

A

A project management model that allows the project to be on time and in budget

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2
Q

What does SDLC stand for?

A

System Development Life Cycle

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3
Q

What does the SDLC do?

A

Defines the stages involved in bringing a project from start to end

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4
Q

How many stages are on the SDLC?

A

7

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5
Q

How is each stage planned and carried out?

A

They are planned and carried out in a time frame, depending on the size of a problem

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6
Q

What happens if the software/hardware is out of date?

A

If the software/hardware is out of date, the system analyst may create an entire new system

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7
Q

What are the 7 stages of the SDLC?

A
  1. Feasibility Study
  2. Analysis
  3. Design
  4. Create
  5. Test
  6. Changeover
  7. Maintenence
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8
Q

What happens in the Feasibility Study stage of the SDLC?

A

Understand the problem the client has given you

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9
Q

What happens at the Analysis stage of the SDLC?

A

Analyse the problem given to you, breaking it down

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10
Q

What happens at the Design stage of the SDLC?

A

Produce designs for the problem

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11
Q

What happens at the Create stage of the SDLC?

A

Programming the design

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12
Q

What happens at the Test stage of the SDLC?

A

Make sure the code is bug free

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13
Q

What happens at the Changeover stage of the SDLC?

A

The code is installed into the new system

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14
Q

What happens at the Maintenence stage of the SDLC?

A

Maintaining the code making sure there are no errors

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15
Q

What are methodologies/system approaches?

A

Methods to ensure the project is on time and in budget

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16
Q

What are the 2 main methodologies?

A

Agile, Waterfall

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17
Q

What are some similarities and differences between the 2 methodologies?

A

Both follow the same 7 stages of the SDLC, however they have different approaches

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18
Q

What are some features of the Waterfall methodologies?

A

Fixed time and budget- no flexibility
Problems can be difficult and timely
Previous stage MUST be completed before going to next
Large amounts of documentation
Rigid
Needs to be clear on its responsibility
Suited for small projects

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19
Q

What are some features of the Agile methodologies?

A

Adaptable, focuses on customer’s needs
Several variations of Agile (Kanban, Scrum, Extreme Programming/XP)
Allows for feedback
Flexible
Suited for indecisive client
Can go between stages- does NOT have to be in order
Looping back may take time
Rapid method
Lack of emphasis on necessary designing and feedback

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20
Q

What are some features of the Feasibility Study?

A

Takes months
Has to decide if current hardware is good to use or should start from scratch
Has to decide what type of project it is

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21
Q

What is the acronym for the aspects Feasibility Study?

A

S- Schedule Feasibility
T- Technical Feasibility
O-Operational Feasibility
L-Legal Feasibility
E-Economic Feasibility

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22
Q

What would be considered under Schedule Feasibility?

A

Can it be done in a reasonable time?

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23
Q

What should be considered under Technical Feasibility?

A

Use current hardware or start from scratch?

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24
Q

What should be considered under Operational Feasibility?

A

Will there be extra work? Is anyone going to need to be trained?

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25
Q

What should be considered under Legal Feasibility?

A

Will there be any legal issues?

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26
Q

What should be considered under Economic Feasibility?

A

How much will it cost? Is it worth spending the money?

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27
Q

What is the Analysis stage of the SDLC?

A

Finding out exactly what needs to be done to solve the problem using various fact finding methods

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28
Q

What are the 4 main fact finding methods?

A

Observation
Questionnaire
Document Collecting
Interview

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29
Q

What is Observation?

A

The process of gaining data by observing events and behaviour in a systematic manner

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30
Q

Who is observed during an Observation study?

A

The End Users

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31
Q

What are some advantages and disadvantages of Observation?

A

Advantages: Accurate, used on End Users
Disadvantages: Time consuming, behaviour may change

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32
Q

What is Questionnaire?

A

Creating valid and reliable questions that relate to the assessment objectives

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33
Q

What are some advantages and disadvantages of Questionnaire?

A

Advantages: Cheap, accurate (used on End Users)
Disadvantages: May lack responses, may be time consuming

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34
Q

What is Document Collecting?

