Edexcel GCSE (9-1) Computer Science

Edexcel GCSE (9-1) Computer Science

Series Editor: Ann Weidmann

Pearson’s resources are designed to be simple, inclusive and

Revise series
inspiring. This Student Book covers all three components
of your course and will support you in developing the skills REVISE EDEXCEL GCSE (9–1) REVISE EDEXCEL GCSE (9–1)

you need for your written exams as well as your practical Computer Computer
Science Science
assessments.
REVISION REVISION
Through an engaging introduction to the core principles, GUIDE WORKBOOK
you will develop skills in problem solving and computational
thinking. Fo
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Other key features of the Student Book include:

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• in-depth coverage of the core content you need for all ISBN: 9781292131207 ISBN: 9781292131191
components of your course
• a ‘Preparing for your exam’ section with tips and guidance
for achieving success in your written exams
• ‘Exam-style questions’ and ‘Exam tips’ throughout to give
you plenty of practice at answering the kind of questions
you might find in the exam
• ‘Checkpoint’ features to check your knowledge and
challenge your understanding
• ‘Worked example’ features to help you understand how to
carry out practical skills before you try an activity yourself.

Edexcel GCSE (9-1)

Computer Science
Series Editor: Ann Weidmann
www.pearsonschools.co.uk T 0845 630 33 33 Authors: Chris Charles Alex Hadwen-Bennett David Waller Jason Welch Shaun Whorton
myorders@pearson.com

A LW AY S L E A R N I N G

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 Edexcel GCSE (9-1)

Computer Science
Series Editor: Ann Weidmann
Authors: Chris Charles Alex Hadwen-Bennett David Waller Jason Welch Shaun Whorton

A LW AY S L E A R N I N G

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 Published by Pearson Education Limited, 80 Strand, London, WC2R 0RL.

www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk

Copies of official specifications for all Edexcel qualifications may be found on the website: www.edexcel.com

Text © Pearson Education.

Typeset by Tek-Art, East Grinstead, West Sussex
Illustrations by Tek-Art, East Grinstead, West Sussex
Original illustrations © Pearson Education
Designed by Colin Tilley Loughrey
Cover photo: Shutterstock.com: Deniseus, Ociacia
Indexed by Sharon Redmayne

First published 2016

19 18 17 16
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 292 12588 6

Copyright notice
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means (including
photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally
to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner, except in
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issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS (www.cla.co.uk).
Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission should be addressed to the publisher.

Printed and bound in Great Britain at Bell & Bain, Glasgow

Acknowledgements
For acknowledgements please see page viii.

A note from the publisher

In order to ensure that this resource offers high-quality support for the associated Pearson qualification, it has
been through a review process by the awarding body. This process confirms that this resource fully covers the
teaching and learning content of the specification or part of a specification at which it is aimed. It also confirms
that it demonstrates an appropriate balance between the development of subject skills, knowledge and
understanding, in addition to preparation for assessment.

Endorsement does not cover any guidance on assessment activities or processes (e.g. practice questions or
advice on how to answer assessment questions), included in the resource nor does it prescribe any particular
approach to the teaching or delivery of a related course.

While the publishers have made every attempt to ensure that advice on the qualification and its assessment
is accurate, the official specification and associated assessment guidance materials are the only authoritative
source of information and should always be referred to for definitive guidance.

Pearson examiners have not contributed to any sections in this resource relevant to examination papers for
which they have responsibility.

Examiners will not use endorsed resources as a source of material for any assessment set by Pearson.

Endorsement of a resource does not mean that the resource is required to achieve this Pearson qualification,
nor does it mean that it is the only suitable material available to support the qualification, and any resource
lists produced by the awarding body shall include this and other appropriate resources.

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 Contents

Introduction iv

Chapter 1: Problem solving 1

Chapter 2: Programming 45
Chapter 3: Data 91
Chapter 4: Computers 139
Chapter 5: Communication and the internet 171
Chapter 6: The bigger picture 206

Preparing for your exams 226

Glossary 240

Index 247

iii

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 Introduction

Welcome to Edexcel GCSE (9-1) Computer

Science
Computational thinking in context
This course is designed to help you develop your knowledge and
understanding of computer science through studying the importance of
computation in the world and how it will evolve in the future. Through
practical involvement in a range of activities you will apply this knowledge
and develop the skills to help you succeed in your chosen pathway.

There are many benefits to taking the Edexcel GCSE Computer Science course:

• It has a real applied focus. You will be encouraged to put the theory you
are learning into context and apply what you have learned to your own
practical activities. This makes it much more fun.
• It reflects today’s world – the issues and topics you will learn about are
up to date and will help you to understand how technology can be used to
tackle current issues that impact on modern society.
• You will gain a well-rounded understanding of computer science.
Through an engaging introduction to the core principles, you will develop
skills in problem solving and computational thinking. You will learn how
to decompose and model aspects of real-world situations, and as a result
be able to design, build and test a fully programmed solution to
a problem.
• You will also have the opportunity to improve your transferable skills,
developing ‘underpinning’ concepts that are useful in many subjects and
careers, such as mathematics, science and engineering.
• If you do well in this course you will be in a good position to progress
to the next level of study – whether this is an A level or a vocational
qualification, such as a BTEC National. The content of this GCSE is ideal
grounding for other qualifications; it has been designed using a similar
approach to make the experience of moving on a smooth one.

How you will be assessed

The GCSE course consists of three separate components:

Component 1: Principles of Computer Science

Component 2: Application of Computational Thinking
Component 3: Project

Components 1 and 2 are assessed by written examinations, each accounting

for 40 per cent of the total mark. Component 3 is worth 20 per cent of the
total mark and is internally assessed by your school. For more information
about how you will be assessed, see the ‘Preparing for your exam’ section on
page 226.

iv

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 Introduction

How to use this book

This book is organised in the same way as the Edexcel GCSE specification, with six main
chapters plus an additional section that supports you in preparing for examinations.

Each chapter gives you all the information you need to know and guides you through the
content of the course in a practical and engaging way, making it clear what you will cover
and giving you useful activities and questions to help you practise what you have learned.

In this student book there are lots of different features. They are there to help you
learn about the content in your course in different ways, understand it from multiple
perspectives and get the most from your learning.

• Learning outcomes – these Learning outcomes

are listed at the beginning
of each chapter so you know By the end of this section you should be able to:
exactly what you are going • describe what an algorithm is.
to learn and understand the • explain what algorithms are used for.
related success criteria. • express algorithms as flowcharts, pseudo-code and written descriptions.
• use and describe the purpose of arithmetic operators.

• Key terms – there are certain terms that you will need to know and be
Key terms
able to explain. These boxes explain what the words mean. The words
themselves are also highlighted in the main text, and you will find all the Sequence: an ordered set of
key terms in the Glossary at the end of the book. instructions.
Algorithm: a precise method
• Activities – these are designed Activity 1 for solving a problem. It consists
to build your knowledge and of a sequence of step-by-step
understanding and develop your Produce a written description instructions.
computational and problem- of an algorithm for getting
solving skills. to school. It should start with
leaving home and end with
arriving at school. For example,
the algorithm could start with
'Walk to bus stop'.

• Worked example – this feature Worked example

has been included to help you
SET correct TO ‘LetMeIn’ #The variable ‘correct’ is assigned
understand how to carry out
the value of the password stored in
practical skills before you try an
the system.
activity yourself.
FOR index FROM 1 TO 3 DO
SEND ‘Please enter your password.’ TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE password FROM KEYBOARD
IF password = correct THEN
SEND ‘You entered the correct password.’ TO DISPLAY
END IF
END FOR

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 Introduction
• Extend your knowledge –
Extend your knowledge
these features provide ideas
When you enter a search term into Google®, a list of links to websites is for extending the activity if you
returned. But why are they presented in that particular order? Research would like to challenge yourself
the PageRank algorithm that Google® uses to rate the importance of further.
websites and write a short report about your findings that explains how
the order is determined.

Checkpoint • Checkpoint – this feature

contains questions to check your
Strengthen
knowledge and questions to
S1 Explain what is meant by ‘decomposition’ and the benefits it provides challenge your understanding.
for programmers.
S2 Explain what is meant by ‘abstraction’.
Challenge
C1 Describe examples of the use of ‘decomposition’ and ‘abstraction’
when solving a problem.
C2 In your own words, explain what is meant by ‘computational thinking’.

• Did you know – an interesting

Did you know?
fact that will help to give you
The computer program that created the algorithm to travel from ideas to research more around
London to Glasgow was following an algorithm of its own – an algorithm the subject.
instructing it how to create another algorithm.

• Exam-style question – these

Exam-style question
questions match the style of
The XtraSave chain of supermarkets collects data about product sales. questions that you are likely to
The record for each product includes: see in the written exams and will
• its unique ID (e.g. X14 or X98); give you useful practice as you go
• the total number sold in each month of the year. through your course.
1 Identify a suitable data structure to store this data. (1 mark)
2 Justify your choice of data structure. (3 marks)
3 Draw a diagram of the data structure that shows the amount sold in the
first three months of the year. Include data for at least two products.
(3 marks)

vi

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 Introduction

• Exam tip – hints and tips to aid

Exam tip
your learning and help you in
the exam. This question is testing your ability to select and design data
structures. Make sure you have:
• identified a suitable data structure to store the data and justified your
choice;
• provided the sample data requested (i.e. sales figures for two products
for the first three months of the year).
Row and column headings can be included as long as they are clearly
distinguishable from the data.

• Summary – a handy revision

Summary
checklist of key points you
will need to remember about • A data structure is an organised collection of related elements. Arrays
the chapter. and records are common data structures.
• A one-dimensional array is a list of elements, each of which has a
unique index value representing its position in the list.
• A two-dimensional array is a matrix of rows and columns. Each element
in the array has a unique pair of indices, one to identify the row and
one the column in which it is located.
• All the elements in an array have the same data type.
• A record consists of a collection of fields. The values stored in a record
can be of different data types.

Preparing for your exams

At the end of Chapter 6 there is an exam preparation section with tips and
guidance for achieving success in your written exams. You will find example
questions and answers, together with detailed notes and explanations
about the quality of the answers shown. This will help you build your
understanding of how to write better answers and achieve more marks.

vii

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 Acknowledgements
The publisher would like to thank the following for their kind permission to
reproduce their photographs:

(Key: b-bottom; c-centre; l-left; r-right; t-top)

123RF.com: 123rf.com 140bc, blueximages 1, stockyimages 66; Alamy

Images: Agencja Fotograficzna Caro 139, Andrew Aitchison 219, hugh nutt
206, Ian Dagnall 2, imageBROKER 211, Jan Miks 45, Jonathan Ball 145r, Paul
Broadbent 145l, Richard Levine 55; Photolibrary.com: Image Source 75;
Shutterstock.com: Adisa 140tl, Baloncici 56b, bloomua 140br, Burlingham
46, DavidTB 41, Dja65 140tc, Gaby Kooijman 56t, K. Miri Photography
140bl, kavione 140tr, Monkey Business Images 84, Pakhnyushcha 140c,
Petros Tsonis 91, Platslee 110l, 123l, 123r, 110R, vectorfusionart 171,
wavebreakmedia 74

Cover images: Front: Shutterstock.com: Deniseus, Ociacia

All other images © Pearson Education

The publisher would also like to thank the Python Software Foundation
(www.python.org) for their kind permission to reproduce screenshots.

viii

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 Chapter 1

Problem solving

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 Problem solving

1.1 Algorithms
Understanding algorithms
Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• describe what an algorithm is.
• explain what algorithms are used for.
• express algorithms as flowcharts, pseudo-code and written descriptions.
• use and describe the purpose of arithmetic operators.

An example of an algorithm
An interactive map is a useful way to find a route between two locations.
This image shows a route between two cities that was calculated by a
mapping program.

• It is unambiguous in telling the driver exactly what to do, like ‘turn left’,
‘turn right’ or ‘continue straight’.
• It is a sequence of steps.
• It can be used again and will always provide the same result.
The route on this interactive map has • It provides a solution to a problem, in this case how to get from London
been calculated using an algorithm
to Glasgow.
A solution to a problem with these characteristics is called an algorithm.
Most problems have more than one solution, so different algorithms can be
created for the same problem.

Key terms Did you know?

Unambiguous: this means The computer program that created the algorithm to travel from
that the instructions cannot be London to Glasgow was following an algorithm of its own – an algorithm
misunderstood. Simply saying instructing it how to create another algorithm.
‘turn’ would be ambiguous
because you could turn left
Successful algorithms
or right.
There are three criteria for deciding whether an algorithm is successful.
All instructions given to a
computer must be unambiguous • Accuracy – it must lead to the expected outcome (e.g. create a route from
or it won’t know what to do. London to Glasgow).
Sequence: an ordered set of • Consistency – it must produce the same result each time it is run.
instructions. • Efficiency – it must solve the problem in the shortest possible time using
Algorithm: a precise method for as few computer resources as possible. In this example the mapping
solving a problem. software is replacing a manual method, and if it were no faster than
looking in an atlas then it would not be an improvement on the older
method. Later in the chapter there is a section on algorithms used to sort
and search data. Some of these algorithms are more efficient than others
and will sort the data far more quickly.

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 Algorithms

The relationship between algorithms and programs Key terms

Algorithms and programs are closely related, but they are not the
same. An algorithm is a detailed design for a solution; a program is the High-level programming
implementation of that design. language: a programming
language that resembles natural
This chapter is all about algorithms. We look at how algorithms are human language.
implemented in high-level programming languages in Chapter 2. It’s up Flowchart: a graphical
to you whether you study these two chapters sequentially or in parallel. representation of an algorithm.
So you could either study Chapter 1 followed by Chapter 2, or learn about Each step in the algorithm
algorithms and how to create them in this chapter and at the same time is represented by a symbol.
consult Chapter 2 to find out how to translate algorithms into programs. Symbols are linked together
with arrows showing the order in
Displaying an algorithm which steps are executed.
We carry out many everyday tasks using algorithms because we are
following a set of instructions to achieve an expected result, for example
making a cup of coffee. If we have performed the task many times before,
we usually carry out the instructions without thinking, but if we are doing
something unfamiliar, such as putting together a flat-pack chest of drawers, Activity 1
then we follow the instructions very carefully. Produce a written description
An algorithm can be expressed in different ways. of an algorithm for getting
to school. It should start with
Written descriptions leaving home and end with
arriving at school. For example,
A written description is the simplest way of expressing an algorithm.
the algorithm could start with
Here is an algorithm describing the everyday task of making a cup of
‘Walk to bus stop’.
instant coffee.

Indicates the start

Algorithm for making a cup of instant coffee or end of an
Fill kettle with water. algorithm.

Turn on kettle. Indicates a

Place coffee in cup. process to be
carried out.
Wait for water to boil.
Pour water into cup.
Indicates a
Add milk and sugar.
decision to be
Stir. made.

Flowcharts
Flowcharts can be used to represent an algorithm graphically. They provide Indicates an input
a more visual display. or output.

There are formal symbols that have to be used in a flowchart – you can’t Shows the logical
just make up your own because nobody else would be able to follow your flow of the
algorithm.
algorithm.

Figure 1.1 shows the flowchart symbols that should be used. Figure 1.1 Flowchart symbols

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 Problem solving

Start The flowchart in Figure 1.2 is an alternative way of depicting

the algorithm expressed above as a written description.

Activity 2
Fill kettle with water
Display the ‘journey to school’ algorithm, which you created
This is a process (an action
that has to be performed).
in the previous activity, as a flowchart.
Turn on kettle
Activity 3
A student has created a written algorithm for preparing a
Place coffee in cup bath. Display the following as a flowchart – you may need to
change the order or add actions.
This instruction is unambiguous –
the water must be boiling.
• Put in the plug.
Wait for kettle to boil • Fill bath to the correct level.
Stating ‘wait for the water to heat’
would be ambiguous. How hot? • Check temperature is OK.

Pour water into cup

The algorithms you have looked at so far are designed for humans to follow.
Algorithms also form the basis of computer programs. A computer is a
mindless machine that simply does exactly what it is told and follows a set of
Add milk and sugar instructions, but computers can carry out these instructions far more quickly
than humans. That is why they are so useful.

Stir
Pseudo-code
In addition to flowcharts and written descriptions, algorithms can also be
expressed in pseudo-code. The pseudo-code can then be used to code the
End solution in an actual programming language.
It allows the developer to concentrate on the logic and efficiency of the
Figure 1.2 Flowchart of an algorithm to algorithm without having to bother about the rules of any particular
make a cup of coffee
programming language. It is relatively straightforward to translate an
Key term algorithm written in pseudo-code into any high-level programming language.

Pseudo-code: a structured, code-

like language that can be used to Example of a simple algorithm
describe an algorithm. To introduce the Edexcel pseudo-code, here is a simple algorithm that asks the
user to input two numbers and then outputs the result of adding them together.

Activity 4 Written description

There are many different versions
of pseudo-code and often they are Algorithm for adding two numbers
unique to a particular organisation Enter first number.
or examination board. Investigate Enter second number.
the Edexcel pseudo-code that you Calculate total by adding first and second numbers.
will need for your GCSE course and Output total.
which will be used in this book.

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 Algorithms

Pseudo-code
Start
Algorithm for adding two numbers
SEND ‘Please enter the first number.’ TO DISPLAY
Enter first RECEIVE firstNumber FROM KEYBOARD
number SEND ‘Please enter the second number.’ TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE secondNumber FROM KEYBOARD
SET total TO firstNumber + secondNumber
Enter second
number SEND total TO DISPLAY

The pseudo-code spells out the step-by-step instructions that the

total = first number computer will be expected to carry out. It also introduces some important
+ second number programming concepts.
• The numbers entered by the user are stored in two variables with the
Output
identifiers ‘firstNumber’ and ‘secondNumber’.
total • The result of adding the numbers together is stored in the variable ‘total’.
• When some text is to be displayed, for example ‘Please enter the first
number.’, it has to be enclosed in quotation marks, either single or double.
End • When a variable is to be displayed, the quotation marks are not used. If
they were, then, in the last instruction, the word ‘total’ would be displayed
Figure 1.3 Flowchart showing the and not the number it represents.
adding of two numbers • Arithmetic operators are used to perform calculations. This box shows
the arithmetic operators.

Key terms Arithmetic operators

Variable: a ‘container’ used to Operator Function Example
store data. The data stored in a
variable is referred to as a value. + Addition: add the values 8 + 5 = 13
together. myScore1 + myScore2
The value stored in a variable is
not fixed. The same variable can - Subtraction: subtract the 17 - 4 = 13
store different values during the second value from the first. myScore1 - myScore2
course of a program and each * Multiplication: multiply the 6 * 9 = 54
time a program is run. values together. numberBought * price
Identifier: a unique name given
/ Real division: divide the first 13/4 = 3.25
to a variable or a constant. Using
value by the second value and totalMarks/numberTests
descriptive names for variables return the result including
makes code much easier to read. decimal places.
Arithmetic operator: an DIV Quotient: like division, but it 13 DIV 4 = 3
operator that performs a only returns the whole number totalMarks DIV numberTests
calculation on two numbers. or integer.
MOD Modulus/modulo: this will return 13/4 = 3 remainder 1
the remainder of a division. Therefore 13 MOD 4 = 1
^ Exponentiation: this is for ‘to 3^3 = 27
the power of’. It is the same as writing 33

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 Problem solving
Variables and constants
Variables play an important role in algorithms and programming.
The value stored by a variable can change as a program is running.
Variables are extremely useful in programming because they make it
possible for the same program to process different sets of data.

A constant is the opposite of a variable. It is a ‘container’ that holds

Key term a value that always stays the same. Constants are useful for storing
Constant: a ‘container’ that holds fixed information, such as the value of pi, the number of litres in a
a value that never changes. Like gallon or the number of months in a year.
variables, constants have unique
identifiers. Each variable and constant in an algorithm has to have a unique
identifier. It is important to choose descriptive names for identifiers.
This will make your code much easier to read. For example, a
variable to hold a user’s first name could be given the identifier
‘firstName’ so that it is indicative of the data it contains. If it were
given the identifier ‘X’ then it would be ambiguous what data
it contained.

Naming conventions for variables and constants

It is good practice to adopt a consistent way of writing identifiers

throughout an algorithm.
A common convention is to use camel case for compound words
(e.g. firstName, secondName) with no space between words and
the second word starting with a capital letter. Alternatives are to
capitalise the first letter of both words, e.g. FirstName, SecondName,
or to separate the words with an underscore, e.g. first_name, second_
name, known as snake case.

Activity 5
Here is a written description of an algorithm.
Enter the first number.
Enter the second number.
The third number is equal to the first number multiplied by the
second number.
Display the third number.

Express this algorithm in pseudo-code.

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 Algorithms

Activity 6 Extend your knowledge

This algorithm is displayed as a When you enter a search term into Google®, a list of links to websites is
flowchart. returned. But why are they presented in that particular order? Research
the PageRank algorithm that Google® uses to rate the importance of
Start websites and write a short report about your findings that explains how
the order is determined.

