SDD

Question 1

What 3 basic control structures can all programming languages be reduced to?

Answer 1

Sequence, selection and iteration

Question 2

What are the different types of programming languages?

Answer 2

Procedural, Declarative, Object-oriented, domain specific

Question 3

What must happen before high level languages are executed?

Answer 3

Translated into machine code

Question 4

What will modern programming languages include?

Answer 4

A text editor and debugging tools

Question 5

Floating point representation uses what?

Answer 5

A mantissa and exponent, the mantissa determines the accuracy of the number and the exponent determines the range of numbers which can be stored

Question 6

What is Unicode?

Answer 6

Unicode is a 16bit code for storing characters

Question 7

Compare ASCII and UNICODE?

Answer 7

Unicode uses more storage than ascii but allows a wider range of characters to be displayed

Question 8

How are sound files stored?

Answer 8

Sound files are stored digitally by sampling the analogue sound wave?

Question 9

Data types can be divided into two sorts called what?

Answer 9

Simple and structured

Question 10

What are the simple data types?

Answer 10

Integer, Real, Character, Boolean

Question 11

What are the structured data types?

Answer 11

Array, string, record

Question 12

Arrays, strings and records use what to identify there contents?

Answer 12

Indexes which start at 0

Question 13

What kind of process is software development ?

Answer 13

Software development is an iterative process

Question 14

Explain RAD?

Answer 14

Rapid application development is an attempt to streamline the waterfall model by using prototyping and involving the client at more development stages

Question 15

Explain Agile Development?

Answer 15

Agile development is small teams of developers work to complete the finished product. it is designed to be flexible to change in requirements.

Question 16

Why are graphical design notations used in the design stage of the software development process?

Answer 16

To help the developers break the problem down into manageable sub problems

Question 17

Explain structure diagrams?

Answer 17

Structure diagrams are a graphical representation of the top down design where blocks in the diagram correspond to modules in the program

Question 18

What are data flow diagrams used for?

Answer 18

Data flow diagrams are used to represent how data is passed between modules?

Question 19

Psedocode is what?

Answer 19

Psedocode is an informal description of the logic of each module which can then be used to write source code

Question 20

Where are wireframes used?

Answer 20

Program and website design

Question 21

Describe input validation?

Answer 21

Input validation is used to ensure that software is robust by repeatedly asking the user for input data and rejecting invalid data

Question 22

What is a computational construct?

Answer 22

A computional construct is a combination of control structures which can be used to make solving programming problems more intuitive

Question 23

What is meant by the scope of a variable?

Answer 23

The scope of a variable describes where it can be accessed from

Question 24

Explain global and local variables?

Answer 24

Global variables have a scope throughout a program, local variables can only be accessed within their own sub procedure

Question 25

What is a method in an object oriented language?

Answer 25

A method is a function that is defined inside a class

Question 26

explain passing by value and by reference?

Answer 26

Parameters which are passed into a procedure but not changed are passed by value. parameters which are passed into a procedure and can be changed are passed by reference.

Question 27

What is the job of a test plan?

Answer 27

A test plan is a set of test data which should systematically and comprehensively test the software to ensure it meets original specification.

Question 28

what is a syntax error?

Answer 28

A syntax error is where the grammatical rules of the language have been broken

Question 29

What is a logic error?

Answer 29

A logic error is one where the code is grammatically correct but does not result as expected.

Question 30

What is an execution error?

Answer 30

An execution error is one which cause the program to crash when run

Question 31

What is a dry run?

Answer 31

A dry run is a manual walk through of the program

Question 32

What is a breakpoint?

Answer 32

A breakpoint is a set point in a program where it will stop execution so that the values of variables can be examined

Question 33

What is a watchpoint?

Answer 33

A watchpoint is when a program is set to halt when a variable has reached a certain value

Question 34

Describe the CPU?

Answer 34

The CPU consists of several different parts the Arithemtic and logic unit, the control unit and registers?

Question 35

What is the ALU?

Answer 35

The Arithmetic and logic unit performs calculations and makes logical decisions

Question 36

What is the control unit?

Answer 36

The control unit loads, decodes, and executes instructions

Question 37

What are registers?

Answer 37

Registers are small temporary memory locations used by the processor

Question 38

What are buses?

Answer 38

Buses are groups of lines which connect the CPU to main memory

Question 39

The total number of memory locations which can be addressed by the processor is determined by what?

Answer 39

The number of lines in the address bus

Question 40

The number of lines in the data bus determines what?

Answer 40

The word size of the processor

Question 41

What is an emulator?

Answer 41

An emulator is software which imitates the behaviour of another computer system

Question 42

What is a virtual machine?

Answer 42

A virtual machine is a type of emulator that recreates a complete substitute of a full computer system