A

Collecting a set of documents that specify what the client needs

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35
Q

What are some advantages and disadvantages of Document Collecting?

A

Advantages: Easily shared with others working on the project, low cost
Disadvantages: May contain errors, might be time consuming to go through

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36
Q

What is Interview?

A

A one-on-one with the client to specify what they need

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37
Q

What are some advantages and disadvantages of Interviews?

A

Advantages: Personalised, allows the client to be specific
Disadvantages: Time consuming, expensive

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38
Q

What is Abstraction?

A

Breaks down a large problem into several smaller problems that are easier to tackle and work with

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39
Q

What is Decomposition?

A

Removes all specific details and only keeps the facts needed. Creates a general idea of what the problem is and how to solve it

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40
Q

How might a System Analyst represent data?

A

A Data Flow Diagram (DFD)

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41
Q

What does a D(ata) F(low) D(iagram) show?

A

The input and output of data, what processes were carried out and what data was sorted

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42
Q

What does this symbol represent?:

—————->

A

Flow of Data

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43
Q

What does this symbol represent?:

|
———————–

A

Storage

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44
Q

What does the phone symbol represent?

|

A

Process

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45
Q

What does this represent?:

----------    |           |    ---------- |           |  ----------
A

External Entities

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46
Q

What are the 2 programming languages?

A

Low level languages, High level languages

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47
Q

What is a Low level language?

A

Low level languages have certain code words instead of long Binary numbers. Converted into machine code

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48
Q

What is Machine Code?

A

The language the Computer understands

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49
Q

What is a High level language?

A

Coded in a way so humans can understand it. Close to the human language. Also converts into machine code

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50
Q

Which converts faster, and why?: Low level languages, High level languages

A

Low level languages convert faster than high level languages because Low level languages converts into High level languages

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51
Q

What is a Procedural Language?

A

Structured in sequence and order. It is an example of a Programming paradigm.

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52
Q

What are some features of Procedural Languages

A

Uses step-by-step instructions
Uses functions and procedures
Obeys instructions
Carries out actions/calculations
Programmer defines precisely each step when performing a task
Very versatile (covers a lot of the basic programming needs)
Many programmers learn to code with Procedural Languages

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53
Q

What is a Programming Paradigm?

A

A fundamental approach and structure of a programming language. Can be thought of as different categories of High level languages

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54
Q

What is the Programming Stage?

A

The Programmer replicates the design so you can have it on a computer

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55
Q

What’s the 5th stage of the SDLC?

A

Testing Stage

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56
Q

What is the Testing Stage?

A

The System Analyst ensures the system is useable and has no bugs before the program is installed

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57
Q

Why is the Testing Stage important?

A

To make sure the program is bug free

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58
Q

Why is a program being bug free important?

A

If there are many bugs, the system can keep crashing

Can be harmful to company, may lose customers

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59
Q

What are the 3 types of testing?

A

Alpha, Beta, User Acceptance

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60
Q

What is Alpha testing?

A

Still at development stage and is tested IN HOUSE

Changes may still be made to the system

Large companies use seperate software testing engineers

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61
Q

What is Beta testing?

A

Software is very close to completion

Given to users who have a general interest in the product

Used in ways software engineers don’t consider

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62
Q

What is User Acceptance testing?

A

When users buy the final product/staff use the new system

Tested in the ‘Real World’

Can still be updated to fix bugs or fix any weakpoints in the system

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63
Q

What is Continuity of Service?

A

Service offered by businesses has to be constantly offered. Can’t have the service drop

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64
Q

What are the 4 types of changeover?

A

Direct changeover

Pilot changeover

Phased changeover

Parallel changeover

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65
Q

What is Direct changeover?

A

Turn off the old system, turn on the new system

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66
Q

What are some advantages of Direct changeover?

A

New system is available immediately

Easiest method of changeover

Cheapest method of changeover

Doesn’t need multiple sets of data

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67
Q

What are some disadvantages of Direct changeover?