Input
username Summary
• An algorithm is a precise method for solving a problem.
• Algorithms can be displayed as written descriptions, flowcharts and in
Does
NO
pseudo-code.
username
exist? • Pseudo-code is a structured, code-like language.
• Pseudo-code is translated into program code.
YES • Arithmetic operators are used in calculations.
Input • Variables and constants are ‘containers’ for storing data. The value
password stored in a variable can change, whereas the value of a constant never
changes.
• Selecting descriptive names for identifiers makes code easier to read.
Is
NO
password
correct?
Checkpoint
Strengthen
YES
S1 Produce a written description of an algorithm for borrowing a book
End from the library.
S2 Describe what each of the seven arithmetic operators does.
Figure 1.4 Flowchart of an algorithm S3 Describe what a variable is and explain why variables are useful.
Produce a written description of S4 Explain the difference between a variable and a constant.
this algorithm. Challenge
C1 Produce a flowchart describing an algorithm for making a cheese
sandwich.
C2 Write an algorithm expressed in pseudo-code that receives three
numbers from the keyboard, calculates and displays the average.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If

you're not sure you answered them well, try the following.

• For S1 reread page 3.

• For S2 study the table on page 5.
• For S3 and S4 look again at page 6.

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 Problem solving

Key terms Creating algorithms

Construct: a component from Learning outcomes
which something is built. Letters
By the end of this section you should be able to:
and numbers (i.e. a to z and 0 to
9) are the constructs we use to • create an algorithm to solve a particular problem.
build our language and convey • use command sequence, selection and iteration in algorithms.
meaning. Bricks and cement are
the basic constructs of a building.
Selection: a construct that allows Algorithms for computers
a choice to be made between There was an ambiguous statement in the algorithm for making a cup
different alternatives. of coffee on page 3. After filling the kettle with water and adding coffee
to the cup, the next instruction was ‘Wait for water to boil’.
Iteration: a construct that means
the repetition of a process. An A human can interpret this instruction as meaning that they have to
action is repeated until there is a keep checking the kettle over and over again until the water is boiling.
desired outcome or a condition is But a computer is unable to interpret an instruction like that. It would
met. It is often referred to as just wait. And wait. Forever.
a loop.
Even worse, the algorithm didn’t explicitly say how to determine if the
water was boiling. Through experience we humans assume the water is
boiling when there is lots of steam, sound and bubbles; or, even better,
when the kettle turns itself off. An algorithm for a computer would
Start have to state that it was waiting until the water reached 100°C.

A version of this part of the algorithm, suitable for a computer, is

shown in Figure 1.5.
Fill kettle
with water This example introduces two new constructs from which algorithms
are created.

We have already met the construct command sequence – step-by-step

Turn on kettle
instructions in the correct order. To add to this we now have selection
and iteration.

Is
temperature of NO Did you know?
water = We use iteration in our daily lives whenever we carry out an
100°C?
action over and over again. For example, at mealtimes we keep
YES on eating until our plate is empty or we have had enough to eat.
When we’re travelling by car and the traffic lights are red we have
Turn off kettle to keep waiting until they change to green.
An actor repeats their lines over and over again until they
The computer are word perfect.
would also have
Pour water into cup to be told how
much water to
pour into the cup!

Figure 1.5 Part of an algorithm suitable for

a computer for making coffee

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 Algorithms

Representing selection and iteration in a flowchart

Selection and iteration are represented in a flowchart as shown in Figure 1.6.

These arrows represent the iteration.

If the answer is ‘NO’ then the selection

There is a question Is question is repeated until the answer is ‘YES’
temperature of NO – the desired outcome.
with two alternatives.
This represents the water =
100°C?
selection.
YES

Figure 1.6 Selection and iteration in a flowchart

Representing selection and iteration in pseudo-code Key terms

Selection IF…THEN…ELSE statement:
Selection in pseudo-code is represented exactly as we would say it using the IF…THEN…ELSE statement
an IF…THEN…ELSE statement. allows a choice to be made
between two alternatives based
IF…THEN…ELSE statement on whether or not a condition is
met (e.g. IF it is cold THEN wear a
IF Temperature = 100°C THEN jumper ELSE wear a T-shirt).
Switch off kettle
Relational operator: an operator
ELSE
that compares two values.
Keep waiting
END IF

This is an oversimplification as the commands ‘Switch off kettle’ and

‘Keep waiting’ mean nothing to a computer.

An IF…THEN statement can be used without an ELSE if there is only one

course of action to be taken, providing the condition in the IF statement
is met.

IF…THEN statement
IF score >= 90 THEN
SEND ‘Excellent’ TO DISPLAY
END IF

For selection, relational operators are used to compare the values.

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 Problem solving

Relational operators
Relational operators are used to compare two values. The operators that
you will be using are:
= equal to
> greater than
>= greater than or equal to
< less than
<= less than or equal to
<> not equal to

Using relational operators

SET passMark TO 75
RECEIVE mark FROM KEYBOARD
IF mark >= passMark THEN
SEND ‘Well done. You’ve passed.’ TO DISPLAY
ELSE
SEND ‘Bad luck. You’ve failed.’ TO DISPLAY
END IF

Notice the use of indentation in an IF…THEN…ELSE statement.

In this example there is only one statement for each alternative,
but imagine if there were many. The indentation makes it easier
to see which statement(s) belong to each alternative. Indentation
is a useful technique for improving the readability of algorithms
expressed in pseudo-code. You should get into the habit of using it.
When you move on to implementing your algorithms in a high-level
programming language you might find that the computer won’t
be able to execute your programs unless you have used
indentation correctly.

Activity 7

IF score <= highScore THEN

SEND ‘You haven’t beaten your high score.’ TO DISPLAY
ELSE
SEND ‘You’ve exceeded your high score!’ TO DISPLAY
END IF

State the output of the algorithm when

• score = 5 and highScore = 10
• score = 20 and highScore = 10
• score = 15 and highScore = 15

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 Algorithms

Activity 8
A driving school uses this rule to estimate how many lessons a learner
will require.
• Every learner requires at least 20 lessons.
• Learners over the age of 18 require more lessons (two additional
lessons for each year over 18).
Create an algorithm expressed in pseudo-code that inputs a learner’s age
and calculates the number of driving lessons they will need.

Nested selection
The IF…THEN…ELSE statement allows a choice to be made between Key term
two possible alternatives. However, sometimes there are more than two
Nested IF statement: a nested
possibilities. This is where a nested IF statement comes in useful.
IF statement consists of one or
more IF statements placed inside
Worked example each other. A nested IF is used
where there are more than two
A learner handed in three homework assignments, which were each given
possible courses of action.
a mark out of 10. All the marks were different. Write an algorithm that
would print out the highest mark.
Figure 1.7 shows the algorithm expressed as a flowchart:

Start

Input mark1,
mark2, mark3

Is Is
NO NO
mark1 > mark2 >
mark2? mark3?

YES YES

Output Output
Is mark2
Output NO mark3
mark1 >
mark3 mark3?

YES End End

End
Output
mark1

End Figure 1.7 Flowchart of an algorithm to

print out the highest homework mark

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 Problem solving

The variables mark1 and mark2 are compared using a relational operator.
If mark1 is greater than (>) mark2 then it is compared with mark3. If it is
not greater than mark2, then mark2 must be greater than mark1 and it is
then compared with mark3.
This algorithm can also be expressed in pseudo-code:
RECEIVE mark1 FROM KEYBOARD
RECEIVE mark2 FROM KEYBOARD
RECEIVE mark3 FROM KEYBOARD
IF mark1 > mark2 THEN
IF mark1 > mark3 THEN #This is an IF statement
within another IF statement.
It is called a nested IF.

SEND mark1 TO DISPLAY

ELSE
SEND mark3 TO DISPLAY
END IF
ELSE
IF mark2 > mark3 THEN #This is another nested IF
statement.
SEND mark2 TO DISPLAY
ELSE
SEND mark3 TO DISPLAY
END IF
END IF

In this algorithm there are three IF…THEN…ELSE statements. Two of them

Top tip
are completely nested within the outer one.
When you are creating nested IF
statements you have to ensure Top tip
that each one is completed
with an END IF statement at the The # symbol indicates a comment. This is some text used to explain the
correct indentation level. Some code and the # symbol shows that it is not to be executed. It can be on
programming languages do not a line of its own or at the end of the line to which it applies. You should
need an END IF statement and get into the habit of adding comments to your algorithms to explain how
just use the indentation levels to they work and should do the same when writing program code.
indicate when statements
are grouped.
Activity 9
A learner is creating a guessing game. A player has to enter a number no
greater than 10. If it is too high, they are informed that they have made an
error, but if it is within the range 1 to 10, they are told whether or not they
have guessed the correct number. (Assume that the correct number is 3.)
Create an algorithm to solve this problem and express it as a flowchart
and in pseudo-code.

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 Algorithms

Activity 10
A school uses this algorithm to calculate the grade learners achieve in
end-of-topic tests.

RECEIVE testScore FROM KEYBOARD

IF testScore >= 80 THEN
SEND ‘A’ TO DISPLAY
ELSE
IF testScore >= 70 THEN
SEND ‘B’ TO DISPLAY
ELSE
IF testScore >= 60 THEN
SEND ‘C’ TO DISPLAY
ELSE
IF testScore > 0 THEN
SEND 'D' TO DISPLAY
ELSE
SEND 'FAIL' TO DISPLAY
END IF
END IF
END IF
END IF

What would be the output of this algorithm for these test scores: 91, 56
and 78?

Iteration
When writing programs it is often necessary to repeat the same set of
statements several times. Rather than simply making multiple copies of the
statements you can use iteration to repeat them. The algorithm for making
a cup of coffee includes an instruction to keep waiting until the water in the
kettle boils.
Key terms
Waiting for the kettle to boil Indefinite iteration: this is used
when the number of iterations
IF temperature = 100°C THEN
is not known before the loop is
Switch off kettle
started. The iterations stop when
ELSE
a specified condition is met.
Keep waiting
This sort of loop is said to be
END IF
condition controlled.
Selection would be useless without iteration. The question would be asked Definite iteration: this is used
once and then the program would move on or just stop. There has to be a when the number of iterations,
method for repeating the question until there is a desired outcome. In a or turns of the loop, is known
flowchart this is easy to implement – you just have to draw some arrows. in advance. It can be set to as
many turns as you want. This
In both pseudo-code and program code you have to construct a loop, sort of loop is said to be count
or iteration. There are two types of iteration: indefinite iteration and controlled.
definite iteration.

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 Problem solving
Indefinite iteration
Obviously in this example it is not known how many times the program will
have to check until the water temperature reaches 100°C.

Therefore we have to use indefinite iteration. There are two ways of doing this
in pseudo-code: you can use a REPEAT…UNTIL loop or a WHILE…DO loop.

A REPEAT…UNTIL loop checks the condition when it gets to the end of

the loop. This means that the statements contained within the loop will be
executed at least once. A WHILE…DO loop checks the condition at the start
of the loop so in some circumstances the statements contained within the
loop will not be executed.

Top tip Using REPEAT…UNTIL

It is good practice to indent REPEAT #This starts the REPEAT…UNTIL loop.
commands that occur within RECEIVE temp FROM SENSOR #The temperature of the water is
a statement block because it input from a temperature sensor.
makes the algorithm clearer.
UNTIL temp = 100 #This sets the condition for the loop
to stop. When ‘temp’ is equal to 100
the loop will stop.
Switch off kettle #This is the next command to be
executed when the loop has finished.

Using a WHILE…DO loop the algorithm shown above would be

Using WHILE…DO
RECEIVE temp FROM SENSOR
WHILE temp < 100 DO
RECEIVE temp FROM SENSOR
END WHILE
Switch off kettle

Top tip Activity 11

Use the pseudo-code command 1 Write an algorithm expressed in pseudo-code that asks the user to enter
SET to assign a value between 1 a number between 1 and 6. If the number entered matches the value
and 6 to diceRoll before the start stored in the variable diceRoll the message ‘Well done you guessed
of the loop. correctly.’ is displayed. Otherwise the user is invited to guess again.
When using a WHILE…DO Use a WHILE…DO loop and include comments to explain what each
loop, the statement RECEIVE line of code does.
guess FROM KEYBOARD, which 2 Produce a second version of the algorithm using a REPEAT…UNTIL loop.
allows the user to enter their
guess, should be included in the Definite iteration
algorithm twice – once before the This is used when the number of iterations, or turns of the loop, is known
start of the loop and once inside in advance.
the loop.
One method is to use a REPEAT…TIMES loop.

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 Algorithms

Using REPEAT… TIMES

REPEAT 50 TIMES
SEND ‘*‘ TO DISPLAY
END REPEAT

A FOR loop is another method of repeating a sequence of instructions a fixed

number of times.

Worked example
A learner is designing a program to help younger children with their times
tables. When a user enters a number the program will output the times
table up to 12.
RECEIVE number FROM KEYBOARD #The number entered is assigned
to the variable ‘number’.
FOR index FROM 1 TO 12 DO #The loop is set up using the
variable ‘index’ which will
change from 1 to 12 at each
turn of the loop.
SEND number * index TO DISPLAY #The value of ‘number’ is
multiplied by the value of ‘index’
at each turn of the loop.
END FOR #This command is used to close
the loop.

This loop will be repeated 12 times. At each turn of the loop the variable
‘index’ is incremented by one.

Top tip
Variables in a FOR loop can be used to indicate the start and end values of
the loop, for example
start = 25
finish = 50
FOR index FROM start TO finish DO
SEND ‘Congratulations’ TO DISPLAY
END FOR

Activity 12
Create an algorithm expressed in pseudo-code that asks a user to enter
a start number and an end number and then outputs the total of all the
numbers in the range. For example, if the start number was 1 and the end
number was 10, the total would be 55 (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10).
Tip:
You should initialise the variable total to zero before the start of the loop.

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 Problem solving
Another example of a fixed number of iterations is when you have to enter a
password and you only get three attempts. It could be implemented in the
following way.

Worked example
SET correct TO ‘LetMeIn’ #The variable ‘correct’ is assigned
the value of the password stored in
the system.
FOR index FROM 1 TO 3 DO
SEND ‘Please enter your password.’ TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE password FROM KEYBOARD
IF password = correct THEN
SEND ‘You entered the correct password.’ TO DISPLAY
END IF
END FOR

The loop will ask for the password to be input three times, but what if the
user gets the password correct on the first attempt? They do not want to
have to enter it twice more.

Another solution would be to use indefinite iteration and keep count of the
number of iterations.

Worked example
SET count TO 0 #The variable ‘count’ is assigned
the value 0.
SET correct TO ‘LetMeIn’ #The variable ‘correct’ is assigned
the value of the password stored
in the system.
REPEAT
SET count to count + 1 #The variable ‘count’ is
incremented by 1 on each turn.
SEND ‘Please enter your password.’ TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE password FROM KEYBOARD
IF password = correct THEN
SEND ‘Correct password.’ TO DISPLAY
ELSE
SEND ‘Incorrect password.’ TO DISPLAY
END IF
UNTIL password = correct OR count = 3

The loop will end if either of the conditions is met – if the password is
correct or the number of attempts is equal to 3.
Key term
Logical operator: a Boolean We have used a compound comparison by joining two conditions together
operator using AND, OR and NOT. using an ‘OR’, which is a logical operator.

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 Algorithms

Logical operators Key terms

AND If two conditions are joined by the ‘AND’ operator, then they must Random number: a number within
both be true for the whole statement to be true. a given range of numbers that is
OR If two conditions are joined by the ‘OR’ operator, then either one generated in such a way that each
must be true for the whole statement to be true. number in the range has an equal
NOT The NOT operator reverses the logic of the AND and OR statements. chance of occurring.
The statement 'IF A = 3 AND B = 6' will be true only if the conditions There are many devices for
are met, i.e. A and B are both equal to the values stated. generating random numbers. A die
The statement IF NOT (A = 3 AND B = 6) will be true whenever is used in games to get a random
both A and B are NOT equal to the values stated i.e. either or both number from 1 to 6. Computer
are not equal to those values. programming languages have a
The NOT operator is often used when setting a selection criterion, function for generating random
for example IF NOT LENGTH(password) > 8 THEN to ensure a
numbers across variable ranges.
minimum password length.
In the Edexcel pseudo-code
there is a useful built-in RANDOM
Activity 13 command.
In Activity 9 you had to create an algorithm for a guessing game. This game
RANDOM(upperLimit)
is more difficult. It should generate a random number between 1 and 20.
• Ask the user to guess the number. For example, number = RANDOM(6)
• Allow the user three attempts. would generate a random number
• Display a message if the attempt is correct. from the numbers 1 to 6.
• Display a message if the attempt is incorrect and inform the player if Nested loop: a loop that
their attempt is too high or too low. runs inside another loop. The
• Display a message to the player after three incorrect attempts inner one executes all of its
informing them of the correct number. instructions for each turn of the
outer loop.
Nested loops
A nested loop comprises a loop within a loop. When one loop is nested
within another, each iteration of the outer loop causes the inner loop to be
executed until completion.
In this example a nested loop is used to calculate and display the average
mark achieved by each student in a group of twenty for a series of five tests.
The outer loop iterates through each student in turn. The inner loop receives
each set of five marks and adds them together. The outer loop calculates
and displays the average mark before moving on to the next student.

Worked example
FOR student = 1 TO 20
SET sum = 0
FOR mark = 1 TO 5
RECEIVE nextMark FROM KEYBOARD
SET sum TO sum + nextMark
END FOR
SET averageMark TO sum/5
SEND averageMark TO DISPLAY
END FOR

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 Problem solving

Worked example
A learner has a Saturday job selling cups of tea and coffee. The tea is
£1.20 per cup and the coffee is £1.90. He is supposed to keep a record of
the number of cups of each he sells.
Unfortunately he has been so busy that he has lost count but he knows
that he did not sell more than 100 of each.
He has collected £285.
Write a program that will calculate how many cups of tea and coffee he sold.
SET teaCost TO 1.2
SET coffeeCost TO 1.9
FOR numCoffees FROM 1 TO 100 DO
FOR numTeas FROM 1 TO 100 DO #This loop for the teas is
nested inside the loop for
coffees.
SET total TO (numCoffees * coffeeCost) +
(numTeas * teaCost)
IF total = 285 THEN
SET teas TO numTeas
#These ‘teas’ and ‘coffees’
variables are needed as
the loops will continue and
‘numCoffees’ and ‘numTeas’
will change.
SET coffees TO numCoffees
END IF
END FOR
END FOR
SEND ‘The number of teas is’ & teas & ‘and the number of
coffees is’ & coffees TO DISPLAY

In this SEND command, four items of information are displayed. First there
Key term
is some literal text enclosed in quotation marks – ‘The number of teas
Concatenation: the linking is’ – followed by the value of the variable teas, followed by some more
together of two or more items of literal text – ‘and the number of coffees is’ – followed by the value of the
information. variable coffees. The four are joined by an ‘&’ symbol – known as the append
operator. Joining items of information in this way is called concatenation.

If this algorithm was converted into program code and executed this
Did you know? sentence would be displayed on the screen:
Different symbols are used
in other pseudo-codes and ‘The number of teas is 95 and the number of coffees is 90’
programming languages, with
the ‘+’ symbol being the most Activity 14
popular. Create an algorithm that will print out the times tables (up to 12 times)
for the numbers 2 to 12. You should use concatenation so that the
printouts state “2 x 2 = 4”, “2 x 3 = 6”, “9 x 8 = 72”, etc.

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 Algorithms

Summary
• The constructs command sequence, selection and iteration are the basic building blocks of algorithms.
• Nested IF statements allow for more than two alternatives.
• There are two types of iteration – definite and indefinite.
• Another name for iteration is loop. Loops can be nested.
• Comments make algorithms easier to understand. The # symbol indicates a comment in pseudo-code.
• Concatenation is the linking together of two or more items of information.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Explain, using examples, how command sequence, selection and iteration are used in algorithms.
S2 Explain what each of the six relational operators does.
Challenge
C1 Design an algorithm in pseudo-code that asks the user to enter their height (in metres) and weight (in
kilograms) and displays their body mass index (BMI). The formula for calculating BMI is weight / height2.
C2 Design an algorithm expressed as a flowchart to control the heating in a house. A thermostat monitors the
temperature within the house. During the week the temperature should be 20°C between 6.00 and 8.30 in the
morning and between 17.30 and 22.00 at night. At weekends it should be 22°C between 8.00 and 23.00. If the
temperature in the house falls below 10°C at any time the boiler is switched on.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re
not sure you answered them well, try the following activities again.

• For S1 have a look at the key terms on pages 2 and 8.

• For S2 have a look at the table on page 10.

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 Problem solving

Working with algorithms

Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• describe the purpose of a given algorithm and explain how it works.
• determine the correct output of an algorithm for a given set of data.
• identify and correct errors in algorithms.

The purpose of an algorithm

Start
When you look at an algorithm, expressed either in pseudo-code or as a
flowchart, it is sometimes easy to see its purpose.

Input length, Have a look at the algorithm in Figure 1.8.

width
The purpose of this algorithm is to find the area of a rectangle. It works like this.

• The length of the rectangle is input and is stored in the variable ‘length’.
area =
length * width • The width of the rectangle is input and is stored in the variable ‘width’.
• The variable ‘length’ is multiplied by the variable ‘width’ to find the area
of the rectangle, which is stored in the variable ‘area’.
Output • The value of the variable ‘area’ is output.
area
Here is another algorithm, this time displayed in pseudo-code.

