Elements of computational thinking

Question 1

what is the nature of abstraction ?

Answer 1

the nature of abstraction is hiding unnecessary details and showing details that are important in context

Question 2

what are the advantages of abstraction?

Answer 2

• makes UI’s easier to use
  -only useful data is used
  -underlying data storage and algorithms are hidden

Question 3

why is abstraction needed?

Answer 3

• abstraction is needed as it allows us to create a general idea of what the problem is and how to solve it . this process instructs us to remove all specific details and any patterns that will not solve our problem .
• to save memory

Question 4

why is thinking ahead important?

Answer 4

thinking ahead is important as it allows code efficiency
and minimise errors

Question 5

what is a precondition ? and why is it important ?

Answer 5

a precondition is a condition that must be fullfilled before other things can happen or be done .
for example , a budget

this is important as this allows the user to create a list of things they must look for in order to solve a problem

Question 6

what is caching? and what are its benefits and drawbacks?

Answer 6

caching is the process of storing copies of files in a temporary memory location.
benefits:
-improves speed and efficiency
drawback :
-the wrong data is often fetched
-complicated to implement
-maintaing the correct sequence of instruction or data can be problematic .

Question 7

what is a reusable program component ? and what are the benefits of using a reusable program ?

Answer 7

A reusable program component is a section of code that can be reused during the development of new programs
benefits:
- shortens development time
-saved system resources
- more time efficient
- lowers development cost

Question 8

what is external reuse ?

Answer 8

external reuse is selling a component to a third party
e.g API

Question 9

what is thinking procedurally ? and what is its adv?

Answer 9

thinking procedurally is identifying the individual parts of a bigger problem .- a a large complex task is broken down.

an advantage is that its easier to test and maintain

Question 10

what is a boolean expression?

Answer 10

this is a true or false statement

Question 11

what is a logical condition ?

Answer 11

this is when you boolean expressions to chose the most logical output

Question 12

what is concurrently ?

Answer 12

this is when an application is making progress on more than one task at the same time. (concurrently)

Question 13

what is parallelism ?

Answer 13

parallelism means that an application splits its tasks into smaller tasks which can be processed in Parrallel e.g over multiple cpu cores at the SAME TIME.

Question 14

what is backtracking ?

Answer 14

backtracking is the process of building towards a solution , abandoning partial success when the solution cant be completed .

e.g going back to find other routes to solve the problem .

Question 15

what is data mining? and when is it used

Answer 15

is the concept of analysing vast amount of data gathered from a variety of sources to discover new information .

this tends to by used by firms to maximise profits

Question 16

what is performance modelling ?

Answer 16

performance modelling is the process of approximating how well models perform using mathematics

Question 17

what is the rule of thumb?

Answer 17

the rule of thumb is a broadly accurate guess based on theory

Question 18

what is visualisation ?

Answer 18

visualisation allows us to create a mental image of what a program will do or how it will work

Question 19

what is divide and conquer and its use?

Answer 19

divide and conquer is a technique that reduces the size of a problem with each iteration .

e,g binary search method .

Question 20

what is the difference between abstraction and reality ?

Answer 20

the difference between abstraction and reality is that reality has unecessary details , that might not link to context ; whereas abstraction is a simplification of reality

Question 21

what is a heuristic ?

Answer 21

a heuristic approach tries find an answer which is close to the optimum solution without need computing

Question 22

what is concurrent processing ?

Answer 22

• concurrent processing is simeltaneous execution of many instruction using multiple processors

Question 23

what is the difference between pipeling and concurrent processing ?

Answer 23

the difference between them is that pipeling processes multiple instructions at different stages , whereas concurrent processing does them at once , on muultiple cpu’s

Question 24

describe Two key features of Data mining ?

Answer 24

• data mining takes up lots of data ( high volume)
• the data collected varies ( variety)

Question 25

what is problem recognition ?

Answer 25

the ability to recognise and acknowledge a problem

Question 26

define:
enumeration
simulation
theoretical approach
creative solution

Answer 26

enumeration - this is the process of listing all possible cases
simulation - this is the process of designing a models in order to understand the behaviour of the system
theoretical approach -this is the most theoretical approach

Question 27

what are the benefits and trade offs of concurrent processing ?

Answer 27

Benefits :
-reactive programming
-avaliablity of servies
-controlability

Trade offs:
- safety
-liveness
-resource consumption

Question 28

what are the benefits of using Abstraction before coding ?

Answer 28

-Reduced development time
-Program more likely to solve the problem
-Reduces complexity of programming code