A

Riskiest method (if new system fails there is no other system to fall back on)

All data has to be moved to new system for old one to shut off

Period of downtime is created

Upheaval for staff who haven’t used the new system

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68
Q

What does ‘upheaval’ mean?

A

Making you use something you aren’t familiar with

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69
Q

What is Pilot changeover?

A

Some branches try the new system while the other branches keep the old system

70
Q

What are some advantages of Pilot changeover?

A

Only a small part of the system is affected

Problems in the new system can be identified without affecting the whole company

Staff from the pilot branches can train other staff who haven’t used the new system

71
Q

What are some disadvantages of Pilot changeover?

A

Chosen branches experience same disadvantages as other branches for a ‘direct changeover’

Staff on new system might find it hard to share data with staff on old system

Extra work for IT, have to manage 2 systems

72
Q

What is Phased changeover?

A

The new system gets integrated with the old system, and the old system is slowly replaced by the new system

73
Q

What are some advantages of Phased changeover?

A

Less risks of the system going wrong

Only effects one specific part

Staff are introduced to system in small stages

74
Q

What are some disadvantages of Phased changeover?

A

Can take a long period of time

Users asking for changes holds up next phase of installation

Difficult to integrate old and new system

75
Q

What is Parallel changeover?

A

Old and new system run at the same time

Once the new system is okay, it can be changed

If new system fails, old one is there

76
Q

What are some advantages of Parallel changeover?

A

Less risk than over methods- if the old system fails, the old one is still available

Less stress for staff, still have security of old system

Staff can take their time learning the new system

77
Q

What are some disadvantages of Parallel changeover?

A

Time consuming- data has to be entered on 2 systems

One system becomes out of sync with the other

Maintaining multiple sets of data can lead to errors

Extra cost of running and maintaining 2 systems

78
Q

What is Documentation?

A

Documents that are produced throughout the stages of the SDLC

Includes design documents, diagrams, requirement specifications and reports

79
Q

Who are the documents in the interest of?

A

All documents are of interest to the development team

80
Q

When and why are documents important?

A

Important in the development cycle

Important for customers and end users

81
Q

What is a user guide?

A

Guides the user on how to use the system

Used as training

82
Q

What are some features of a user guide?

A

Instillation guide

Glossary

Material must be suited for novices

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that help with common problems (trouble shooting)

Reference manual

83
Q

What is a Technical guide?

A

Designed to help IT literate users maintain and potentially improve the system

84
Q

What are some features of a Technical guide?

A

Algorithmic designs (pseudocode, flowcharts)

Annotated code listings (that abide by coding standards set by the company)

Variable lists

Data dictionary

Configuration guide and options

85
Q

What is maintenance?

A

Monitoring the system to make sure there are no bugs

86
Q

What are some features of maintenance?

A

Rarely free

Expensive

Needs monitoring

Have to pay someone with experience

87
Q

What are the 3 types of maintenance?

A

Corrective maintenance

Adaptive maintenance

Perfective maintenance

88
Q

What is Corrective maintenance?

A

Finding bugs in the system

89
Q

What is Adaptive maintenance?

A

Making changes to the system due to external influence

90
Q

What is perfective maintenance?

A

Minor improvements to systems that have been around for a while

91
Q

What is the name for planning for data loss?

A

Disaster Planning

92
Q

How can data be destroyed?

A

Fire
Theft
Disk failure
Hacking

93
Q

What is a backup?

A

Keeping a copy of software and data so they can be recovered should there be a loss

94
Q

Why is regular backup crucial for organisations?

A

The data they have is more valuable than anything else

95
Q

What are periodic backups?

A

Backing up data on a regular basis, can differ from person to person/business to business

96
Q

Name the 3 main backup methods

A

SSD
The Cloud
USB

97
Q

What are SSD’s?

A

A storage medium that uses interconnected flash memories to store data without power

98
Q

What are some advantages of SSD’s?

A

Fast read-write time
Energy efficient
Compact

99
Q

What are some disadvantages of SSD’s?

A

Expensive
Less available
Read-write cycle concerns

100
Q

What is The Cloud?

A

Storage medium that can be accessed by anyone with Wi-Fi

101
Q

What are some advantages of The Cloud?