End SET totalFor TO 0

SET totalAgainst TO 0 #These variables hold the running totals
Figure 1.8 Flowchart of an algorithm and are initialised to 0 at the start of the
showing area of a rectangle algorithm.
SET win TO 0
SET loss TO 0
SET draw TO 0
SET anotherEntry TO ‘Y’

WHILE anotherEntry = ‘Y’ DO

SEND ‘Enter goals for:’ TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE goalsFor FROM KEYBOARD
SEND ‘Enter goals against:’ TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE goalsAgainst FROM KEYBOARD
SET totalFor TO totalFor + goalsFOR
SET totalAgainst TO totalAgainst + goalsAgainst
IF goalsFor > goalsAgainst THEN
SET win TO win + 1

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 Algorithms

ELSE
IF goalsFOR < goalsAgainst THEN
SET loss TO loss + 1
ELSE
SET draw TO draw + 1
END IF
END IF
SEND ‘Press ‘Y’ to enter another result.’ TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE anotherEntry from KEYBOARD
END WHILE
SEND ‘Total wins: ‘ & win TO DISPLAY
SEND ‘Total losses: ‘ & loss TO DISPLAY
SEND ‘Total draws: ‘ & draw TO DISPLAY

So what can we say about this algorithm?

Top tip
• Its purpose is to allow a user to enter match scores for a particular team In the algorithm the SEND
and sport. It could be something like football or hockey. statement at the end of the loop
• It calculates the total goals that were scored for and against the team. uses double quotation marks.
• It calculates the number of matches that were won, lost and drawn. This is because the text to be
displayed includes the letter ‘Y’ in
• It displays the number of wins, losses and draws to the user.
single quotes.
• The variables to hold these values are initialised – declared and assigned
You can use double quotation
a start value at the beginning of the algorithm.
marks in a SEND statement
• The algorithm uses indefinite iteration. It loops until the user presses any where the text includes single
key other than the ‘Y’ key. quotes or an apostrophe.
Checking the output Pseudo-code is very forgiving,
A good way to follow the reasoning behind an algorithm, and also to find so it doesn’t matter if you don’t
any logic errors, is to use some sample data and check if the output is what do this, but it does matter when
you expect. the algorithm is converted into
program code.
Activity 15
Use the following scores as test data.
1–0
3–2 Key terms
0–2 Logic error: an error in an
1–1 algorithm that results in incorrect
or unexpected behaviour.
Calculate the expected end states of the variables from these results.
Trace table: a technique used
Track the entry of each score through the algorithm and see if they are
to identify any logic errors
the same as your expected results.
in algorithms. Each column
represents a variable or output and
Trace tables
each row a value of that variable.
The formal way of checking the logic of an algorithm is to use a trace table.

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 Problem solving

Worked example
Create a trace table for the following algorithm.
SET number TO 3
FOR index FROM 1 TO 5 DO
SET number1 TO number * index
SET number2 TO number1 * 2
IF number2 > 20 THEN
SEND number2 TO DISPLAY
END IF
END FOR
This algorithm can be traced in the following table.
number index number1 number2 output
3
3 1 3 6
3 2 6 12
3 3 9 18
3 4 12 24 24
3 5 15 30 30
The value of the variable number remains at 3 throughout, but as the index
increases from 1 to 5, then so do the values of number1 and number2.
When the value of number2 is greater than 20, its value is output.

Activity 16
Complete a trace table for this algorithm.
SET number1 TO 2
SET number2 TO 3
FOR index FROM 1 TO 5 DO
SET number1 TO number1 * index
SET number2 TO number2 + number1
END FOR

Exam tips
Spend some time studying the algorithm to ensure that you fully
understand it.
In 1 you are asked to ‘explain’ how the algorithm works. A longer answer
is required that includes all of the stages of the algorithm. Use the correct
terms to explain the constructs.
In 2 and 3 short answers are sufficient.
In 4 calculate the charge for each person using the rules of the algorithm.
Then calculate the overall charge and check to see if the family qualifies
for a group discount.

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 Algorithms

Exam-style question
This flowchart displays an algorithm used by
Start
Holiday Theme Parks Limited.

charge = 0
total = 0
number = 0

Input
customer

charge = £10
number = number + 1

Input
age

Is age YES
A charge = £5
< 13? number = number – 1

NO

Is age YES
charge = £9
> = 60?

NO
B

total = total + charge

1 Describe how the algorithm calculates the
total amount that should be paid.
Is 2 Give two variables that are used in the
there another YES algorithm.
customer in the
group? 3 In the flowchart, two of the constructs
are labelled A and B. State the type of
NO
each construct.
4 The Smith family is visiting the park. The
Is YES
number total = total – £10 family consists of two children, one aged
> 4? 8 and one aged 10, their two parents and
NO
their grandfather, who is aged 65. Use
the algorithm to calculate how much the
Output family should have to pay for entry.
total

End
Figure 1.9 Flowchart of an algorithm showing charges in a theme park

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 Problem solving

Key term Activity 17

Simulation: a representation of a Here is part of a simulation for a payment system at a car park.
real-world process or system.
SET parkCharge to RANDOM(20) #As this is a simulation, a parking
charge is generated as a random
number between 1 and 20, i.e. £1
and £20.
SET payment TO 0

WHILE payment < parkCharge OR payment > 20 DO

SEND ‘The charge is ‘ & parkCharge TO DISPLAY
SEND ‘Enter payment up to £20 maximum.’ TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE payment FROM KEYBOARD
SET changeDue TO payment -̵̵ parkCharge
WHILE changeDue >= 10 DO
SEND ‘£10 note’ TO DISPLAY
SET changeDue TO changeDue - 10
END WHILE
WHILE changeDue >= 5 DO
SEND ‘£5 note’ TO DISPLAY
SET changeDue TO changeDue - 5
END WHILE
WHILE changeDue >= 2 DO
SEND ‘£2 coin’ TO DISPLAY
SET changeDue TO changeDue - 2
END WHILE
END WHILE

What is the maximum charge at the car park?

Explain how the algorithm calculates the change due and decides how
many notes or coins should be given. Complete the algorithm so that it
includes the payment of £1, 50p, 20p, 10p, 5p, 2p and 1p coins and add
comments to show how the code works. If the charge is £6.90 and the
person pays with a £20 note, use the completed algorithm to determine
how many of each type of denomination (£20, £10 and £5 notes and £2,
£1, 50p, 20p, 10p, 5p, 2p and 1p coins) will be issued.

Identifying errors
There are three types of error in computer programs.

• Syntax errors occur when algorithms are being converted into program
code.
• Runtime errors occur when the program is executed.
• Logic errors are errors in the design of algorithms.

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 Algorithms

Syntax and runtime errors will be covered in Chapter 2. Pseudo-code

purposefully doesn’t really have any syntax so that the developer can
concentrate on noting down the logic without having to be bothered
with the rules of syntax. Obviously, you won’t have syntax or runtime
errors in pseudo-code.

Worked example Did you know?

Here is an algorithm to find the average of two numbers. So far you have been using the
RECEIVE number1 FROM KEYBOARD Edexcel pseudo-code that is
RECEIVE number2 FROM KEYBOARD provided in the specification. In
the examination, questions will
SET average TO number1 + number2 / 2
be asked using this version, but
SEND average TO DISPLAY
if you have to answer a question
This seems logical. Two numbers are input, they are added together and by writing pseudo-code, you do
then they are divided by 2. not have to use Edexcel’s version.
However, if this algorithm was given 12 and 6 as the two numbers it As long as your answer is logical
would return 15 as the average instead of 9. There is a logic error. and can be understood by a
Instead of adding the two numbers and then dividing by two, as the competent person, then it will
developer intended, it is dividing the second number by 2 and then be accepted.
adding the result to the first number.
The developer should have written the third line as
SET average TO (number1 + number2) / 2

Did you know?

In computer programming the order of precedence (the order in which
you do each calculation) is the same as in mathematics and science –
BIDMAS.
This is how 32 × 9 + (5 − 2) would be evaluated.
Brackets 32 × 9 + (3)
Indices 9 × 9 + (3)
Division
Multiplication 81 + (3)
Addition 84
Subtraction
To calculate 24/3 – 2, the division would be calculated before the
subtraction.
24/3 = 8
8–2=6

The best way to find logic errors is to use the technique in the section above
– use sample data and check if the actual output from the algorithm is as
expected. You’ll learn more about this in Chapter 2.

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 Problem solving

Activity 18
This is part of a larger algorithm
designed to ensure that input data Start
falls within a certain range. It is part
of a school management system and
checks that the ‘year group’ entry is Input
acceptable. It has learners aged 11 to yearGroup
18 years with year groups of 7 to 13.
The staff using the system
congratulated themselves on never Is
yearGroup >=
making an error when entering the 7 OR <= 13?
year group, but when learner lists
were printed out they immediately
YES
received complaints.
What is the logic error in the
Figure 1.10 Flowchart showing an
algorithm?
error in an algorithm

Often logic errors occur when designing loops.

Worked example
Study this algorithm.
WHILE index < 10 DO
SET index TO 1
SEND index TO DISPLAY
SET index TO index + 1
END WHILE
The expected output is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
But there is a logic error. The variable ‘index’ is initialised in the wrong
place. It should be done before the start of the WHILE loop.
This algorithm would loop forever because at each turn in the loop the
variable index is set to 1. It will never reach 10. This is an example of an
‘infinite loop’. The algorithm should have been written as shown below.
Key term SET index TO 1
WHILE index < 10
Infinite loop: a loop that is
SEND index TO DISPLAY
never-ending since the condition
required to terminate the loop is SET index TO index + 1
never reached. END WHILE

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 Algorithms

Activity 19
Find and correct the errors in these algorithms.
• Example 1
SET index TO 1
WHILE index < 10
SEND index TO DISPLAY
END WHILE

• Example 2
SET index TO 1
WHILE index < 10
SEND index TO DISPLAY
SET index TO index - 1
END WHILE

• Example 3
SET index TO 1
WHILE index < 1
SEND index TO DISPLAY
SET index TO index + 1
END WHILE

Summary
• A logic error in an algorithm will produce an incorrect result.
• Tracing the value of variables in an algorithm helps to identify logic errors.
• Understanding the order of precedence of arithmetic operators and the significance of brackets will help you
to avoid making logic errors.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Describe the purpose of an algorithm and explain how it works.
S2 Explain, using examples, what a logic error is.
S3 Use a trace table to check the output of an algorithm and identify any logic errors. Explain what BIDMAS
means and demonstrate how this expression would be evaluated.
43 × 10 / 2 + (8 − 3)

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 Problem solving

Challenge
C1 State the purpose of this algorithm and explain the rules behind the calculation.
SEND ‘Enter the weight of your parcel in kilograms’
TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE parcelWeight FROM KEYBOARD
IF parcelWeight <= 2 THEN
postage = 8
ELSE
IF parcelWeight <= 10 THEN
postage = 8 + ((parcelWeight – 2) * 2.5)
ELSE
postage = 8 + (8 * 2.5) + ((parcelWeight – 10) *
3.5)
IF END
IF END
SEND ‘The cost of posting your parcel is ‘ & postage
TO DISPLAY

C2 People often want to know the human-equivalent age of their dog or cat. The rules for calculating this are:
A 1-year-old cat is equivalent in age to a 15-year-old human, a 2-year-old cat is equivalent in age to a 24-year-
old human. Add four years for every year after that.
A 1-year-old dog is equivalent in age to a 12-year-old human, a 2-year-old dog is equivalent in age to a
24-year-old human. Add four years for every year after that.
Design an algorithm expressed in pseudo-code that allows the user to input the age of their dog or cat and
outputs its equivalent human age. It should allow the user to have another go.
Use a trace table and test data to check the logic of your algorithm.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re
not sure you answered them well, try the following activities again.

• For S1 reread pages 20–21 and have another go at all the activities.
• For S2 and S3 reread the section on trace tables on pages 21–22 and the
section on identifying errors on pages 24–25.

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 Algorithms

Sorting and searching algorithms

Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• explain the following sorting algorithms and be able to apply them.
o Bubble sort

o Merge sort

• explain the following searching algorithms and be able to apply them.

o Linear search

o Binary search

• explain how the choice of algorithm is influenced by the data structures and data values that need to be
manipulated.
• evaluate the fitness for purpose of algorithms in meeting specified requirements efficiently using logical
reasoning and test data.

Two of the most common tasks in computer programs are sorting data into
a particular order and searching for particular items of information.

There might be millions of items of stored data and searching for

information would be very inefficient if the data was not sorted. Imagine
the confusion and difficulty of having to find something in a dictionary
that wasn’t in alphabetical order or planning a trip with train timetables
that weren’t sorted into time order. Even small lists such as football league
tables or the top-20 music charts are much more useful if they are sorted
into order.

Arrays
All sorting and searching algorithms work on lists of data. As you already
know, a variable stores just a single value (e.g. SET age TO 15 or SET
firstName TO ‘David’).

But what if a programmer wants to store lots of related values, such as the
names of a group of friends? A tedious way of doing it might look something
like this.
SET friend1 TO ‘Alice’
Key term
SET friend2 TO ‘Barry’
Array: an organised collection of
SET friend3 TO ‘Catherine’
related values that share a single
It would be much easier if all the names could be stored in one list to which identifier.
the names of new friends can be added. That’s exactly what an array allows
you to do.

An array with the identifier ‘arrayFriends’ would store the data items
like this.
arrayFriends = [‘Alice’, ‘Barry’, ‘Catherine’]

This array has three elements.

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 Problem solving
Array indexes
Each element in an array has an index number. In the example above the
index number for ‘Alice’ is 0 and the index number for ‘Catherine’ is 2. (Index
numbering starts at 0.)

A new element can be inserted into an array like this.

SET arrayFriends[3] TO ‘David’
SET arrayFriends[4] TO ‘Eva’

This would insert the name ‘David’ at index position 3 and the name ‘Eva’ at
index position 4 – the fourth and fifth positions in the array.
Top tip
Pseudo-code has a built-in Worked example
LENGTH command, which you
can use to find the number This code will traverse an array named ‘arrayFriends’ and print out each
of elements in an array. For element of the array.
example, SET size TO FOR index FROM 0 TO LENGTH(arrayFriends) – 1 DO
LENGTH(arrayFriends) would #The loop has to run to the length of
set the variable ‘size’ to 5. the array minus 1 as indexing starts at
Remember: the elements have 0. For example, if there are 10 items
indexes 0 to 4. then they will be indexed as 0 to 9
(10 –1).
SEND arrayFriends[index] TO DISPLAY
Top tips END FOR
• Use the LENGTH function to
find out how many marks
there are altogether. Activity 20
• Use a variable maxMark – set An array named ‘arrayScores’ contains a set of marks that a learner has
initially to 0 – to find the obtained during her computer science course.
highest mark. Create an algorithm expressed in pseudo-code to find and display her
• Each mark in the array is highest mark and her average mark.
compared in turn with the
value stored in maxMark. Activity 19 would have been a whole lot easier if the elements of the array
• If it is higher then maxMark is had been sorted into order. We will next be looking at two ways this can be
updated. done.

Sorting algorithms
Key terms As sorting is such a widely used procedure, many algorithms have been
Ascending order: this is created to carry it out. As with all algorithms, some are more efficient
arranging items from smallest to than others.
largest (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or a, b,
c, d, e, f). Bubble sort
Descending order: this is When data is sorted, different items must be compared with each other and
arranging items from largest to moved so that they are in either ascending order or descending order.
smallest (e.g. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 or f, e,
The bubble sort algorithm starts at one end of the list and compares pairs of
d, c, b, a).
data items. If they are in the wrong order, they are swapped. The comparison

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 Algorithms

of pairs continues to the end of the list, each complete traversal of the list
Key term
being called a pass. This process is repeated until there have been no swaps
during a pass, indicating that the items must all be in the correct order. Traversal: travel across or
through something. An array can
The algorithm can be described as follows. be traversed by moving from the
first to the last element in order
Bubble sort (ascending order) to examine the data stored at
1 Start at the beginning of the list. each index position.
2 Compare the values in position 1 and position 2 in the list – if they are
not in ascending order then swap them.
3 Compare the values in position 2 and position 3 in the list and swap if
necessary.
4 Continue to the end of the list.
5 If there have been any swaps, repeat steps 1 to 4.

Worked example
Here is an example of a bubble sort in action.
Pass 1 Pass 2
Items 1 and 2 must Items 1 and 2 are in
4 2 6 1 3 2 4 1 3 6
be swapped. correct order.
Items 1 and 2 are Items 2 and 3 must
2 4 6 1 3 2 4 1 3 6
swapped. be swapped.
Items 2 and 3 are Items 2 and 3 have
2 1 4 3 6
2 4 6 1 3 already in ascending been swapped.
order. Items 3 and 4 must
2 1 4 3 6
Items 3 and 4 must be swapped.
2 4 6 1 3
be swapped. Items 3 and 4 have
2 1 3 4 6
Items 3 and 4 have been swapped.
2 4 1 6 3
been swapped. Items 4 and 5 do not
2 1 3 4 6
Items 4 and 5 must need to be swapped.
2 4 1 6 3
now be swapped.
Items 4 and 5 have Pass 3
2 4 1 3 6
been swapped. Items 1 and 2 must
2 1 3 4 6
be swapped.
Figure 1.11 A bubble sort
Items 1 and 2 have
1 2 3 4 6
It would take a human three passes to carry out this been swapped.
bubble sort, but a computer would need four passes All items are now in
1 2 3 4 6
because it must continue until there have been no swaps. the correct order.
A computer cannot just look at all of the numbers at
once and see that they are all in order.

Did you know?

Do you know why it is called ‘bubble sort’? If you look carefully, you can
see that gradually the largest items move to the end, like bubbles rising
in water. After the first pass, the largest number is in its correct position.
Then after the second pass, the next largest is in its correct position.
This happens on each pass and so if the algorithm is to be made more
efficient the last set of comparisons can be omitted.

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 Problem solving
The bubble sort algorithm can be represented as a flowchart as
Start
shown in Figure 1.12.

Activity 21
length = length of list
position = 1 Study the flowchart of the bubble sort algorithm.
switch = 0
Using the variables declared, explain the logic behind the
algorithm – explain how it functions to sort a list.
Is List Swap List item
item (position) > YES (position) and List The bubble sort algorithm can also be expressed in
List item (position item (position + 1)
+ 1)? switch = switch + 1 pseudo-code. It assumes that the items to be sorted are
stored in an array.
NO

position = position + 1 #The items to be sorted are in an array with the

identifier ‘items’.
SET length TO LENGTH(items) - 1 #The variable ‘length’ is set to the length of
the array minus one to represent the last index
NO Is position.
position =
length? SET swapped TO 1 #The variable ‘swapped’ is assigned the value of 1.
WHILE swapped = 1 DO #The loop will run while the value of ‘swapped’ is
YES equal to 1.
swapped = 0 #The variable ‘swapped’ is changed to 0. It will be
NO changed back to 1 if a swap occurs.
Is
switch = 0? FOR index FROM 1 TO length DO #This will set up a loop from 1 to the value of
‘length’ which is the length of the array minus one.
YES
IF items[index-1] > items[index] THEN #On the first loop this will compare the value of
the item at index 1 with that at index 0.
End SET temp TO items[index-1] #This block of code will swap the two items if the
first is larger than the second.
SET items[index-1] TO items[index]
Figure 1.12 Bubble sort SET items[index] TO temp
algorithm written as a SET swapped TO 1 #Swapped is set to 1 to indicate that a swap has
flowchart occurred and so the ‘WHILE’ loop will turn again.
END IF
END FOR #This ends the ‘FOR’ loop and so the variable
‘index’ will be incremented by 1 for the next
iteration. When it is greater than the ‘length’
variable the ‘FOR’ loop will stop.
END WHILE

Activity 22
A tutor has stored a set of class examination results in an array
named ‘exam1’. Write an algorithm expressed in pseudo-code
to sort the results into descending order and then output the
highest and lowest result.

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 Algorithms

Merge sort Key term

Merge sort is a sorting algorithm that divides a list into two smaller lists
and then divides these until the size of each list is one. Repeatedly applying Recursion: a process that
a method to the results of a previous application of the method is called is repeated. For example, a
recursion. document can be checked and
edited, checked and edited and
In computing a problem is solved by repeatedly solving smaller parts of so on until it is perfect.
the problem. A part of a program can be run and rerun on the results of the
previous run (e.g. repeatedly dividing a number by 2).

Worked example
Here is an example of a merge sort which will sort the following list into ascending order.

8 4 2 6 1 3 5 7

The list is recursively split into half to produce a left list and a right list each time.

8 4 2 6 1 3 5 7

8 4 2 6 1 3 5 7

This continues until there is only one item in each list. Therefore each list is sorted into order.

8 4 2 6 1 3 5 7

The left and right lists are now recursively merged with the items in the correct order.

4 8 2 6 1 3 5 7

The leftmost items in each list are the lowest items of those lists and the algorithm compares them – in this case
4 with 2. The 2 is inserted in the new list and the 4 is then compared with the second number of the right list – 6.
The 4 is inserted and the 6 is compared with the second number of the left list.

2 4 6 8 1 3 5 7

The algorithm now merges these two lists in the same way to produce the final sorted list.
1 is compared with 2 and then 2 with 3, 3 with 4 etc.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Activity 23
Using a table like the one in the worked example, show how the following
list would be sorted into descending order using merge sort.
48, 20, 9, 17, 13, 21, 28, 60

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 Problem solving

Key terms Efficiency of sorting algorithms

This graph compares the performance of the bubble and merge sort algorithms.
Brute force: an algorithm
design that does not include 6
Key
any techniques to improve
5 Bubble
performance, but instead relies Merge
on sheer computing power to try 4

Time (seconds)
all possibilities until the solution
to a problem is found. 3
Divide and conquer: an
algorithm design that works by 2
dividing a problem into smaller
1
and smaller sub-problems,
until they are easy to solve.
0
The solutions to these are then 0 100 1000 15000 250000 500000
combined to give a solution to Number of items
the complete problem. Figure 1.14 A graph comparing the performance of bubble and merge sort algorithms

The bubble and merge sort algorithms demonstrate two alternative

Extend your knowledge approaches to algorithm design.
Only two sorting algorithms are The bubble sort algorithm is said to be using brute force because it starts
required for the specification: at the beginning and completes the same task over and over again until it
bubble sort (the slowest) and has found a solution.
merge sort (one of the most
efficient). There are far more, and The merge sort uses the ‘divide and conquer’ method because it
many of them are relatively easy repeatedly breaks down the problem into smaller sub-problems, solves
to code. Research the insertion those and then combines the solutions.
and selection sorts. The graph shows that a bubble sort is far slower at sorting lists of more
than 1000 items, but for smaller lists the time difference is negligible.