A

High speed
Reliable
Mobile

102
Q

What are some disadvantages of The Cloud?

A

Security threats
Downtime
Lower Bandwidth

103
Q

What is a USB?

A

Small storage medium that can be carried with you

104
Q

What are some advantages of a USB?

A

Portable
Cheap
Secure

105
Q

What are some disadvantages of a USB?

A

Risk of malware
Not durable
Used to steal information

106
Q

What should every company have, in terms of backups?

A

Every company should have a Backup Policy

107
Q

What is a backup?

A

The process of copying files from main storage to a seperate area

108
Q

Why should the backup files always be tested?

A

So the backup data is ready for use should it be needed for use

109
Q

Why are backups important?

A

If a file gets deleted, the backup file can be collected for use

110
Q

What should the backup policy consider?

A

Where will the backup be stored?

What will the backup be stored on?

How often will the backup occur?

How long will the backup be kept?

111
Q

What should be considered when planning a backup procedure?

A

Content and type (What will be backed up?)

Timing (When will the best time for a backup be?)

Frequency (How often will a backup occur?)

Backup media (Which media should be used for the backup?)

Location (Where will the backup be kept?)

Responsibility (Whose responsibility will it be to ensure the backups are kept?)

112
Q

What is a full back up?

A

Copying all the files on the system to a seperate area

113
Q

What type of business would use a full backup?

A

Small businesses that don’t have a lot of data

114
Q

What are some advantages of full backups?

A

Ultimate protection

System can be restored at any time

Most efficient system (If files haven’t changed, the same files will be getting copied)

115
Q

What are some disadvantages of full backups?

A

As business grows, the time to back up all the data will grow

If the backups get stolen, the thief has access to all the company’s data

116
Q

What is a differential backup?

A

Only backing up the files that have been changed since the last full backup

117
Q

How does a differential backup compare to a full backup?

A

Faster than full backups

Data getting backed up grows until next full backup

More flexible, but unwieldly to do more than once a day

118
Q

What is incremental backup?

A

Only backing up data that has been changed since the last incremental backup

119
Q

What is recovery?

A

Taking the backup and copying the data to wherever the data is needed

120
Q

What is an algorithm?

A

A list of instructions carried out in order

121
Q

What is syntax?

A

The laws of the language that allow everything to run

122
Q

What is a Syntax Error?

A

Breaking the laws of the language

123
Q

What are some contemporary methods of HCI?

A

Voice inputs
Touch screen
Force feedback
Virtual reality
Augmented reality

124
Q

How is interaction between humans and computers evolving?

A

Moving away from interfaces like keyboards and mice, to more tactile and intuitive methods

125
Q

What is voice input?

A

Using the human voice to control computing systems

126
Q

What is an advantage of voice input?

A

Useful for those who can’t physically type

127
Q

What is touch screen?

A

Allows for gestures- such as swipes- to interact with computing systems

128
Q

What is force/haptic feedback?

A

Physical sense that tells you an action has occurred through vibrations

129
Q

What is virtual reality?

A

User is transported to a different world using technology

130
Q

What is one effect of virtual reality?

A

Takes over the user’s senses

131
Q

What is augmented reality?

A

Lays digital information over the real world

132
Q

What is needed to use AR (augmented reality)?

A

Special lense/phone camera

133
Q

What does HCI stand for?

A

Human Computer Interface

134
Q

What is Design Validation?

A

A check done after the new system has been designed to ensure the design meets original specifications set during the analysis stage

135
Q

Why is Design Validation important?

A

It makes sure there are no errors within the design, and makes sure any errors that are found within the design are rectified

136
Q

What are some aspects that are checked within Design Validation?

A

Checks the design has met the objectives

Checks the design corresponds with the specification set during the analysis stage

Checks the most appropriate techniques have been used

Checks the user interface is appropriate for the audience

137
Q

What is Design Evaluation?

A

When the development company and the client evaluate if the project has been successful

138
Q

How does design evaluation effect the developers?