As the bubble sort algorithm is easier to code it could be advantageous to

Linear search
use it for smaller lists of less than 1000 items.
1 Start at the first item in the
list. Searching algorithms
2 Compare the item with the To find a specific item in a list involves carrying out a search. Like sorting,
search item. some methods of searching are more efficient than others.
3 If they are the same then
stop. Linear search
4 If they are not then move to A linear search is a simple algorithm and it is not subtle. It simply starts at
the next item. the beginning of the list and goes through it, item by item, until it finds the
5 Repeat 2 to 4 until the end of item it is looking for or reaches the end of the list without finding it.
the list is reached.
A linear search is sequential as it moves through the list item by item.

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 Algorithms

Activity 24
This flowchart displays a linear search algorithm, but some of the symbols
have not been labelled. Draw and complete the flowchart using the
labels provided.

Start

length = length of array

target = search item

NO

YES

Output array NO
[index]

YES
End

End
Activity 25
Labels
An array contains the names
of the one hundred most Output search item
Is index > length?
Does array [index] =
not found target?
downloaded performers on an
online music streaming site.
Produce an algorithm expressed index = index + 1 Input search item
in pseudo-code that enables
a user to see if their favourite
performer is in the top 100. Figure 1.15 A flowchart displaying a linear search algorithm with labels missing

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 Problem solving

Key term Binary search

Like a merge sort, a binary search uses a ‘divide and conquer’ method.
Median: the middle number
when the numbers are put in
ascending or descending order
Did you know?
(e.g. if there are 13 numbers, then You have probably used a binary search method when trying to guess a
the 7th number is the median). number between two limits. If you are asked to guess a number between 1
If there are an even number and 20 you will probably start at 10, the middle number. If you are told this
of items in an ascending list, is too high, you will then guess 5, the middle number between 1 and 10,
choose the item to the right of and then repeat this method until you find the correct one.
the middle (e.g. if there are 10
numbers, then choose the 6th as In a binary search the middle or median item in a list is repeatedly selected
the median). to reduce the size of the list to be searched – another example of recursion.
If the selected item is too high or too low then the items below or above
that selected item can be searched.

To use this method the list must be sorted into ascending or descending
order. It will not work on an unsorted list.

Binary search (items in ascending order)

1 Select the median item of the list.
2 If the median item is equal to the search item then stop.
3 If the median is too high then repeat 1 and 2 with the sub-list to the left.
4 If the median is too low then repeat 1 and 2 with the sub-list to
the right.
5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the item has been found or all of the items
have been checked.

Worked example
In this list, the search item is the number 13.

Select the
3 13 24 27 31 39 45 60 69 median
number.

As this is too high, the sub-list to the left of the median must be searched.

The median number

3 13 24 27 of this sub-list is
now selected.

This is again too high and so the sub-list to the left must be searched.

The median number is now the

3 13
search item.

Figure 1.16 Binary search including sub-lists

In this example, it took three attempts to find the search item. A linear
search would have accomplished this with only two attempts.

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 Algorithms

Activity 26
Display the stages of a binary search, as in the worked example above, to
find the number 13 in this list.
3 9 13 15 21 24 27 30 36 39 42 54 69

Here is part of the algorithm displayed as pseudo-code. Some of the lines

are incomplete as indicated by ‘x’ symbols.

#The items to be sorted are in an array with the

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx identifier ‘aList’ containing the values: 3, 13, 24, 27, 31,
39, 45, 60, 69.
SET start TO 0 #The variable ‘start’ is set to 0 – the index of the first
item in the list.
SET end TO LENGTH(aList) – 1 #The variable ‘end’ is set to the index of the last item in
the list.
SET found TO False #The Boolean variable ‘found’ is assigned the value ‘false’.
SEND ‘Please enter the search item.’ TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE target FROM KEYBOARD #The user is asked to enter the search item.
WHILE start <= end AND found = False DO #A while loop is set up with these conditions as the loop
should stop either when the target is found or all of the
list has been searched, i.e. when the ‘start’ and ‘end’
values are the same.
SET middle TO (start + end) DIV 2 #The median is found and is assigned to the variable
‘middle’.
IF aList[middle] = target THEN #If the target is found, the user is informed and ‘found’
is set to ‘true’ to stop the WHILE loop.
found = True
SEND target + ‘ is in the list’ TO DISPLAY
END IF
IF target < aList[middle] THEN
end = xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ELSE
start = xxxxxxxxxxxxx
END IF
END WHILE
IF found = False THEN
SEND (‘The search item is not in the list.’) TO DISPLAY
END IF

Activity 27
Complete the missing sections of the pseudo-code.

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 Problem solving
Efficiency of searching algorithms
In the example on page 36, the linear search was more efficient because it only
had to carry out two comparisons instead of the three for binary search. But is
this always the case?

Searching algorithms can be compared by looking at the ‘worst case’ and the
‘best case’ for each one.

Worked example
If you wanted to find a particular item in a list of 1000 items these are the best
and worst case scenarios for the linear search and binary search algorithms.
Linear search
A linear search starts at the first item and then works through sequentially.
The best case would be if the item is first in the list.
The worst case would be if it is the last in the list.
Therefore in this example the average would be 500 comparisons.
Binary search
The best case would be if the item is in the median position in the list. The
search would require only one comparison.
For the worst case it would have to choose the following medians until it
finally hit the target.
(This assumes that the target is always smaller than the median.)
Attempt Median
1 500
2 250
3 125
4 63
5 32
6 16
7 8
8 4
9 2
10 1
Therefore the worst case for the binary search is ten comparisons.

The binary search is therefore far more efficient than the linear search.

So should a binary search be used every time? That depends on the

circumstances. The binary search has one great disadvantage – the list must
be already sorted into ascending or descending order and therefore a sorting
algorithm must be applied before the search.

If the list is to be searched just once then a linear search would be better, but
if there is a large list that will be searched many times then sorting the list and
using binary search would be better. Once the list has been sorted new items
can be inserted into the correct places.

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 Algorithms

Exam-style question
A tutor has stored learner surnames in an array as shown below.
Marek Jackson Bachchan Wilson Abraham French Smith
1 Show the stages of a bubble sort when applied to this data.
The tutor has a sorted list of names from another class as shown below.
Azikiwe Bloom Byrne Davidson Gateri Hinton Jackson Linton Smith Wall
2 Show the stages of a binary search to find the name ‘Jackson’ when applied to this list.

Exam tips
These questions are testing knowledge of the sort and search algorithms.
1 The answer should be set out to show how the data is progressively
sorted using the bubble sort and the result of each pass should be
shown.
2 This question is to check that you know that this is a recursive method
where the median is repeatedly selected.

Summary
• An array stores multiple items of data.
• There are many algorithms for sorting and searching data.
• The choice of algorithm depends on the data that is to be processed.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Describe the differences between the ‘bubble sort’ and ‘merge sort’ algorithms.
S2 Describe how a binary search algorithm finds the search item.
Challenge
C1 Explain when a linear search might be preferable to a binary search even though the binary search algorithm
is more efficient.
C2 Discuss the advantages of using arrays in algorithms.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re
not sure you answered them well, try the following activities again.

• For S1 have a look at pages 30–33.

• For S2 have a look at pages 36–37.

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 Problem solving

1.2 Decomposition and abstraction

Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• analyse a problem by investigating requirements (inputs, outputs, processing, initialisation) and design a
solution.
• decompose a problem into smaller sub-problems.
• explain how abstraction can be used effectively to model aspects of the real world.
• program abstractions of real-world examples.

Key terms Problem solving

The tasks of a computer scientist include defining and analysing problems;
Computational thinking: the
creating structured solutions – algorithms; coding the solutions into a form
thought processes involved in
that can be implemented by a computer.
formulating problems and their
solutions so that the solutions These tasks are part of what is known as computational thinking.
are represented in a form that One of the skills required for computational thinking is algorithm design,
can be effectively carried out by a which we’ve covered in detail in this chapter. If there is a fault in the
computer. algorithm design then the program will not work, however good a coder you
Decomposition: breaking a are. Two other skills are decomposition and abstraction.
problem down into smaller, more
manageable parts, which are
Decomposition
then easier to solve. Decomposition is usually the first step in the problem-solving process.
Once a problem has been broken down and the sub-problems have been
Abstraction: the process of
identified, algorithms to solve each of them can be developed.
removing or hiding unnecessary
detail so that only the important Decomposition means that sub-problems can be worked on by different
points remain. teams at the same time. As smaller algorithms are developed for each sub-
problem, it is easier to spot and correct errors and when the algorithm is
developed into a program, code can be reused.

Worked example
A learner has been set the task of creating a computer version of the
‘noughts and crosses’ game where a user plays against the computer.

Create a ‘noughts and crosses’ game.

Design of How to keep How the How the

interface track of which ‘computer’ will ‘computer’ will
showing the squares have decide which decide when the
3×3 grid. been selected square to select. game is over and
by ‘X’ and ‘0’ and who has won.
which are free.
Figure 1.17 Sub-problems to be solved to create a noughts and crosses
computer program
The diagram shows some of the sub-problems that must be solved in
order to solve the complete problem and create a version of the game.

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 Decomposition and abstraction

Abstraction
We use abstraction all the time in our daily lives. We abstract the essential
features of something so that we can understand what people are trying
to communicate.
Somebody might say, ‘I was walking down the street
when I saw a cat.’ You immediately understand what
they mean by ‘street’ – probably a road with a pavement
and houses or shops along the side of it. Similarly you
can picture the cat – a smallish animal with fur, four legs
and a tail. An animal that is basically ‘cattish’. You have
extracted the basic properties of animals called cats so
that you can recognise one when you see one or imagine
one when somebody talks about a cat.
What you picture is very unlikely to be exactly like the
actual street and cat that the person experienced. But
because of our ability to abstract, the person did not have
to go into unnecessary painstaking detail about exactly
where they were and what they saw. They wouldn’t get
very far with the story if they did. Is this the street and cat you imagined?

When we create algorithms we abstract the basic details of the problem and
represent them in a way that a computer is able to process.

Worked example
Yasmin is designing a computer version of a game in which users have to
throw a die to determine their number of moves.
In the computer game the users can’t have an actual die, so she will have
to design a ‘pretend’ or virtual die that behaves in exactly the same way
as a real-life die.
Yasmin will have to use her powers of abstraction to work out the
essential features of a die and then represent them in computer code.
To represent the die she will have to create a routine that will select a
random number from 1 to 6 because that’s what a die does.
Yasmin has used abstraction to model a real-life event.

Levels of abstraction
There are different levels or types of abstraction. The higher the level of
abstraction, the less is the detail that is required. We use abstraction all the
time in accomplishing everyday tasks.

When programmers write the ‘print’ command they do not have to bother
about all of the details of how this will be accomplished. They are removed
from them. They are at a certain level of abstraction.

A driver turning the ignition key to start a car does not have to understand
how the engine works or how the spark to ignite the petrol is generated. It
just happens and they can simply drive the car. That is abstraction.

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 Problem solving

An example – noughts and crosses

The diagram on page 40 showed some of the sub-problems that the
problem of creating a noughts and crosses game could be divided into.
The following could be written at a high level of abstraction.
• The computer goes first. Then the user. This continues until either one
wins or all of the squares have been used.
Immediately a pattern can be recognised – a loop will be needed.
Inputs and outputs
The following inputs from the user will be needed.
• Start the game.
• Entries for the user.
• Select a new game or finish.
The following outputs will be needed.
• A message to inform the user when it is their turn.
• A message to inform the user if they try to select a square that has
already been used.
• A message to inform the user if the game is a draw.
• A message to inform the user if they or the computer has won.
• A message to ask the user if they want to play another game or want
to finish.
Processing and initialisation
The following processing will be needed.
• Set up the grid with the nine squares.
• Initialise all variables to a start value.
• Decide which square the computer will select.
• Allow the user to select a square.
• Check if the user has selected an already used square.
• Check if the computer or the user has won.
• Check if all squares have been used and the game is a draw.
• Allow the user to select a new game or finish.

The solution is still at a high level of abstraction and more details will need
to be added.
For example, the programmer will need to decide how the game will record
which player has selected each square; how the computer will decide which
square to select; how the game will decide if the computer or the user has won.
The programmer will have to go into more and more detail or move to lower
levels of abstraction.
Eventually the programmer will be able to design an algorithm for the game
and code it using a high-level programming language such as Python or
Java. Even before they start to implement the game, they will need to plan
how they will test the finished program to make sure that it works correctly;
what test data they will use; what outcomes it should produce.
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 Decomposition and abstraction

Coding an algorithm
High-level programming languages make it easier for a programmer to write
code. Unfortunately, the processor, which has to execute the program, cannot
understand the language it is written in, so it needs a translator to translate
the code into the only language it does understand – a stream of 1s and 0s.

These high-level languages are therefore at a high level of abstraction – very

far removed from the actual language of a computer.

The processing can be split into parts. For example, in the example of the
noughts and crosses game there could be separate algorithms for:

• deciding where the computer should make its next selection – it could be
called ‘computer entry’;
• checking if the computer or the player has won – it could be called ‘check
if won’;
• checking if there are any empty squares left – it could be called ‘check draw’.
These separate algorithms could be used when they are needed. It is
efficient because it means that the same code doesn’t have to be rewritten
whenever it is needed.

These items of code are called subprograms.

In Chapter 2 we’ll look in detail at how subprograms are used to reduce the Key term
complexity of programs and to make them easier to understand. Subprogram: a self-contained
module of code that performs a
In the die example above, the designer could write a subprogram called
specific task. It can be ‘called’ by
‘die’ that generates a random number from 1 to 6. In the main program the
the main program when it
designer could just call the ‘die’ subprogram without having to think about
is needed.
how to implement it each time.

Activity 28 Did you know?

In a game each player spins a wheel that is divided into four colours: Computer models or simulations
red, blue, green and yellow. Each player has to answer a question on a of real life are widely used. It is
particular topic depending on the colour next to a pointer when the wheel far cheaper and safer to train
stops. Red is for science, blue for history, green for general knowledge pilots on flight simulators than
and yellow for geography. A player scores two points if they answer on real aircraft. They are also
correctly on the first attempt and one point for being correct on the used in weather forecasting,
second attempt. The first player to reach 30 points is the winner. designing and testing new cars
Your task is to design a computer version of the game for up to four and bridges and even teaching
players. You must analyse the problem and list all of the requirements; people to drive. A computer
decompose the problem, list all the sub-problems and write a brief model is used by the Chancellor
description of each; list all of the input, output and processing of the Exchequer to predict what
requirements. will happen if changes are made
in the Budget (e.g. if taxes are
One of the requirements that will have to be modelled is the spinning of
raised or lowered).
the wheel. Using a written description and pseudo-code show how this
could be done.

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 Problem solving

Extend your knowledge

Complete the noughts and crosses game by coding it in the language you
are studying. See if you can end up with a working game.

Summary
• Computational thinking is an approach to solving problems that includes techniques such as decomposition
and abstraction.
• Problems are easier to solve if they are decomposed into smaller
sub-problems.
• Abstraction is used to remove unnecessary detail to make a problem easier to understand and solve.
• When designing a solution to a problem the inputs, outputs and processing requirements should be identified
at the outset.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Explain what is meant by ‘decomposition’ and the benefits it provides for programmers.
S2 Explain what is meant by ‘abstraction’.
Challenge
C1 Describe examples of the use of ‘decomposition’ and ‘abstraction’ when solving a problem.
C2 In your own words explain what is meant by ‘computational thinking’.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions?

If you’re not sure you answered them well, reread pages 40–42.

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 Chapter 2

Programming

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 Programming

2.1 Develop code

Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• explain the difference between algorithms and programs.
• code an algorithm in a high-level programming language.
• describe the characteristics of data types and select appropriate data types for variables.
• use sequence, selection and iteration in your programs.

Algorithms and programs

As you learnt in Chapter 1, an algorithm is a precise method of solving a
problem. It consists of a sequence of unambiguous, step-by-step instructions.
Key term A program is an algorithm that has been converted into program code so
Execution: the process by that it can be executed by a computer. A well-written algorithm should be
which a computer carries out free of logical errors and easy to code in any high-level language.
the instructions of a computer
program. As part of this course you will learn to write programs in a high-level
programming language. All high-level programming languages resemble
natural human languages, which makes them easier for humans to read
and write but impossible for computers to understand without the help
of a translator. You will learn more about how a program written in a
high-level language is translated into machine code – the language of
computers – in Chapter 4. The aim of this chapter is to develop your
generic programming skills rather than to teach you how to program in
a particular language.

A computer programmer at work writing code

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 Develop code

In Chapter 1 you were introduced to an algorithm for keeping track of a sport

club’s wins, draws and losses (see pages 20–21). Here is what it looks like coded
in the Python programming language.

Pseudo-code Python
SET totalFor TO 0 totalFor = 0
SET totalAgainst TO 0 totalAgainst = 0
SET win TO 0 win = 0
SET loss TO 0 loss = 0
SET draw TO 0 draw = 0
SET anotherEntry TO ‘Y’ anotherEntry = ‘Y’
WHILE anotherEntry = ‘Y’ DO while anotherEntry == ‘Y’:
SEND ‘Enter goals for:’ TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE goalsFor FROM KEYBOARD goalsFor = int(input(‘Enter goals for:’))
SEND ‘Enter goals against:’ TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE goalsAgainst FROM KEYBOARD goalsAgainst = int(input(‘Enter goals against:’)
SET totalFor TO totalFor + goalsFOR totalFor = totalFor + goalsFor
SET totalAgainst TO totalAgainst + goalsAgainst totalAgainst = totalAgainst + goalsAgainst
IF goalsFor > goalsAgainst THEN if goalsFor > goalsAgainst:
SET win TO win + 1 win = win + 1
ELSE
IF goalsFOR < goalsAgainst THEN elif goalsFor < goalsAgainst:
SET loss TO loss + 1 loss = loss + 1
ELSE
else:
SET draw TO draw + 1 draw = draw + 1
END IF
END IF
SEND ‘Press ‘Y’ to enter another result.’ TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE anotherEntry from KEYBOARD anotherEntry = input(“Press ‘Y’ to enter another result”)
END WHILE
SEND ‘Total wins: ‘ & win TO DISPLAY print(‘Total wins:’,win)
SEND ‘Total losses: ‘ & loss TO DISPLAY print(‘Total losses:’,loss)
SEND ‘Total draws: ‘ & draw TO DISPLAY print(‘Total draws:’,draw)

As you can see, the algorithm and the program are similar, but not the same.
Some obvious differences are:

• Command words in pseudo-code are written in capital letters. In Python they

are in lower case.
• The SET … TO pseudo-code command is replaced in Python by an equals sign.
• The RECEIVE … FROM pseudo-code command becomes ‘input’ in Python.
• The SEND … TO DISPLAY pseudo-code command translates into ‘print’.

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 Programming
• The equivalent of IF … THEN in pseudo-code is ‘if’ on its own with a colon
at the end of the line.
• In fact, there are quite a number of colons in the Python code and none in
the pseudo-code.
• There are no END statements in Python. Instead, indentation is used to
indicate the start and end of a selection statement or a loop (see page 55).
• In Python the symbol for the relational operator equals is ‘==’. This
enables the computer to tell the difference between the arithmetic
operator ‘=’ and the relational operator.
The two also have features in common:

• Both use descriptive variable names.

• Indentation features in both.
• The three programming constructs – sequence, selection and iteration –
are the basic building blocks of both.
What you can’t see from just looking at the code is that the rules of the
programming language, its syntax, are much more important in a program
than they are in an algorithm.

You can get away with missing out a bracket, getting the indentation
wrong or misspelling a command word in pseudo-code because the target
audience is a human and humans are able to make allowances for any
shortcomings in the code. The same can’t be said for computers. If the code
Key term isn’t exactly right, the computer won’t be able to execute it and will flag up
Syntax error: an error that a syntax error. Needless to say, you are bound to encounter syntax errors
occurs when a rule of the frequently while learning to program.
programming language is broken.
Top tip
Not all programming languages use the same symbols to represent
Activity 1
arithmetic operators. Here are the symbols Python and Java use to
Start compiling a reference represent modulo (MOD), integer division (DIV) and exponent (^):
guide that shows the high-level
program code equivalents to Python Java
the pseudo-code commands Modulo % %
you use. Begin by revisiting Integer Division // Math.floor(a / b)
the algorithms you wrote while Exponent ** Math.pow(a, b)
studying Chapter 1. You need to check which symbols the language you are learning uses for
arithmetic operators.

Data types
As you learnt in Chapter 1, algorithms use variables (named memory
locations) to store values. Variables have a variety of uses, for example
controlling the number of times a loop is executed, determining which branch
of an IF statement is taken, keeping running totals and holding user input.

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 Develop code

When algorithms are converted into programs the computer needs to

Key term
be told what type of data is stored in each variable. Every programming
language has a number of built-in data types. Data type: specifies what kind of
data it can hold. Common data
Data type Description Example Examples of use types are integer, real, Boolean
integer Used to store whole numbers 30 age = 30 and character. The data type of a
without a fractional part. number = 5 value determines the operations
real Used to store numbers with a 25.5 weight = 25.5 that can be performed upon it.
fractional part (decimal place). price = 12.55
Real numbers are sometimes
referred to as floats (short for
floating point).
Boolean Only has two possible values: False correct = False
True or False. lightOn = True
character Used to store a single character ‘m’ gender = ‘m’
or symbol. char = ‘:’
Table 2.1 Common data types
When writing pseudo-code you don’t have to specify the data types of
variables. However, data types become much more important once you start
programming in a high-level language because the data type of a variable
determines the operations that can be performed on it.
For example, the result of multiplying a value by 5 differs according to its
data type.

integer 8 * 5 = 40
real 8.0 * 5 = 40.0
character ‘8’ * 5 = ‘88888’

The method of declaring variables differs between programming languages.

Some languages, such as Python, automatically select the appropriate data
type for a variable based on the data assigned to it. Others, such as Java, require
the data type of variables to be declared before the variables can be used.

Top tip
Although you don’t have to declare the data types of variables in pseudo-
code, it is a good idea to do so. You can simply list the variables and their
data types at the start of an algorithm, for example:
INTEGER age
REAL weight
BOOLEAN correct
CHARACTER gender
You can also specify the data type of a variable in the RECEIVE statement,
for example:
RECEIVE age FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD
RECEIVE price FROM (REAL) KEYBOARD

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 Programming
Variable initialisation
When a variable is declared, the computer allocates it a location in memory.
Initially this location is empty, so before a variable can be used it has to be
given a value.

You can put an initial value into a variable by

• initialising it when the program is run (e.g. SET total TO 0);

• reading a value from a keyboard or other device (e.g. RECEIVE
Key terms admissionCharge FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD).
Initialisation: the process of Once a variable has been initialised an assignment statement is used to
assigning an initial value to a change its value (e.g. SET total TO total + admissionCharge).
variable.
If a variable, such as a loop counter, is intended to hold a running total,
Assignment statement: the then it should always be initialised to a starting value. Some programming
SET…TO command is used to languages won’t execute if the programmer fails to do this; others will do so
initialise variables in pseudo- but may well produce some unexpected results.
code, for example:
SET anotherGo TO 0 Activity 2
SET correct TO False
1 Investigate what data types are available in the high-level language
Type coercion: the process of you are studying. Produce a table similar to the one above to
converting the value stored in a summarise your findings.
variable from one data type to
2 Identify an appropriate data type for each of these items.
another.
a The test score of an individual learner.
b The average score for a group of learners.
c Whether or not the pass mark for the test has been achieved.
3 Look back over the algorithms you wrote in Chapter 1 and identify
instances of variable initialisation.

Activity 3 Type coercion

Sometimes the data type of a variable gets changed during program execution.
Investigate how type coercion This is known as type coercion. For example, if an integer value and a real
is handled in the high-level value are used in an arithmetic operation, the result will always be a real.
language you are studying.
Languages such as Python, where the data type is assumed from the context,
have commands that allow the data type to be changed.

Activity 4
A theme park uses a program to monitor the number of people entering
and exiting the park. The maximum number of visitors at any one time
must not exceed 10,000. When the number of people in the park reaches
the maximum a ‘Park Full’ message is displayed at the entrance gate.
Children can visit the park free of charge, but each accompanying adult
must pay £2.50 admission. The program keeps track of the amount of
money collected at the gate.
1 Identify the variables needed in the program.
2 Select an appropriate data type for each variable and constant.

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 Develop code

Command sequence, selection and iteration

In Chapter 1 you learnt that the three key building blocks of algorithms
are command sequence, selection and iteration. In this chapter you will
have the opportunity to implement these constructs in the high-level
programming language you are studying.

Command sequence
A command sequence is a set of instructions that the computer executes
one after another in order. Command sequences are usually combined
with loops and selection statements.

Activity 5
RECEIVE number1 FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD
RECEIVE number2 FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD
SET result1 TO number1 / number2
SEND result1 TO DISPLAY
SET result2 TO number1 MOD number2
SEND result2 TO DISPLAY
SET result3 TO number1 DIV number2
SEND result3 TO DISPLAY

1 Describe what this algorithm does.

2 State the output of the algorithm given the following inputs:
a 4, 2
b 10, 3
c 20, 6
3 Implement this algorithm in the high-level language you are studying.

Selection
The selection construct is used to create a branch in a program. The
computer selects which branch to follow based on the outcome of a
condition, for example:

IF day = ‘Saturday’ OR day = ‘Sunday’ THEN

SET alarm TO 11
ELSE
SET alarm TO 8
END IF

A standard IF…THEN…ELSE statement provides two alternatives. If there

are more than two, then a nested IF must be used. However, many high-level
programming languages have an additional built-in selection construct that
does away with the need for a nested IF statement.

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 Programming

Activity 6 Top tip

1 Investigate the selection Many programming languages allow you to test multiple conditions
statements that are within the same IF statement to save you having to use nested IFs.
available in the high-level Here’s how it’s done in Python and Java.
programming language you
Python Java
are studying.
if num1 > num2: if (num1 > num2) {
2 In Chapter 1, Activity 8 (on
page 11) you created an print(num1) System.out.println(num1);
algorithm that inputs a elif num1 < num2: } else if (num1 < num2) {
learner’s age and calculates print(num2) System.out.println(num2);
how many driving lessons they else: } else {
will require according to a set
print(‘Equal’) System.out.println(‘Equal’);
of rules.
Implement this algorithm in }
the high-level programming
language you are studying. Loops
3 In Chapter 1, Activity 10 (on A loop is another name for an iteration. Loops are used to make a
page 13) you studied an computer repeat a set of instructions more than once. There are two
algorithm for calculating the types of loop – definite and indefinite.
grade achieved in an end-of-
A definite loop is used when you know in advance how often the
topic test.
instructions in the body of the loop are to be repeated. For example, if
Implement this algorithm in
you want the computer to display a character on the screen for a fixed
the high-level language you
amount of time and then remove it.
are studying.
An indefinite loop is used when the number of times a loop will need
to be repeated is not known in advance. For example, if you want
to give a user the option of playing a game as often as they want.
Indefinite loops are repeated until a specified condition is reached.

Every programming language has a number of built-in loop

constructs. You will need to explore the ones provided in the language
you are studying.

Top tip Top tip

It is sometimes necessary to Here’s how to write a WHILE loop in Python and Java.
place one loop statement within Python Java
another loop statement. This is counter = 0 int counter =10;
called a nested loop. while counter < 10: while(counter < 10) {
print(counter) System.out.println(counter);
counter = counter + 1 counter++;
}

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 Develop code

Activity 7 Top tip

1 Describe what these two algorithms do and implement them in the Be careful not to create an infinite
high-level programming language you are studying. loop – one that will never end.
a Algorithm A Always ensure that the condition
to terminate the loop will
FOR index FROM 1 TO 10 DO eventually be met.
SEND index * index * index TO DISPLAY
END FOR
b Algorithm B
SET counter TO 10
WHILE counter > 0 DO
SEND counter TO DISPLAY
SET counter TO counter - 1
END WHILE
Activity 8
2 In Chapter 1, Activity 11 (on page 14) you created two versions of an
In Chapter 1, Activity 17 (on page
algorithm for a dice game: one used a WHILE…DO loop and the other
24) you developed an algorithm
a REPEAT…UNTIL loop.
Implement both versions in the high-level programming language using a nested loop for part of a
you are studying. simulation of a payment system
at a car park.
3 In Chapter 1, Activity 12 (on page 15) you created an algorithm that
sums all the numbers in a range. Implement this algorithm in
Implement this algorithm in the high-level programming language the high-level programming
you are studying. language you are studying.

Summary
• A program is an algorithm that has been converted into program code.
• Pseudo-code is far more forgiving than program code.
• The four basic data types are integer, float/real, Boolean and character.
• The data type of a variable determines the operations that can be performed on it.
• Data types don’t have to be declared in pseudo-code but it’s a good idea to do so.
• Variable and type declarations, command sequences, selection and iteration are four of the structural
components of a program.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Explain why variables are needed.
S2 Give examples of the four data types.
S3 Describe how selection and iteration are implemented in the high-level language you are studying.
Challenge
C1 Describe these structural components of a program: variable and type declarations, command sequences,
selection and iteration constructs.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re
not sure you answered them well, try redoing the activities in this section.

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 Programming

2.2 Making programs easy to read

Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• explain the benefit of producing programs that are easy to read.
• use techniques to improve the readability of code and describe how code works.

Code readability
You should always try to ensure that any code you write is easy to read and
understand. This benefits you and anyone else who needs to understand
how your programs work.
It’s surprising how quickly you forget. Try revisiting the programs you have
already written in this chapter and make sure it is still clear to you what they
do and how they work. Imagine how much more difficult it would be to make
sense of a complex program with lots of variables, subprograms, nested
loops and multiple selection statements.
Contrary to what you might think, programming is not a solitary activity.
Programmers usually work in teams, with each programmer developing a
different part of the program. This only works if they all adopt a consistent
approach to writing readable code.

Figure 2.1 An example of Python code

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 Making programs easy to read

The programmer who produced this program did not follow good practice.
There are a number of ways that the readability of this code could be improved.

• Use descriptive names for variables (e.g. userChoice instead of Num1).

• Add blank lines between different blocks to make them stand out.
• Add comments that explain what each part of the code does.

Programmers often work in teams; it is vital that any coding they share is clear and
error free

This table lists the techniques you should use to make your programs easy
to read and understand.

Technique Description
Comments Comments should be used to explain what each part
of the program does.
Descriptive names Using descriptive identifiers for variables, constants
and subprograms helps to make their purpose clear.
Indentation Indentation makes it easier to see where each block
of code starts and finishes. Getting the indentation
wrong can result in the program not running or not Activity 9
producing the expected outcomes. Investigate how to write
White space Adding blank lines between different blocks of code comments in the high-level
makes them stand out. language you are studying.

Table 2.2 Techniques for program clarity

Top tip Did you know?

Here’s how to write comments in Python and Java. Microsoft® Windows® uses
• Python: start each line of a comment with the # symbol. roughly 40 million lines of code
• Java: start single line comment with // or start a multi-line comment – code readability obviously
with /* and end it with */ becomes more and more
important as programs get larger.

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 Programming

Activity 10
1 Rewrite this algorithm using appropriate techniques to make it easier
to read.
SET x TO 10
WHILE x >= 0 DO
IF x > 0
SEND x TO DISPLAY
ELSE
SEND ‘Blast Off’ TO DISPLAY
Calculators have a number of useful
END IF
functions
SET x TO x -1
END WHILE

2 Implement the improved algorithm in the high-level language you are

studying.
3 Design an algorithm for a simple calculator that:
a allows the user to choose from these options: addition,
subtraction, division and multiplication;
b prompts the user to input two numbers;
c performs the calculation and displays the result;
d offers the user the option of performing another calculation.
4 Implement this algorithm in the high-level programming language
you are studying, ensuring you use techniques to make the program
easy to read.

Exam-style question
XtraSave is a chain of supermarkets that has recently installed self-
checkouts in all its stores.
Customers are issued with one 10p voucher for each £10 they spend and
one 5p voucher if they spend £5.
The self-checkout system uses the following algorithm to print vouchers.

01 RECEIVE amountSpent FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD

02 WHILE amountSpent >= 5 DO
03 IF amountSpent >= 10 THEN
04 SEND voucherTen TO PRINTER
05 SET amountSpent TO amountSpent - 10
06 ELSE
07 IF amountSpent >= 5 THEN
08 SEND voucherFive TO PRINTER
09 SET amountSpent TO amountSpent - 5
10 END IF
11 END IF
Self-checkout machines are a common 12 END WHILE
sight in supermarkets

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 Making programs easy to read

1 Identify the line number(s) that show one example of each of these Exam tip
structural components: (3 marks) This question is testing your
a Selection ability to identify two of the main
b Iteration programming constructs. Make
c Variable initialisation sure you have identified the line
numbers in which the selection
2 Identify two techniques the programmer has used to improve the
and iteration constructs are found.
readability of the code. (2 marks)
3 Give two reasons for writing code that is easy to read. (2 marks)

Summary
• Using comments, descriptive names, indentation and white space makes code easier to read.
• Producing readable code makes it easier to understand what a program does and how it does it.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Explain why it is important to make your code easy to read.
S2 Describe four techniques that a programmer should use to make code easy to read.
Challenge
C1 Revisit the programs you have already written. Do you still understand what they do and how they work? If
not, try to improve their readability.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re
not sure you answered them well, look again at the table on page 55.

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 Programming

2.3 Strings
Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• describe what a string is and explain what strings are used for.
• use iteration to traverse a string.
• concatenate and split strings.

Earlier in the chapter you learnt that a character is one of the four basic data
Key terms types. A character can be a single letter, a symbol, a number or even a space.

String: a sequence of characters. A sequence of characters is called a string. Although strings can contain
They can be letters, numbers, different sorts of characters, including numbers, they are all treated as if
symbols, punctuation marks or they were text.
spaces.
When a computer executes a program it needs a way of telling the
Function: a function is a difference between a string and an instruction. In most programming
subprogram that performs a languages this is achieved by enclosing strings in quotation marks (e.g.
specific task and can be used at ‘johnsmith@mail.com’, ‘10/04/15’ or ‘123’). Both single ‘ ’ and double “ ”
any point in the program. High- quotation marks are acceptable, as long as they are used consistently. In
level programming languages the example “It’s her book”, the apostrophe is treated as part of the string
have a number of useful built-in because double quotes have been used to enclose the string.
functions. You can also create
your own or use functions Strings are very useful when communicating with users. For example, asking
available in online libraries. them to enter some information into a program or displaying the output of
a program in a format that humans can read and understand.

String indexing
Each character in a string has an index number, with the first character at
position 0. You can use the index to reference individual characters in a string.

For example, if the string myText holds the value ‘Computer Science’, then
myText[1] references the letter ‘o’, myText[8] references the space and
myText[11] the letter ‘i’.

Index 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
String C o m p u t e r S c i e n c e
Table 2.3 Example string index
Length
The Edexcel pseudo-code has a built-in LENGTH function, which you can
use to find the number of characters in a string (e.g. in the case of the
string ‘Computer Science’, SET numChars TO LENGTH(myText) assigns
the value 16 to the variable numChars).
The programming language you are studying will have a function for
finding the length of a string. You should investigate what it is called and
how it works.

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 Strings

Activity 11
Design and write a program to check the length of a password. If the
password entered is less than six characters, the program should output
‘The password you have entered is not long enough’; otherwise it should
output ‘Length of password OK’.

String traversal
You can use a FOR loop to cycle through each of the characters in a string. Key term
This is known as string traversal. String traversal: using a loop to
The following algorithm prints out the word ‘monkey’ letter by letter, cycle through each character in a
displaying each letter on a separate line. string.

SET animalName TO ‘monkey’

Activity 12
FOR index = 0 TO LENGTH(animalName) - 1
SEND animalName[index] TO DISPLAY Develop a program in the high-
END FOR level language you are studying
that asks the user to enter a
Concatenation sentence and outputs the number
As you learnt in Chapter 1 (on page 18), concatenation involves joining two of vowels that it contains.
or more items of information together. Concatenating two strings produces You will need to initialise a
a new string object. Concatenation comes in very handy when displaying variable for each vowel to keep
text on screen. a running total of how often it
appears in the string.
The following piece of code asks the user to input their name and stores it
in the variable userName. The string ‘Hello ‘ and the value stored in
userName are concatenated using the & symbol, which is known as a
concatenation or append operator.

RECEIVE userName FROM (STRING) KEYBOARD

SEND ‘Hello ‘ & userName TO DISPLAY

Most programming languages have a number of different ways of

concatenating strings. You need to investigate how it is done in the
language you are studying.

Type conversion
Type conversion is performed when a string and a non-string (for example
an integer) are joined together. The computer converts the non-string into a
string before joining the two strings together.

In the next example the string value stored in the variable learnerName
and the integer value stored in the variable testScore are concatenated to
form a new string, which is stored in the variable message.

RECEIVE learnerName FROM (STRING) KEYBOARD

RECEIVE testScore FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD
SET message TO learnerName & testScore
SEND message TO DISPLAY

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 Programming
Slicing
Slicing is the process of extracting part of a string. This example algorithm
extracts the string ‘foot’ from ‘football’.

SET sport TO ‘football’

SET newString TO ‘’
FOR index FROM 0 TO 3 DO
SET newString TO newString & sport[index]
END FOR
SEND newString TO DISPLAY

Activity 13
1 Investigate how to concatenate and slice a string in the high-level
programming language you are studying.
2 A company wants a program to generate usernames for new
employees. Each username consists of the first four letters of the
employee’s last name and the first letter of their first name joined
together. If the employee’s last name is less than four characters in
length a letter ‘X’ is used to fill in for each of the missing characters.
Develop a program that asks the user to input their first and last
names and outputs their username.
3 Use string slicing to split this line of data into a set of seven strings.
‘23456,West Kirby,04/11/15,23.0,11.5,30,D1’
The comma indicates where one string ends and the next begins and
should be omitted when the string is sliced.

String formatting
Programming languages provide various methods of formatting strings to
improve the way they are displayed on screen. They are particularly useful
for formatting numbers, for example, by setting the number of decimal
places to display.

Activity 14 Did you know?

Investigate the string formatting Strings are immutable; this means that they cannot be changed. It might
methods available in the high- appear that you can alter a string, but what really happens is that a new
level language you are studying. variable is created and replaces the old one, for example:

SET newLearner TO ‘Robert Bennett’

SET newLearner TO ‘Sally Hadwen’

In the first line of this code extract the value ‘Robert Bennett’ is stored
in a memory location to which the identifier newLearner points. In the
second line, the value ‘Sally Hadwen’ is stored in a different location in
memory, and the newLearner identifier is then updated to point to this
new memory location.

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 Strings

Summary
• A string is a sequence of characters.
• Each character in a string has a unique index value denoting its position in the string. The first character in a
string has the index value 0.
• High-level programming languages have a built-in length function that finds the length of a string.
• A loop is used to traverse a string, character by character.
• Concatenation is the process of joining two or more strings together.
• Slicing is the process of extracting part of a string.
• String formatting is used to control the way text is displayed on screen.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Describe how individual characters in a string are referenced.
S2 Design an algorithm that uses a loop to traverse a string.
S3 Describe how a string and a non-string are concatenated.
Challenge
C1 Develop a program that asks the user to input a sentence and then splits it up wherever a space occurs. Each
word should then be displayed on a separate line.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If

you’re not sure you answered them well, have another go at the activities
in this section.

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 Programming

2.4 Data structures

Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• describe the structure of one- and two-dimensional arrays and give examples of their use.
• create and use one- and two-dimensional arrays in programs.
• describe the record data structure and explain what it is used for.
• design record structures.

A data structure is an organised collection of related elements. There

Key term
are a lot of different data structures used in programming. You’ve already
Data structure: an organised encountered one of them – strings. In this section we will investigate two
collection of related elements. more: arrays and records.
Arrays and records are two
common data structures used in Arrays
programming. As you learnt in Chapter 1, an array is an organised collection of related values
with a single shared identifier. All the elements in an array are the same data
type. Each has a unique index value denoting its position in the array.

In the Edexcel pseudo-code, an array is initialised using the SET command.

For example, this statement initialises an array called firstNames with four
elements, all of type string.

SET firstNames TO [‘Alex’, ’Bryn’, ’Eloise’, ’Lois’]

The square brackets denote the start and end of the array. The next
statement initialises an empty array called winners.

SET winners TO []

As with strings, the LENGTH function returns the number of elements in an

array. In the example below numItems is assigned the value 4.

numItems = LENGTH(firstNames)

Top tip Looping through an array

FOR loops come in handy when working with arrays. The following algorithm
Here’s how to define an array in
uses a FOR…EACH loop to iterate through the array firstNames, element by
Python and Java.
element, outputting each name in turn.
Python
SET firstNames TO [‘Alex’, ’Bryn’, ’Eloise’, ’Lois’]
Scores = [15, 29, 4, 50] FOR EACH name FROM firstNames DO
Java SEND name TO DISPLAY
Int[] Scores = {15, 29, END FOR
4, 50};
Different languages have different ways of implementing arrays. For
example, in Python the list data structure is used to implement an array. In
Java arrays have to be declared prior to being used.

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 Data structures

Searching and sorting

In Chapter 1 you explored algorithms for searching and sorting elements of
an array.

Activity 15
The following code uses a linear search algorithm. Describe how it works.

SET firstNames TO [‘Alex’, ’Bryn’, ’Eloise’, ’Lois’,

’James’, ’Sally’]
RECEIVE searchName FROM (STRING) KEYBOARD

SET found TO False

SET index TO 0

WHILE found = False AND index <= (LENGTH(firstNames) –

1) DO
IF searchName = firstNames[index] THEN
SET found TO True
END IF
SET index to index + 1
END WHILE Top tip
When using a WHILE loop with
IF found = True THEN an array, the loop terminating
SEND searchName & ‘ is at position ‘ & index & ‘ in condition is LENGTH – 1 rather
the list’ TO DISPLAY than LENGTH. This is because
ELSE the index of an array starts at
SEND searchName & ‘ is not in the list’ TO DISPLAY 0, so the index value of the last
END IF element of the array is one less
Implement this algorithm in the high-level programming language you than the number of elements in
are studying. the array.