A

If the design evaluation is unsuccessful for them, then they might not get paid

139
Q

What are the 5 key factors that are checked during design evaluation?

A

Requirements- has the project met the clear expectations set by the client?

Performance- is the performance optimal?

Robustness- is the server likely to crash/have bugs?

Cost- has the project ended in budget? (Little bit of tolerance offered)

Usability- how user friendly is the server?

140
Q

What makes up the processor?

A

Registers, the CU and the ALU

141
Q

What are the 2 tasks of components in a computer system?

A

Adding

Storing

142
Q

What are the functions of the processors?

A

The fetch, decode, execute cycle

143
Q

What is a register?

A

A temporary data store that holds the current instruction to be executed having been fetched from memory

144
Q

What is the ALU?

A

The process and manipulation of data. Normally consists of arithmetic operations or logical comparisons that allows a program to make a decision

145
Q

What is the CU?

A

Fetches each instruction in sequence, decodes it and then synchronises it before executing it. Sends control signals to other parts of the computer

146
Q

What is the Von Neumann Bottleneck?

A

Limitation between the CPU and RAM is lower than the speed the CPU can process data

147
Q

What is the Von Neumann Architecture?

A

When the data and the software are stored in RAM. The task being carried out by the computer can be changed by loading a different piece of memory

148
Q

What has been developed against the Von Neumann Bottleneck?

A

Cache memory- temporary data store that is very close to CPU

Multithreading- allows multiple threads to be processed by the CPU simultaneously

Parallel processing- using multiple processors to handle different tasks at the same time

149
Q

When is the Bottleneck created?

A

When the instructions are fetched at the same time as data operation on the same memory and bus system

150
Q
A
151
Q

What is the first step in the Fetch-Decode-Execute cycle?

A

The PC displays the next address in RAM of the next instruction to be processed

This value is copied into the MAR

152
Q

What is the second step in the Fetch-Decode-Execute cycle?

A

The PC Register increases by 1

This prepares the CPU for the next instruction to be fetched

153
Q

What is the third step in the Fetch-Decode-Execute cycle?

A

The CPU checks the address in RAM which matches the address held in the MAR

154
Q

What is the fourth step in the Fetch-Decode-Execute cycle?

A

The instruction in RAM is transferred to the MDR

155
Q

What is the fifth step in the Fetch-Decode-Execute cycle?

A

The instruction in the MDR is copied into the CIR

156
Q

What is the sixth step in the Fetch-Decode-Execute cycle?

A

The instruction in the CIR is decoded and executed

Any result of the execution is stored in the ACC

157
Q

What is Disk Fragmentation?

A

Files are split up and stored on different parts of the disc

158
Q

What are some of the effects of Disk Fragmentation?

A

Increases disk head movement which disk access speed

159
Q

What is Serial Computing?

A

Problem broken down into a series of instructions

Instructions are executed sequentially

Executed on a single core (one at a time)

160
Q

What is parallel computing?

A

Problem broken down into a series of instructions that can be solved concurrently (at the same time)

Each part is broken down further into a series of instructions

Instruction are executed simultaneously on different processors

161
Q

What are some limits of Parallel Processing?

A

Latency, Bandwidth

162
Q

What is latency?

A

The amount of time it takes for data to travel from a device to the server, and back again

163
Q

What is latency measured in?

A

Milliseconds (ms)

164
Q

What is Bandwidth?

A

The capacity at which a network can transmit data

165
Q

What is Clock Speed?

A

a measure of how many clock cycles a CPU can perform

166
Q

What is Clock Speed measured in?

A

Gigahertz (GHz)

167
Q

What is the Data Bus?

A

Any data from any component travels down the data bus

For example, data from RAM travels down the data bus to a register

168
Q

What is the Address Bus?

A

Picks up the address (location) of data stored in RAM

Once an address is located, the data will travel down the data bus to the register

169
Q

What is the Control Bus?

A

Sends and receives signals from all parts from all parts of the computer which makes sure all processes take place at the right time in the right order

170
Q

What is an input device?

A

A device that gives instructions to the computer

171
Q
A

A-Levels (2 decks)

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