Activity 16
In Chapter 1, Activity 22 you developed an algorithm that output the
highest and lowest results.
Implement this algorithm in the high-level programming language you
are studying.

High-level programming languages have a number of methods for working Did you know?
with arrays, including append (to add an item to an array), pop (to remove
an item from an array) and reverse (to reverse all the elements in an array). Arrays can be static or dynamic.
They might also have a built-in sort method. A static array has a fixed length
that must be declared when it is
created (e.g. myFriends[5]). A
Activity 17 dynamic array can grow as new
Investigate the array handling methods available in the high-level items are added. It would be
programming language you are studying. declared as myFriends[].

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 Programming
Two-dimensional arrays
So far, we have only considered one-dimensional arrays consisting of a
single row of elements. But a lot of data comes naturally in the form of
Key term a matrix. For example, train and bus timetables, conversion tables and
Two-dimensional array: a matrix football league tables. They can be represented as two-dimensional arrays.
of rows and columns resembling In actual fact, a two-dimensional array is an array of arrays. Each row of a
a table. Two indices are used, two-dimensional array is a one-dimensional array in its own right.
one to reference the rows and Here is an extract from an array named examResults. It has three rows,
the other the columns. All the each of which stores a set of four exam results. The mark of 47 is located at
elements of a two-dimensional examResults[1, 2] – second row, third element along – and the value 80
array share the same data type. at examResults [0, 0] – first row, first column.

0 1 2 3
0 80 59 34 89
1 31 11 47 64
2 29 56 13 91

Initiating a two-dimensional array

In the Edexcel pseudo-code, the SET command is used to initiate a two-
dimensional array. Note the two sets of square brackets showing that
examResults is an array of three elements, each of which is an array.
SET examResults TO [[80, 59, 34, 89], [31, 11, 47, 64],
[29, 56, 13, 91]]

Top tip
Here is how to initiate a two-dimensional array in Python and Java.
Python
Scores = [[80, 59, 34, 89], [31, 11, 47, 64], [29, 56,
13, 91]]
Java
Int[][] Scores = {{80, 59, 34, 89}, {31, 11, 47, 64},
{29, 56, 13, 91}};

Looping through a two-dimensional array

A pair of nested FOR loops is used to traverse a two-dimensional array: one
to iterate through the rows and the other to iterate through the columns.
The FOR loop that iterates through the columns is nested within the one
that iterates through the rows. For each iteration of the outer loop, the inner
loop iterates through all the columns in one row. This is demonstrated in the
algorithm below.

FOR EACH row FROM examResults DO

FOR EACH column FROM examResults[row] DO
SEND examResults[row, column] TO DISPLAY
END FOR
END FOR

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 Data structures

Activity 18 Top tip

1 Investigate how to initialise a two-dimensional array in the high-level All the data values stored in an
programming language you are studying. array must be of the same data
2 Write a program that creates and initialises an array to hold these five type. In this case they are all
sets of marks. strings. You will have to convert
80, 59, 34, 89 the scores to integers to find the
31, 11, 47, 64 highest.
29, 56, 13, 91
55, 61, 48, 0
75, 78, 81, 91
3 Extend your program so that it calculates and displays the highest
mark, the lowest mark and the average mark achieved.
4 This two-dimensional array holds the highest score achieved by each
player in each of the three levels of an online game.
Player Level Score
Alex 1 19
Seema 1 29
Seema 2 44
Lois 1 10
Alex 2 17
Alex 3 36
Dion 1 23
Emma 1 27
Emma 2 48
Table 2.4 Example two-dimensional array
Develop a program that initialises the array and then searches through it
to find the player with the highest score in each of the three levels.

Records
We have already said that the elements of an array must all be the same Key terms
data type. In contrast, the record data structure stores a set of related Record: a data structure that
values of different data types. stores a set of related values of
different data types.
Each element in a record is known as a field and is referenced using a field name.
Field: an individual element in a
Table 2.5 illustrates how the record data structure works. Each row of the table record.
holds a set of information about a particular learner. Each column stores one
item of information about the learner – their learner number, their age, their
form etc. All the values in a column have the same data type – learnerNum
and age are integers; firstName, lastName and form are strings.
learnerNum firstName lastName age form
1 Susan Smith 15 10H
2 Ben Roberts 14 10B
3 Anita Khan 15 10A
4 Ian Wright 15 10G
Table 2.5 Example record data structure
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 Programming
Programming languages vary in the way they handle the record data structure.

Activity 19
1 A record data structure is to be used to store the details of music
albums. Give the appropriate data type for these fields:
a the title of the album;
b the name of the artist;
c the year of release;
d the genre.
2 Develop a program that uses a record structure for storing the details
of music albums. It must:
It is essential to have a way to sort
a have fields for title, artist, year of release and genre;
through the vast amounts of recorded
music available b allow the user to input the details of new albums;
c allow the user to search for an album by name and display its
details.

Exam-style question
The XtraSave chain of supermarkets collects data about product sales.
The record for each product includes:
• its unique ID (e.g. X14 or X98);
• the total number sold in each month of the year.
1 Identify a suitable data structure to store this data. (1 mark)
2 Explain why the data type you chose is most suitable to hold this
data. (3 marks)
3 Draw a diagram of the data structure that shows the amount sold in the
first three months of the year. Include data for at least two products.
(3 marks)

Exam tip
This question is testing your ability to select and design data
structures. Make sure you have:
• identified a suitable data structure to store the data and justified your
choice;
• provided the sample data requested (i.e. sales figures for two products
for the first three months of the year).
Row and column headings can be included as long as they are clearly
distinguishable from the data.

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 Data structures

Summary
• A data structure is an organised collection of related elements. Arrays and records are common data structures.
• A one-dimensional array is a list of elements, each of which has a unique index value representing its position
in the list.
• A two-dimensional array is a matrix of rows and columns. Each element in the array has a unique pair of indices,
one to identify the row and one the column in which it is located.
• All the elements in an array have the same data type.
• A record consists of a collection of fields. The values stored in a record can be of different data types.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 What is the index of the first element in a one-dimensional array?
S2 How does a linear search algorithm find an element in a one-dimensional array?
S3 How is an element stored in a two-dimensional array referenced?
S4 How is a nested IF used to traverse a two-dimensional array?
Challenge
C1 Develop a program for a simple address book that uses a one-dimensional array to store a set of names and
email addresses, and allows the user to search for a person by name and returns their email address.
C2 Develop a program that uses a two-dimensional array to represent a treasure map consisting of a grid of 4
rows and 4 columns.
A random number function should be used to establish the location of the treasure.
The user must hunt for the treasure by repeatedly entering the coordinates of squares. The program should
tell them when they have found the treasure and help them in their search by indicating how close they are.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re
not sure you answered them well, try redoing the activities on pages 63, 65
and 66.

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 Programming

2.5 Input/output
Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• explain the need for validation.
• write code that validates user input.
• write code that accepts and responds appropriately to user input.
• write code that reads to and writes from a text file.

User input
Most programs require some form of input either from a user or from a file.
You already know how to receive user input from a keyboard.

A program can be made much more ‘user friendly’ by displaying helpful

messages informing users of what they are expected to enter and
confirming successful input.

Validation
It is important to ensure that data entered by the user is valid, as invalid
data can cause a program to behave unexpectedly or even stop altogether.
Not surprisingly, if the data entered into a program is incorrect, the output
it produces will also be wrong. This is sometimes called the Garbage In,
Garbage Out (GIGO) principle.
Key term Any program that requires data entry should have appropriate forms of
Validation: to check that the data validation built in. But be warned, validation can’t guarantee that the data
entered by a user or from a file entered is correct. It can only make sure that it is reasonable.
meets specified requirements.
There are a number of different types of validation.

Range check
A range check is used to ensure that the data entered is within a specified
range. Study this algorithm, which checks that the number entered is
between 1 and 10.

BOOLEAN valid
SET validNum TO False
WHILE validNum = False DO
SEND ‘Please enter a number between 1 and 10:‘ TO
DISPLAY
RECEIVE number FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD
IF number >= 1 AND number <= 10 THEN
SET validNum TO True
END IF
END WHILE
SEND ‘You have entered: ‘& number TO DISPLAY

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 Input/output

The algorithm uses a Boolean variable named validNum as a status flag. It

Activity 20
is initially set to False. The WHILE loop continues running until validNum is
equal to True. An IF statement determines if the value of ValidNum should Implement the range check
be set to True. algorithm in the high-level
programming language you are
Validating user input studying.
Many programs require the user to choose from a list of options, for
example ‘yes’ or ‘no’, or ‘a’, ‘b’ or ‘c’. In this situation it is important to check
that a valid option has been chosen.

BOOLEAN validChoice
SET validChoice TO False
WHILE validChoice = False DO
SEND “Please enter either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’:” TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE userChoice FROM (STRING) KEYBOARD
Activity 21
IF userChoice=’Yes’ OR userChoice=’No’ THEN
SET validChoice TO True Design and implement a program
END IF for a user menu with these four
END WHILE options:
SEND You have selected: ‘& userChoice’ TO DISPLAY 1 display average temperature
2 display temperature range
This algorithm requires the user to enter either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ and uses an
3 display wind speed
IF statement to validate their input. The WHILE loop is repeated until an
appropriate choice is made. 4 quit the program
The program should ask the user
A problem with this algorithm is that the user must enter their choice to select an option and validate
exactly, in order for it to be accepted. For example, entering ‘yes’ instead of their entry. Entries in upper and
‘Yes’ would not be accepted. This issue can be addressed by altering the IF in lower case should be accepted.
statement to accept more valid options. When a valid option is selected
it should be displayed on screen
IF userChoice = ‘Yes’ OR userChoice = ‘yes’ OR with an appropriate message.
userChoice = ’No’ OR userChoice = ‘no’ THEN …

Top tip
Many programming languages have functions that can be used to convert
a string to upper or lower case. This can simplify the validation of strings,
for example:

Python
if userChoice.lower() == ‘yes’ or userChoice.lower() ==
‘no’:
validChoice = True
Java
if(userChoice.toLowerCase() == ‘yes’ ||
userChoice.toLowerCase() == ‘no’) {
validChoice = true
}

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 Programming
Length check
It is sometimes necessary to check that the length of a value entered falls
within a specified range. For example, all UK postcodes are between six and
eight characters long, so validation could be used to check that the length
of a postcode entered is within this range. Needless to say, even if it is, that
doesn’t mean to say it is correct.

RECEIVE postCode FROM (STRING) KEYBOARD

SET length TO LENGTH(postCode)
Activity 22 IF length >= 6 AND length <= 8 THEN
Implement the length check SEND ‘Valid’ TO DISPLAY
algorithm in the high-level ELSE
programming language you are SEND ‘Invalid’ TO DISPLAY
studying. END IF

Presence check
Another type of validation is a presence check. This simply ensures that a
value has been entered, preventing the user from leaving an input blank.
This algorithm asks the user to input their name and uses a presence check
to ensure they have entered a value. Any value will cause the loop to finish.
It will keep asking the user to input their name until they input a value.

Activity 23 SET userName TO ‘’

Implement the presence check WHILE userName = ‘’ DO
algorithm in the high-level RECEIVE userName FROM (STRING) KEYBOARD
programming language you are END WHILE
studying. SEND ‘Hello ‘ & userName TO DISPLAY

Look-up check
A look-up check is used to test that a value is one of a predefined set of
acceptable values. The list of acceptable values can be stored in a one-
dimensional array.
This algorithm stores a list of valid form names in an array. It compares the
form name entered by the user with the values in the array.

SET arrayForms TO [‘7AXB’, ‘7PDB’, ‘7ARL’, ‘7JEH’]

RECEIVE form FROM (STRING) KEYBOARD
SET valid TO False
SET index TO 0
SET length TO LENGTH(arrayForms)
WHILE valid = False AND index < length DO
IF form = arrayForms[index] THEN
SET valid TO True
END IF
SET index TO index + 1
END WHILE

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 Input/output

IF valid = True THEN Activity 24

SEND ‘Valid form’ TO DISPLAY Implement the look-up check
ELSE algorithm in the high-level
SEND ‘The form you entered does not exist.’ TO DISPLAY programming language you are
END IF studying.

Menus
Many programs feature menus that allow the user to choose which part of
the program they wish to use. The simplest way to implement a menu is to
give the user a list of numbered options to choose from and ask them to
input the number that corresponds to the option they want to select. The
user input can be validated using a range check to ensure that the option
selected is permissible. A menu could be set out like the example below.

Option 1: Find the highest value

Option 2: Find the lowest value
Option 3: Calculate the average
Activity 25
Please select either 1, 2 or 3:
Add a menu to the program
This algorithm implements the menu shown above. you developed in Question 3
of Activity 18. It must allow the
SEND ‘Option 1: Find the highest value’ TO DISPLAY
user to select whether they want
SEND ‘Option 2: Find the lowest value’ TO DISPLAY
to see the highest, lowest or
SEND ‘Option 3: Calculate the average’ TO DISPLAY
average mark achieved.
validChoice = False
WHILE validChoice = False DO
SEND ‘Please select either 1, 2 or 3:’ TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE choice FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD
IF choice = 1 OR choice = 2 OR choice = 3 THEN
SET validChoice TO True
END IF
END WHILE

Testing validation rules

It is important to test your validation rules to ensure they work as expected.
You should use:
Normal data – This is data that is within the limits of what should be
accepted by the program. For example, a password with seven characters
fulfils the validation rule that states that passwords must be between six
and eight characters in length.
Boundary data – This is data that is at the outer limits of what should be
accepted by the program. For example, if a validation rule specifies that the
range of acceptable values is >= 75 AND <= 100, then a value of 100 is at the
upper limit and a value of 75 at the lower.
Erroneous data – This is data that should not be accepted by the program.
For example, a value of 0 should not be accepted by either of the validation
rules given above.

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 Programming

Working with text files

The programs you have created so far haven’t required a huge amount of
data entry, but imagine typing a set of test results for everyone in your
computer science class. It would take a considerable amount of time to do
and – even worse – when the program terminates all of the data will be
lost. Should you need to use it again you’d have to re-enter it. This is where
Key term storing data in an external file comes in really useful. If the data you enter is
Text file: a sequence of lines, stored in an external text file you can access it as often as you like without
each of which consists of a having to do any further keying in.
sequence of characters.
Commas are used to separate individual values on a line and a special
character is used to denote the end of a line.
Text files provide permanent storage for data. This means that the data can
be reused without having to be retyped. Data can be read from, written to
and appended to a file.
Here is an example of data stored in a text file that contains four learners’
examination results. Earlier in this chapter you saw how a two-dimensional
array could be used to store this data.
As you can see, each line of the file represents one learner’s record, with
commas used to separate values.
Lois Bennett,56,45,78,32
Eloise Roberts,23,89,67,98
James Hadwen,65,43,83,45
Patrick Dua-Brown,21,43,38,29

Reading data from a text file

Data is read from a text file line by line, with each line being stored by the
program as a string. Each string is then split into an array of strings using
the comma as a separator.

This algorithm reads the data from the external text file marks.txt and
calculates the average score for the first test. It uses three predefined
functions: APPEND, SPLIT and LENGTH.

Stage 1 SET rawData TO []

FOR EACH record FROM marks.txt DO
READ marks.txt record
APPEND(record, rawData)
END FOR

Stage 2 SET examResults TO []

FOR EACH item in rawData DO
SET nextLearner TO SPLIT(item, ‘,’)
APPEND(nextLearner, examResults)
END FOR

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 Input/output

SET testTotal TO 0 Stage 3

FOR EACH learner FROM examResults DO
SET testTotal TO testTotal + INT(examResults[learner, 1])
END FOR
SET testAverage TO testTotal / LENGTH(examResults)
SEND ‘The average mark achieved in the first examination is:
‘ & testAverage TO DISPLAY

The algorithm carries out the task in three stages.

Stage 1
Each record in the file is read in and appended to the one-dimensional array
rawData, using a predefined function APPEND. At the end of this stage the
rawData array has four elements, each of which is a string.

Index 0 1 2 3
Elements ‘Lois Bennett, 56,45,78,32’ ‘Eloise Roberts,23,89,67,98’ ‘James Hadwen,65,43,83,45’ ‘Patrick Dua-Brown,21,43,38,29’

Stage 2
A loop is used to traverse the array rawData, element by element. A
predefined function SPLIT is used to split each element in turn into a set
of strings, using the commas as separators. Each set of strings is assigned
to the temporary array nextLearner and is then appended as a new row
to the two-dimensional array examResults. At the end of this stage the
examResults array looks like this.
0 1 2 3 4 Top tip
0 ‘Lois Bennett’ ‘56’ ‘45’ ‘78’ ‘32’ Here is an example of how to
1 ‘Eloise Roberts’ ‘23’ ‘89’ ‘67’ ‘98’ read data from a text file in
2 ‘James Hadwen’ ‘65’ ‘43’ ‘83’ ‘45’ Python and Java.
3 ‘Patrick Dua-Brown’ ‘21’ ‘43’ ‘38’ ‘29’ Python
Stage 3 file = open(‘scores.txt’,
Finally the algorithm iterates through each row of the array examResults, ‘r’)
converting the first set of marks for each learner to integers and totalling Java
them. It then calculates the average mark achieved in the first examination FileReader reader = new
and displays it on the screen. FileReader(‘scores.txt’);

Activity 26
1 Implement the algorithm shown above in the high-level programming
language you are studying. (You will need to create a text file in order
to test the program. It should consist of at least ten records.)
2 Extend your program to allow the user to choose which of the four
examinations they want the average mark for. The program should
accept valid user input only.

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 Programming

Writing data to a text file

The data stored in variables and arrays only remains in memory while the
program is running, so if you want to retain the data after the program is
exited you will need to write it to a file.

SEND ‘How many learners do you want to enter results

for?’ TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE numLearners FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD
FOR index FROM 1 TO numLearners DO
RECEIVE name FROM (STRING) KEYBOARD
RECEIVE mark1 FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD
RECEIVE mark2 FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD
RECEIVE mark3 FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD
RECEIVE mark4 FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD
WRITE marks.txt name, mark1, mark2, mark3, mark4
END FOR

The algorithm shown above writes data to an external text file called
marks.txt. It asks the user how many learners they want to enter marks
for. A FOR loop is then used to enter a name and a set of four marks for each
learner and to write this data as a new record in the file marks.txt.

Top tip
Here is an example of how to write data to a text file in Python and Java.
Python
file = open(‘scores.txt’, ‘w’)
file.write(name, mark1, mark2, mark3, mark4)
file.close()
Java
FileWriter writer = new FileWriter(‘scores.txt’, true);
writer.write(name, mark1, mark2, mark3, mark4);
writer.close();

Data imported from a file needs to be validated in the same way as data
entered by the user is validated. Records that do not meet the validation
rules should be rejected and stored in another file (known as an error log) so
the user knows which records haven’t been imported.

A text file can be used to store the

students’ test scores

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 Input/output

Activity 27 Activity 28
When saving records to a file you
Amend the program you developed in Activity 26 to include a validation
can choose to write or append.
rule that ensures that only valid marks between 1 and 100 are read in
Investigate the difference
from the file. Any invalid records should be rejected and written to an
between the two and find out
error log.
how they are implemented in
Make sure your text file includes some erroneous data so that you can
the high-level programming
test that the validation rule is working.
language you are studying.

Exam-style question
The XtraSave chain of supermarkets collects data about the products it
sells. It records the department, name and price for each product. The
data is stored in a text file with one record per line. The file contains over
8,000 records. Part of the file is shown below.

Tinned, Baked Beans, 0.59

Bakery, Wholemeal Bread, 1.50
Drinks, 1L Apple Juice, 0.90
Dairy, 1 Pt Semi-Skimmed Milk, 1.25
Drinks, 1L Orange Juice, 0.90

XtraSave wants to produce a list of all products in the drinks department

of the store.
Describe an improvement that could be made to the data from the file
when used for this purpose. (3 marks)

Supermarkets collect a great deal of information about the products they sell

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 Programming

Summary
• Validation techniques should be used to ensure that data entered by a user or from a file is valid. They can’t
guarantee that the data is correct, only that it is reasonable.
• A range check is used to ensure that data is within a specified range.
• A length check is used to ensure that data has a length within a specified range.
• A presence check is used to ensure the user has entered some data.
• A look-up check is used to ensure the data matches one of the values in a predefined list.
• When users are required to choose from a list of options, their input should be validated to ensure that their
choice is valid.
• Large sets of data are normally stored in text files. The advantage of writing data to a file is that the data is not
lost when the program is terminated. It can be read in from the file whenever it is needed.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Describe what might happen if a program doesn’t include validation on user input.
S2 Identify a data structure suitable for storing a list of values used in a look-up check.
S3 Show how your name, date of birth and favourite colour would be stored in a text file.
S4 Explain why it is advantageous to write data to a text file.
Challenge
C1 Develop a program that:
• writes a set of employee records consisting of employee number, name and department to a text file;
• reads in the stored records from the text file;
• allows the user to search for an employee’s details;
• uses appropriate validation.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re
not sure you answered them well, try redoing the activities in this section.

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 Subprograms

2.6 Subprograms
Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• describe what a subprogram is.
• explain the benefits of using subprograms.
• explain the difference between global and local variables.
• explain the concept of passing data into and out of subprograms.
• create subprograms that use parameters.
• write code that uses user-defined and pre-existing subprograms.

A subprogram is a self-contained module of code that performs a specific

Key terms
task. For example, a high-level programming language could provide a
predefined subprogram that calculates the average of a set of numbers. A Abstraction: the process of
programmer can use this subprogram in any program they write without removing or hiding unnecessary
needing to know how it works. In other words, subprograms support the detail so that only the important
process of abstraction. points remain.
Procedure: a subprogram
Using subprograms reduces the complexity of programs and makes them containing a set of statements that
easier to understand. It also saves time because the code only has to be are executed when the procedure
written once but can be used many times, and makes programs easier to is called. Unlike a function, a
maintain. Furthermore, different subprograms can be allocated to different procedure does not return a value
programmers, allowing large teams of programmers to work together on the to the main program.
same project.
Local variable: a variable that
There are two types of subprograms: functions and procedures. is accessed only from within the
subprogram in which it is created.
Example function
Here is a function that simulates the throw of a die.
Did you know?
FUNCTION die() # This is the start of the function.
In a flowchart a subprogram is
simDie = RANDOM(6) # This statement uses the predefined represented by this symbol.
function RANDOM to generate a random
number between 1 and 6 which is stored in
the variable simDie. Die

RETURN simDie # This returns the value of the variable

simDie to the main program. Figure 2.3 The symbol for a
subprogram in a flowchart
END FUNCTION # This ends the definition of the function.
This function is called by the main program like this.
dieThrow = die()
The value returned by the function is stored in the variable dieThrow.

Local and global variables

Notice that there are two variables that store the random number generated
by the function. In the function itself the variable simDie is used. This
variable only exists within the function and is referred to as a local variable.
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 Programming
In the main program the value returned by the function is stored in the
Key terms
variable dieThrow. It can be used anywhere within the main program and is
Global variable: a variable that therefore referred to as a global variable.
can be accessed from anywhere
Unlike a function, a procedure does not return a value to the main program.
in the program, including inside
subprograms.
Example procedure
Parameters: values that are
passed into a subprogram when PROCEDURE averageScore(score1, score2, score3)
it is called. BEGIN PROCEDURE
Scope: the region of code within SET total TO score1 + score2 + score3
which a variable is visible. SET average TO total / 3
SEND average TO DISPLAY
END PROCEDURE

The name of this procedure is averageScore and its parameters are

score1, score2 and score3. These are values that the procedure needs
to do its job. Data is passed into the subprogram by placing it in brackets
after the subprogram name, e.g.
averageScore(20, 24, 19)
This statement calls the procedure and passes the values 20, 24 and 19
into it. In this instance, the value stored in the variable average once the
procedure has finished executing is 21.

Both functions and procedures can have parameters. An empty pair of

brackets indicates that a subprogram does not have any parameters.

Activity 29
1 Investigate how subprograms are implemented in the high-level
programming language you are studying.
2 Write the die function and the averageScore procedure in the high-
level programming language you are studying.

Local and global variables have different scope. A local variable is only
available within a subprogram, whereas a global variable can be accessed
anywhere within the program.

Local and global variables

REAL cubeSurfaceArea
PROCEDURE cubeSurfaceCalc(width, height)
BEGIN PROCEDURE
SET cubeArea TO width * height
SET cubeSurfaceArea TO cubeArea * 6
END PROCEDURE
In this example cubeArea is a local variable because it is declared within
the procedure cubeSurfaceCalc. It therefore cannot be accessed by the
main program. On the other hand, cubeSurfaceArea is a global variable
because it is declared in the main program. It can be accessed throughout
Figure 2.2 Calculating the area of a cube the program, including from within the subprogram.
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 Subprograms

Activity 30 Top tip

1 Implement the cubeSurfaceArea procedure in the high-level If a local variable and a global
programming language you are studying and test it with the call variable share the same name
cubeSurfaceArea(10, 5). the subprogram will use the local
2 Write a function that will input an array of numbers and return the variable and the global variable
highest and lowest numbers. will not be changed.

Activity 31

CONST REAL discount

SET discount TO 0.1

FUNCTION discountPrice(total)
BEGIN FUNCTION
IF total >= 50 THEN
SET saving TO total * discount
SET newTotal TO total - saving
RETURN newTotal
ELSE
RETURN total
END IF
END FUNCTION

RECEIVE subTotal FROM (REAL) KEYBOARD

SET salePrice TO discountPrice(subTotal)
SEND salePrice TO DISPLAY

This algorithm is used to calculate the sale price of a customer’s shopping.

Identify the local variables, global variables and constants it uses.

Along with variable and type declarations, command sequences, selection,

iteration and data structures, subprograms are one of the essential structural
components of a program. Needless to say, just as with variables and data
structures, it is important to give subprograms meaningful names. This will
make what they do more obvious and will make your programs easier to read.

Extend your knowledge

When a subprogram calls itself this is known as recursion (see Chapter 1,
page 33).

A recursive subprogram always has at least two pathways – one that leads
to the subprogram being called again and one that leads to a terminating
condition being met. In Chapter 1 you learnt how recursion is used in a
merge sort algorithm to repeatedly divide a list in two. The terminating
condition is reached when the size of each list is one.

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 Programming

Exam tip Exam-style question

This question is testing your ability
to identify the seven key structural 01 SET valuesArray TO [3, 9, 12, 16, 4, 98]
components of a program. Make 02 REAL max
sure you have identified the line 03
numbers in which the components 04 FUNCTION maxCalc(values)
can be found. 05 BEGIN FUNCTION
06 SET length TO LENGTH(values)
07 SET max TO 0
08 FOR index = 0 TO length - 1 DO
09 IF values[index] > max THEN
10 SET max TO values[index]
11 END IF
12 END FOR
13 RETURN max
14 END FUNCTION
15
16 SET max TO maxCalc(valuesArray)
17 SEND max TO DISPLAY
1 Identify line number(s) that show one example of each of these
structural components of a program: (6 marks)
a variable initialisation
b type declaration
c selection
d iteration
e data structure
f subprogram
2 Identify the line number where a subprogram call is made. (1 mark)

Built-in functions
Key term In addition to user-written subprograms, most high-level programming
Built-in functions: functions languages have a set of built-in functions for common tasks. These are
that are provided in most high- designed to save the programmer time, such as functions that round
level programming languages to numbers, count the number of characters in a string and generate random
perform common tasks. numbers. You have come across some of these already.

Did you know?

The Python programming language has over 65 built-in functions.
Investigate the built-in functions provided by the high-level programming
language you are studying.
If there is not a built-in function that meets your needs you could
always use one from an external library. These provide more specialised
functions. For example, libraries for game development often include
functions for collision detection.

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 Subprograms

Exam-style questions Exam tip

The self-checkouts used by the XtraSave chain of supermarkets allow Use a conditional loop to ask
the user to scan the barcode on each product. Once the user has the user to place the item
scanned an item, its details are retrieved and passed to the subprogram in the bagging area. The
processItem. The parameters of the subprogram are: itemName, condition should check whether
itemPrice and itemWeight. the difference between the
The subprogram must: totalWeight value at the
start and current value of
• display the name and price of the item;
totalWeight is equal to the
• every five seconds ask the user to place the item in the bagging area
totalWeight.
until they have done it;
There are two variables called
• check whether the item has been placed in the bagging area by
area in this program, one
comparing the itemWeight to the totalWeight (weight of all the
is a global variable and the
items in the bagging area). other is a local variable. You
A global variable, totalWeight, holds the overall weight of the items in need to demonstrate that you
the bagging area and is updated each time a new item is added. understand how the values of the
The delay() subprogram has already been created. It allows program two variables change during the
execution to be paused for five seconds. execution of the program.

1 Design the processItem subprogram using pseudo-code. (9 marks)

2 State the name of a parameter that is used in this algorithm shown
below. (1 mark)
3 State the value that will be displayed on screen after line 12 is
executed. (1 mark)
4 State the value of the variable area after line 6 is executed. (1 mark)
5 State the value of the variable area after line 11 is executed. (1 mark)

01 REAL area
02
03 FUNCTION areaCalc(width, height)
04 BEGIN FUNCTION
05 REAL area
06 SET area TO width * height
07 RETURN area
08 END FUNCTION
09
10 SET area TO 5
11 SET rectangleArea TO areaCalc(5,10)
12 SEND rectangleArea TO DISPLAY

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 Programming

Summary
• A subprogram is a section of code within a larger piece of code that performs a specific task. It can be used at
any point in the program.
• A function is a subprogram that returns a value to the main program.
• A procedure is a subprogram that does not return a value to the main program.
• Parameters are values that are passed to a subprogram when it is called.
• Local variables can only be accessed from within the subprogram in which they are created.
• Global variables can be accessed anywhere in the program, including inside subprograms.
• Built-in functions are functions provided in a high-level programming language to perform common tasks.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Explain the benefits of using subprograms.
S2 Explain with examples what is meant by the scope of a variable.
S3 Describe what happens when a global variable and a local variable share the same name.
S4 Give an example of a common built-in function.
Challenge
C1 Design and implement a calculator program that:
• allows the user to enter a set of numbers;
• uses separate functions to calculate the mean, mode and median;
• allows the user to select which function they want;
• uses appropriate validation.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re
not sure you answered them well, try redoing the activities in this section.

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 Testing and evaluation

2.7 Testing and evaluation

Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• describe different types of error in programs.
• design and use test plans and test data.
• determine what value a variable will hold at a given point in a program.
• evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a program and suggest improvements.

Testing Did you know?

From the outset of a programming project you should be thinking about The Mars Climate Orbiter was
what you need to achieve and how you will test that the program functions launched from Cape Canaveral in
as expected. Testing should be an integral part of each stage of the December 1998 at a cost of more
program, starting at the design stage, during implementation and once than US $300 million. Its mission
you think the program is finished. This is the only way of ensuring that the was to provide valuable climate
program functions correctly and meets all of the specified requirements. information about Mars. However,
It is very rare for a programmer to develop a program that executes exactly due to an error in the ground-
as intended first time. There are nearly always errors that need to be found based computer software, Orbiter
and fixed. You’ve already come across two types of errors: logic and syntax. entered the planet’s atmosphere
at the wrong entry point and
Logic errors disintegrated shortly thereafter
As you learnt in Chapter 1 (on page 21), logic errors occur when the thinking without having sent back any
behind an algorithm is incorrect so that the output isn’t what is expected or information. Had the software
intended. Ideally, logic errors should be identified and fixed at the design stage. been properly tested we might
now be much better informed
The following algorithm is intended to work out whether a learner has passed
about the possibility of there
a test. Learners need a score of 80 or above to pass. However, a logic error in
being life on Mars.
the algorithm means that it produces an incorrect and unexpected result.

IF testScore <= 80 THEN

SEND ‘Pass’ TO DISPLAY
ELSE
SEND ‘Failed’ TO DISPLAY
END IF

Trace tables
You saw in Chapter 1 (on page 22) how a trace table can be used to identify
logic errors at the design stage.

SET table TO 5
FOR index FROM 1 TO 5 DO
SET answer TO index * table
SEND answer TO DISPLAY
END FOR

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 Programming
This algorithm displays part of the five-times table. Here is its trace table. It
records each variable change that occurs during execution of the algorithm.
Each time a line of code alters the value of a variable or variables a new row
of the trace table should be completed.

Table Index Answer

5
1
5
2
10
3
15
4
20
5
25

Activity 32
SET gender TO [‘M’, ’M’, ’F’, ‘M’, ‘F’, ‘F’, ‘M’, ‘F’,
‘M’, ‘F’]
SET length TO LENGTH(gender)
SET count TO 0
SET index TO 0
REPEAT
IF gender[index] = ‘F’ THEN
SET count TO count + 1
How many female students are there in END IF
this class? SET index TO index + 1
UNTIL index = length
This algorithm is intended to count the number of female learners in a class.
Create and complete a trace table for this algorithm.

Figure 2.4 A syntax error in Python code

Syntax errors
Syntax errors, as we saw earlier (page 48), occur when the grammar rules of
a programming language are not adhered to.

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 Testing and evaluation

The Python program in Figure 2.4 is designed to ask the learner to enter their
favourite subject. If they enter Computer Science the program should display
‘That’s my favourite subject too’, otherwise it should output ‘Interesting. I prefer
Computer Science’. Unfortunately, a syntax error prevents the program from
executing. The rules of the language state that a colon must be placed at the
end of a line before an indented block and this is missing from the second line.
Syntax errors are normally identified when the algorithm is being implemented
in a high-level programming language because they prevent the code from
being translated.

Runtime errors Key term

Runtime errors occur during program execution and are the most difficult to Runtime error: an error that
predict and spot. occurs while the program is
running – the operation the
This algorithm is designed to take two numbers, divide the first number by
computer is asked to do is
the second number and output the result. When implemented in a high-level
impossible to execute.
programming language it will work as intended at least some of the time.
However, if the user entered 5 and 0, a runtime error would occur because it is
impossible for the computer to divide 5 by 0.

RECEIVE firstNumber FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD

RECEIVE secondNumber FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD
SET result TO firstNumber / secondNumber
SEND result TO DISPLAY

Figure 2.5 shows another example of a runtime error. A message is shown

when letters are entered into the program where integers are expected.

Figure 2.5 An example of a runtime error in Python

Error summary
This table summarises the three types of error you are likely to encounter.
Type of error Description
Logic The program seems to run normally; however, there is an error in the logic of the program, which
means it does not produce the result you expect.
Syntax Syntax refers to the rules of the programming language. A syntax error means that part of the
code breaks the rules of the language, which stops it running.
Runtime An error that occurs when the computer tries to run code that it cannot execute.

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 Programming

Activity 33
RECEIVE width FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD
RECEIVE height FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD
SET area TO width / height
SEND ‘The area is: ‘ & area TO DISPLAY

1 Give a value for the variable height that would cause a runtime error.
2 Implement this algorithm in the high-level programming language
you are studying, correcting the error you identified in Question 1 and
using validation to prevent a runtime error occurring.

Activity 34

SET subjects TO [‘English’, ‘Maths’, ‘Science’,

‘Computer Science’]
FOR index FROM 0 TO 4 DO
SEND subjects[index] TO DISPLAY
END FOR
Key term Identify the runtime error that will occur when this algorithm is
Integrated Development implemented in a high-level programming language and executed.
Environment (IDE): a package
that helps programmers to Using an Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
develop program code. It You probably already have first-hand experience of using an Integrated
has a number of useful tools, Development Environment (IDE) when writing code. It’s definitely worth
including a source code editor taking some time to get to know the IDE that comes with the language you
and a debugger. One of the most are using. Useful features such as syntax highlighting, code auto complete
useful features of an IDE is the and auto indent will help to make your programming experience – especially
debugger. One of its tasks is to at the outset – far less stressful.
flag up syntax errors in the code
It is really important that you get lots of practice interpreting error
and issue helpful error messages.
messages and fixing errors in your code.

Top tip
Here are some error messages that you are likely to see in popular IDEs.
IDLE (A popular Python IDE)
• SyntaxError: invalid syntax – part of the code breaks one of the rules of the programming language
• IndentationError: expected an indented block – statements after a colon must be indented
• TypeError: Can’t convert ‘int’ object to str implicitly – trying to join a string and an integer together
• ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero – trying to divide a value by 0
• NameError: name is not defined – referring to a variable or subprogram that does not exist
Eclipse (A Popular Java IDE)
• ; expected – each statement should end with a semicolon
• Cannot find symbol – referring to a variable or subprogram that does not exist
• Incompatible types – trying to mix data of different types, for example a string and an integer

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 Testing and evaluation

Figure 2.6 A syntax error flagged up by an IDE in Python code

The IDE has flagged up a syntax error in this program.

It has identified that the programmer has started a string but has not
indicated where it finishes. The rules of the language state that strings must
be enclosed in speech marks.

The test plan

At the start of a programming project it is absolutely crucial to make a list
of the requirements that the program is expected to meet. Throughout the
development phase of the project you should regularly refer back to this list
of requirements to check that you are on track to achieve them.

Deciding how to test the finished program to make sure that it fully meets
the requirements can’t be left to the last moment either. As part of the
design stage, you should create a test plan listing the tests you will carry
out, the data that will be used for each test and the expected result.

Marks to grades
RECEIVE examMark FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD

IF examMark >= 80 THEN

SEND ‘A’ TO DISPLAY
ELSE
IF examMark >= 70 THEN
SEND ‘B’ TO DISPLAY
ELSE
IF examMark >= 60 THEN
SEND ‘C’ TO DISPLAY
ELSE
IF examMark > 0 THEN
SEND 'D' TO DISPLAY
ELSE
SEND 'FAIL' TO DISPLAY
END IF
END IF
END IF
END IF

This algorithm converts an exam mark into a grade. It should only accept
marks between 0 and 100.

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The test plan extract below shows some of the tests that have been planned
for the finished program to ensure that it meets all the requirements.

Test no Purpose of the test Test data Expected result Actual result Action needed/
comments
1 To check correct conversion of valid 0 'FAIL'
mark 55 'D'
65 'C'
75 'B'
85 'A'
2 To check correct conversion of 0 'FAIL'
boundary mark 1, 59 'D'
60, 69 'C'
70, 79 'B'
80, 100 'A'
3 To check response to erroneous mark –5 Error message
105 Error message
Only the first four columns of the test plan table can be completed at the design
stage. The remaining columns are filled in when the program is complete.
It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to anticipate at the outset every test that will
be needed to ensure the program works as intended. The test plan is not a
fixed document. If additional tests are required they should be added to the
test plan.
If a test produces the expected result you can simply write ‘None’ in the
‘Action needed/comments’ column. If, however, that is not the case then you
should instead note what went wrong and what you did to put it right.
It is important to select suitable test data for the tests. Test data falls into
three different categories: normal, boundary and erroneous. (See also
validation tests on page 71 in this chapter.)

Normal Data that is well within the Test 1 uses normal data to check
data limits of what should be if marks are converted into grades
accepted by the program. correctly (e.g. a mark of 65 should
be converted to a grade C).
Boundary Data that is at the outer Test 2 uses boundary data to check
data limits of what should be that the program works correctly
accepted by the program. with marks at the upper and lower
boundaries (e.g. a mark of 60 and a
mark of 69 should both convert to a
grade C).
Erroneous Data that should not be Test 3 uses erroneous data to check
Table 2.6 Test data categories data accepted by the program that the program does not accept it.

Testing is just as important as writing code because it ensures that the

finished program works correctly and fully meets the requirements. You
should use a ‘bottom up’ approach to testing (i.e. test each subprogram as
you develop it and then test the whole program once it is finished).

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 Testing and evaluation

Here is the completed test plan for the grade calculator program. As you can see, the expected result was not
produced when the program was tested with erroneous data. A range check had to be added to the program to ensure
that only marks between 0 and 100 can be entered.

Test no Purpose of the test Test data Expected result Actual result Action needed/comments
1 To check correct 0 'FAIL' 'FAIL' None
conversion of valid 55 'D' 'D'
score 65 'C' 'C'
75 'B' 'B'
85 'A' 'A'
2 To check correct 0 'FAIL' 'FAIL' None
conversion of 1, 59 'D' 'D'
boundary score 60, 69 'C' 'C'
70, 79 'B' 'B'
80, 100 'A' 'A'
3 To check response to -5 Error message 'FAIL' A range check has been added
erroneous score 105 Error message ‘A’ to ensure that only valid marks
can be added.

After you have carried out all of the tests and made all the necessary
Activity 35
changes, the program should be retested to ensure that the improvements
you have made haven’t introduced any new errors into the program. 1 Design an algorithm for a
simple guessing game. The
Evaluating programs algorithm must:
You need to be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your own a generate a random
programs as well as those created by other programmers. This will enable you number between 1 and 6;
to identify techniques that work well and aspects that could be improved. b ask the user to input a
number between 1 and 6;
Requirements – c reject any values outside
does the program meet
all the requirements
the acceptable range;
set at the start of d display ‘Well Done’ if the
the project? user guesses correctly or
Validation – has ‘Try Again’ if their guess is
Usability – is the
appropriate validation incorrect.
program easy to use?
been applied to user input?
2 Design a test plan for this
guessing game program.
Evaluating programs 3 Write the guessing game
program in the high-level
programming language you
Code readability – are studying.
the program – have have meaningful
loops and subprograms 4 Test your program by
been used to avoid and white space been carrying out the tests
unnecessary code used appropriately?
repetition?
you planned. Ensure you
update your test plan after
Figure 2.7 Consider the aspects shown above when evaluating a program. completing each test.

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 Programming

Exam tip Exam-style question

This question tests your ability to
trace an algorithm using a trace SET scores TO [45, 67, 34, 98, 52]
SET length TO LENGTH(scores)
table. Remember each variable SET count TO 0
change should be recorded
and each time a line of code FOR index FROM 0 TO length – 1 DO
IF scores[index] >= 50 THEN
alters the value of a variable or SET count TO count + 1
variables a new row of the trace END IF
table should be completed. END FOR

1 Describe what this algorithm does. (2 marks)

2 Draw and complete a trace table for this algorithm with these column
headings:
a length
b count
c index
d scores[index] (5 marks)

Summary
• Logic errors occur when there is an error in the logic of the code, causing the program to produce an
unexpected result.
• A syntax error occurs when part of the code breaks the rules of the programming language.
• A runtime error occurs while the program is running and it is asked to do something that is impossible to do.
• Trace tables can be used to manually trace the execution of an algorithm, allowing you to track the changes in
variable values.
• Before creating a program it is important to produce a test plan that outlines how the final program will be
tested to ensure it meets the requirements.
• Evaluating a program involves considering its strengths and weaknesses and identifying areas for improvement.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Describe the three types of error associated with program development and identify the stage(s) of
development at which they are most likely to occur.
S2 Describe the function of a trace table.
S3 Describe the features of an IDE that help programmers write error-free code.
S4 Describe the function of a test plan in program development.
S5 Describe what is meant by normal, boundary and erroneous data.
S6 Explain why it might be necessary to retest a program once all the planned tests are completed.
Challenge
C1 Identify the requirements for a program, design a solution and draw up a test plan for it.
C2 Design and implement the program. Conduct your planned tests and make any necessary changes to your
program, ensuring your test plan is kept up to date.
C3 Evaluate your program.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re not
sure you answered them well, try completing the activities on pages 84, 86 and 89.
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 Data

3.1 Binary
Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• explain why computers use binary to represent data and program instructions.
• describe how computers represent and manipulate numbers.
• convert between binary and denary whole numbers (0–255).
• perform binary arithmetic and understand the concept of overflow.
• explain why hexadecimal notation is used and be able to convert between hexadecimal and binary.

Key terms Why binary?

Binary: information represented Binary is needed to represent data and program instructions because of the
by only two values (e.g. a voltage way in which computers work.
or no voltage, on or off).
The processor, which processes all of the data and instructions, contains
There are no communication errors billions of transistors which are connected together to form circuits.
or misunderstandings because
there are no small differences. The transistors act as switches, similar to light switches. They have only two
Digital: information represented states, on or off – they either transmit an electric current or they do not. A
by certain fixed values (e.g. system with separate states is said to be digital and if there are two states
high, medium or low). Any signal it is binary. There are no in-between states with different levels of current
between these values would be as there would be in a dimmer switch, which produces different levels of
meaningless and not used. brightness in a bulb. A system such as this, where there is a continuous
range between two values, is said to be analogue.
Sending and receiving
mechanisms do not have to
be as accurate as for analogue Did you know?
communication. Humans have digital systems. The nerves which control all of our actions
Analogue: using signals or are a digital system. They transmit nerve impulses – bursts of electricity
information represented by a from the sense organs to the brain or from the brain to the muscles.
quantity (e.g. an electric voltage These impulses are all of the same intensity. These impulses are all of the
or current) that is continuously same intensity and the strength of the stimulus causing the impulses is
variable. Changes in the not signalled by the size of the impulses but by their frequency.
information being represented are
indicated by changes in voltage.
As there are only two states, on or off, the states are represented by the
This method requires very accurate digits of the binary number system, 1 and 0.
sending and receiving mechanisms.
All of the data and program instructions processed by a computer are
nothing more than streams of millions of 1s and 0s.

Numbers, text, graphics and sound are all represented in the same way, as a
series of 1s and 0s. The program instructions that the processor is following
allow it to interpret them in different ways.

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Representing information
There are only two digits, 1 and 0, but to represent the symbols in text there
must be at least 52 separate items of information – 26 lower-case and 26
upper-case letters. Then there are punctuation symbols – the full stops,
question marks, etc.

When we write, we combine the letters in our alphabet to create words and
combine these into sentences to convey meaning. Key term
In a similar way the two binary digits (bits) can be combined into groups. Binary digit (bits): the smallest
unit of data that is represented in
A single bit offers two possibilities. In a graphics program it could give
a computer. It has a single binary
black (1) or white (0), for example. If we wanted colour we’d need more
value, either 1 or 0.
combinations. If two bits are used this gives four possible combinations, 00,
01, 10, 11, each of which can represent a colour, so four colours could be used.

Three bits would give eight combinations, 000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110,
111, allowing eight different colours to be represented.

With four bits there would be 16 combinations.

There is obviously a mathematical relationship between the number of bits

used and the number of possible colours.

• With 1 bit there are 2 possible colours.

• With 2 bits there are 4 possible colours.
• With 3 bits there are 8 possible colours.
• With 4 bits there are 16 possible colours.

The number of possible colours is equal to 2 to the power of the number of

bits used in the combination.

• 21 = 2
• 22 = 2 * 2 = 4
• 23 = 2 * 2 * 2 = 8
• 24 = 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 = 16

Number systems
Binary is a number system based on two digits, 0 and 1.

We are more used to the denary system which has ten digits, 0 to 9, but the
binary system functions in the same way.

The difference is that the denary system works in powers of 10, whereas the
binary system uses powers of 2.

Denary system
Every digit has a place value and the one to the left has a value 10 times
higher than the one to the right.

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 Data
The following table shows the place values for the digits in the number 3,639.

Place values 103 102 101 100

1000 100 10 1
3 6 3 9

Therefore 3,639 can be written as:

(3 * 1000) + (6 * 100) + (3 * 10) + (9 * 1)

Binary system
Key term The binary system has similar place values but they increase by powers of 2.
Byte: the basic combination of The following table shows the place values for the digits in a byte.
bits used to represent an item
Place values 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
of information. A byte typically
consists of 8 bits. 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

Converting binary to denary

The table above can be used to convert a binary number to a denary one.
Activity 1
Calculate the denary equivalents The denary equivalent of the binary number 10101101 can be calculated as:
of the following binary numbers. Place values 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
a 00111001 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
b 11000110 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1
c 10101010 (1 * 128) + (1 * 32) + (1 * 8) + (1 * 4) + (1 * 1) = 128 + 32 + 8 + 4 + 1 = 173.

Converting denary to binary

The table of place values can be used to convert denary numbers to binary.

Worked example
Convert denary 213 to binary. Use the table and fill it in as you calculate
the equivalent.

Place values 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

Move from left to right:

Step 1: Is the number (213) equal to or greater than 128? If it is place a ‘1’
at this place value and if not place a ‘0’.
In this case 213 is greater than 128 so place a ‘1’ in this column and
calculate the remainder.

Place values 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
1
The remainder is 85.

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 Binary

Step 2: Is 85 greater than or equal to 64? Yes, therefore place a ‘1’ in this column.
Place values 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
1 1
The remainder is 21.
Step 3: Is 21 greater than or equal to 32. No, therefore place a ‘0’ in this column.
Place values 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
1 1 0
The remainder is still 21.
Step 4: Is 21 equal to or greater than 16? Yes, therefore place a ‘1’ in this column.
Place values 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
1 1 0 1
The remainder is 5.
Step 5: Is 5 equal to or greater than 8? No, therefore place a ‘0’ in this column.
Place values 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
1 1 0 1 0
The remainder is still 5.
Step 6: Is 5 equal to or greater than 4. Yes, therefore place a ‘1’ in this column.
Place values 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
1 1 0 1 0 1
The remainder is 1.
Step 7: Is 1 equal to or greater than 2? No, therefore place a ‘0’ in this column .
Place values 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
1 1 0 1 0 1 0
The remainder is still 1.
Step 8: Is 1 equal to or greater than 1? Obviously, they are equal and Activity 2
therefore place a ‘1’ in the last column.
Calculate the binary equivalents
Place values 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 of the following denary numbers.
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
a 69
1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 b 193
Therefore denary 213 is represented by binary 11010101. c 239

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 Data

Extend your knowledge

The methods to convert binary to denary and vice versa can be performed
by computer programs. Write and test programs that will carry out these
conversions. The programs should ask a user to enter either a denary or
an eight-bit binary number.
Remember to validate their input:
• the denary number should be no larger than 255, and
• the binary number should have eight digits and each digit must be
either 1 or 0.

Binary arithmetic
Binary numbers can be manipulated in the same way as denary ones.

Denary addition
When addition is performed in denary, a ‘carry over’ is used if the result is
greater than 9.

Worked example
369 + 733
Place 103 102 101 100
values 1000 100 10 1
Carry over 1 1 1
3 6 9
7 3 3
Total 1 1 0 2
100 + 300 + 700 = 1100 10 + 60 + 30 = 100 9 + 3 = 12
The 1000 is carried over The 100 is carried over. The 10 is carried over
leaving 100. leaving 2.
Binary addition works in the same way but a ‘carry over’ is needed if the
result is greater than 1.

Binary addition
Worked example
11010110 + 01100111
Place 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
values 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
Carry over 1 1 1
1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0
0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1
Total 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1
128 + 128 = 256 64 + 64 = 128 No No No 4 + 4 + 4 = 12 2+2=4 No
This should be The 128 is carry carry carry The 8 is The 4 is carry
carried over. carried over. over over over carried over carried over
needed. needed. needed. leaving one 4. over. needed.

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 Binary

We are adding eight-bit numbers and this has caused a problem. All eight
bits have been used and the 1 that was carried over in the last column
has nowhere to go – it has been carried out. Therefore the result of the
calculation would be wrong. This is called an overflow error.
This condition occurs when a calculation produces a result that is greater
than the computer can deal with or store.
When this occurs, the processor is informed that an error has occurred.

Extend your knowledge Activity 3

Overflow errors have led to many real-life disasters. Carry out the following binary
The most famous, or infamous, was the crash of the Ariane 5 space rocket, additions.
which exploded 40 seconds after its launch in 1996.
a 10011010 + 11010111
Others include the failure of the Patriot missile defence system in 1991.
b 00001101 + 10101010
Carry out research to find out more details about these ‘overflow’
c 11010111 + 10001010
disasters and problems.

Signed and unsigned numbers Key terms

So far we have been considering positive whole numbers or integers, but Integer: a whole number (e.g. 3,
how can we represent negative numbers? When an integer is indicated as 6, 9).
being positive or negative it is described as being signed. Most significant bit (MSB): the
bit with the highest value in a
In denary, this is simple, a ‘+’ or a ‘−’ symbol is placed in front of the number.
multiple-bit binary number.
In binary, if we are using 8-bit numbers, then we cannot do this because we
cannot simply add an extra bit. Also the processor would not understand the
‘+’ and ‘−’ symbols.

Sign and magnitude

In a multiple-bit binary number, the left-most bit, the one with the greatest
value, is called the most significant bit (MSB). We can use this to represent
signed integers.
It is set to 1 for negative and 0 for positive.
Therefore, using this method, binary 00011100 represents denary +28 and
binary 10011100 represents −28
The most significant bit is being used for the sign, so the largest positive
number represented by a byte is 127.

Adding signed integers

If the binary equivalents of denary +28 and denary −28 are added we get the
following result.
0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0
1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0
1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0

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 Data
Adding denary +28 and −28 we expect the result to be 0, but the binary
result is equivalent to −56.

Also using this method zero could be both positive and negative.

Positive zero 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Negative 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
zero

That clearly doesn’t make sense and so another method is needed to

represent negative numbers in calculations.

Two’s complement
The most common method used to represent signed integers in modern
computers is two’s complement.

This method works on the principle above – the result of any number added
to its negative equivalent should be zero.

Finding the two’s complement of a binary number

Top tip
To find the two’s complement of a binary number
The most significant bit
represents a negative number • flip all of the bits – change 1s to 0s and 0s to 1s.
rather than a sign. • add 1 to the result.
Number 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0
Flip 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1
Add 1 to 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0
flipped value

The MSB is 1, indicating a negative number.

Therefore the two’s complement of binary 00011100 is binary 11100100,

which is equivalent to denary −28.

Converting two’s complement numbers back into denary

This example shows that the two’s complement binary number 11100100
represents denary −28. We can check whether this statement is true by
converting it back from two’s complement.

Method 1 – Reverse calculation

The positive equivalent of a negative integer in two’s complement format
can be found by flipping the bits and adding 1.

Number 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0
−28
Flip 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1
Add 1 to 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0
flipped value
The result is denary 28.

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 Binary

This shows that 11100100 (−28) is the two’s complement representation of

00011100 (+28).

Method 2 – Place values

Using place values the two’s complement number can be converted directly
into denary.

Place 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
values −128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0

The most significant bit of the two’s complement binary number is 1,

indicating that it is negative. Therefore, the denary equivalent of the MSB is
taken as being negative −128.

The denary equivalent will be

−128 + 64 + 32 + 4 = −128 + 100 = −28

This shows that two’s complement 11100100 is equivalent to denary −28.

Worked example
Convert −69 to an eight-bit two’s complement binary number.

Place 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
values 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
69 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1
Flip 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0
Add 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1
So denary −69 is 10111011 in two’s complement binary.
We can check this using the place value method.
−128 + 32 + 16 + 8 + 2 + 1 = −128 + 59 = −69

Adding −28 to +28

The two’s complement of 00011100 is 11100100

So adding the binary equivalents of denary +28 and −28 gives

28 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0
−28 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0
Result of addition 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

There is an overflow, but this time the result is 0.

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 Data

Worked example
Add 28 and −5.
This is more difficult. The result should be 23.
The two’s complement representation of −5 is

5 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Flip 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0
Add 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1
Adding binary 28 to binary −5 gives

0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0
1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1
0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1
The result is 00010111, which is the binary equivalent of 23.

Did you know? Worked example

Additions using two’s Add −28 to +5.
complement can be used for
This is slightly more difficult. The result should be −23.
carrying out subtraction in binary.
For example,
−28 in two’s 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0
28 − 5 complement
is the same as
5 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
28 + (−5)
Result 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1

We can show that this is equal to −23.

Extend your knowledge
Write and test a program in the −128 + 64 + 32 + 8 + 1 = −128 + 105 = −23
language you are using which will
calculate the two’s complement
of an 8-bit binary number.
Remember to validate the binary Activity 4
number entered. 1 Calculate the two’s complement representation of the
following denary numbers.
a −113
b −56
c −90
2 Showing your working, carry out the binary addition of
90 + −33.

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 Binary

Binary shifts
In denary when we want to multiply a number by ten we move each number
one place value to its left and add a 0 to the end.
For example, 13 * 10 = 130.

Place values 103 102 101 100

1000 100 10 1
Original number 1 3
Multiply by 10 – the digits are 1 3 0
moved to the left and a 0 is added.

To divide by 10 we do the reverse – move each number one place value to

its right.
A left shift is used for multiplication by 10 and a right shift for division by 10.
If the number is being multiplied by 100 (102), then each digit is moved two
places to its left. Key term
In binary left and right binary shifts can be used for multiplication and Binary shift: an operation done
division by powers of 2. on all the bits of a binary value
in which they are moved by a
Logical shifts specific number of places to
For unsigned numbers logical shifts are performed in the same way as in either the left or right.
denary.
If we multiply the unsigned binary number 00010100 (20) by 22 (4) there
should be two shifts to the left.
The left-most bits drop off the end and are replaced by 0s at the right.

Place values 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0
Result of shift 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
The product is (64 * 1) + (16 * 1) = 80 in denary as expected.
If we divide the same number by 4 (22) there would be two shifts to the
right. This time the right-most bits drop off the end and are replaced by 0s
at the left.

Place values 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0
Result of shift 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
The result is (4 * 1) + (1 * 1) = 5 in denary as expected.

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 Data
A logical shift on integers can lead to a loss of precision. For example, if we
divide 00100001 (33 in denary) by 2 the digits would be shifted one place to
Activity 5 the right.
Calculate the results of the
Place values 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
following shifts on unsigned
integers. 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

a 00111010 * 23. 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
b 10011101 / 24. Result of shift 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

The result is 00010000, which is 16, but the correct result should be 16.5.

Key term Arithmetic shifts

Arithmetic shift: used for Arithmetic shifts are used with signed numbers expressed in two’s
signed binary numbers. When complement format.
performing a right shift the bits
at the left are replaced by copies Left arithmetic shift
of the most significant bit. A left arithmetic shift is identical to a left logical shift except that the
left-most bit (MSB) is not included because it must remain in place to
indicate the sign.

Worked example
Calculate the product of −36 * 2
−36 in two’s complement format is:

36 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0
Flip 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1
Add 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0

Therefore −36 in two’s complement format is 11011100.

If this is multiplied by 2 there should be one shift to the left with a 0

added at the right.

Leaving the MSB in place and shifting the others to the left will produce

10111000

This should be equal to −72 in two’s complement notation.

We can see if this is correct by proving that 10111000 is the negative of 72

in two’s complement.

−72 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0
Flip 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1
Add 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0

01001000 in binary is equal to 72 in denary.

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 Binary

Right arithmetic shift

When dividing signed binary numbers in two’s complement format by

powers of 2, the bits are shifted to the right, but they are replaced at the left
by copies of the most significant bit.

Worked example Activity 6

Calculate −72 / 2 . That is −72 divided by 4. The result should be −18.
2
1 Show the following
division:
−72 in two’s complement format is 10111000 – we showed this in the
previous worked example. a 10010000 / 22 in binary
b 11110110 / 21 in binary
Performing two right arithmetic shifts and adding the MSB at the left will
c 11000000 / 23 in binary
give
2 Show that your answers are
11101110 the expected results.
This should be −18 in two’s complement notation.

We can test it as before.

Did you know?
−18 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 A common use of hexadecimal
numbers is to describe colours
Flip 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
used in computer graphics. Each
Add 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 of the colours has a value of
24 bits – 8 bits for each of the
The result is 00010010, which is equivalent to (1 * 16) + (1 * 2) = 18. red, green and blue elements
that make it up. The 24 bits are
represented in hexadecimal so
Hexadecimal numbers that they are easier for humans
So far only 8-bit binary numbers have been considered, but it is common for to use.
data and commands to be represented by 32 and 64 bits. For example, it is far easier to
set the colour to red by entering
It is difficult for humans to remember and manipulate 8-bit binary numbers,
#FF0000 than having to type
but almost impossible to use 32-bit ones.
111111110000000000000000.
Humans get confused with large binary numbers, so we use hexadecimal A # symbol is used to indicate a
numbers to represent them. Computers never use them. hexadecimal number.
The hexadecimal system uses 16 digits from 0 to 15.

Our denary system has only digits for 0 to 9, so the higher hexadecimal
digits are represented by upper case letters. Key term
Hexadecimal: a base-16 number
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
system. There are 16 digits and
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
the place values increase in
The following diagram shows how to convert binary to hexadecimal. powers of 16.

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Converting binary to hexadecimal

1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 Here is a byte (8 bits)

To convert the binary to

hexadecimal the byte is split
1 1 1 0 Nibbles 0 1 1 0 into two halves of 4 bits each.
These are called nibbles.

Each nibble is now converted

8 4 2 1 8 4 2 1 into its denary number. Here
1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 are the nibbles with their
place values.

These are the denary

14 and 6 equivalents.

This is the hexadecimal

E6 representation of that
denary value.

Figure 3.1 Converting binary numbers to hexadecimal

Activity 7 It is far easier to say and remember E6 than 11100110.

1 Convert the following

Converting hexadecimal to binary
binary numbers to
This is the reverse of the method used above.
hexadecimal.
a 01101110
AC First convert each digit to denary.
b 10011100
c 00101010
2 Convert the following Now convert each denary number
hexadecimal numbers
10 12 into 4-bit binary numbers.
to binary.
a A6
b 9C
1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0
c 2D Figure 3.2 Converting hexadecimals to binary numbers

Exam-style questions
1 a Add together the following 8-bit numbers. (1 mark)
01011001
11100111
____________
b Identify the problem that this addition has created. (1 mark)
2 a Carry out a 3-place logical right shift on the following binary number. (2 marks)
10010011
b Explain the effect of performing a right shift on a binary number. (1 mark)
c Describe the steps needed to convert the binary number 11101110 into a hexadecimal one and show
the result. (4 marks)

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 Binary

Exam tips
1 a This is a straightforward question. Carry out the calculation and
write the result in the space provided. Remember to carry over if the
addition of each pair of digits is greater than 1.
b This just requires a one or two word answer.
2 a Again carry out the shift and write the result.
b Here you have to explain what effect the shift will have. You could
say that it is equivalent to multiplying the number by…
c A longer answer is required. You should show stage by stage how
the conversion is carried out. For example, you could start by saying
what the 8-bit binary number is divided into. You should set out the
explanation clearly and it could be in the form of a diagram.

Summary
• In a computer all data and programming instructions are represented by streams of 1s and 0s.
• Place values in the binary system increase by powers of 2.
• An overflow error occurs when a computer attempts to handle a number that is too large (e.g. a number
requiring 9 bits instead of 8 in an 8-bit processor).
• To multiply a binary number by powers of 2, you can use left shifts.
• To divide a binary number by powers of 2, you can use right shifts.
• Hexadecimal is used to represent binary numbers because it is easier for humans to remember and use.
• Binary, denary and hexadecimal numbers can be converted from one to the other.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Carry out the following addition: 11011001 + 10010010.
S2 Perform the following calculation in binary: 25 + (−13).
S3 Multiply the unsigned integer 01001001 by 23.
S4 Convert 11001101 to denary and hexadecimal.
Challenge
C1 Explain in your own words why binary is used to represent data and program instructions in computer systems.
C2 Explain the difference between a logical right shift and an arithmetic right shift.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re
not sure you answered them well, try the following activities again:

• For S1 try Activity 3.

• For S2 try Activity 4.
• For S3 try Activity 5.
• For S4 try Activity 7.

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3.2 Data representation

Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• explain how computers encode characters using ASCII.
• explain how bitmap images are represented in binary.
• explain how sound is represented in binary.
• describe the limitations of binary representation of data when constrained by the number of available bits.
• calculate the file sizes of stored data.

Representation of text
When you press a key on the keyboard a stream of 1s and 0s are input to
the processor. The computer cannot recognise any characters such as ‘c’,
‘@’ or ‘D’, only a combination of 1s and 0s. The defined list of characters
Key term recognised by a computer’s hardware and software is known as its
Character set: the defined character set.
list of characters recognised
Obviously, an industry standard is needed or data will not be
by a computer’s hardware and
interchangeable between computers from different manufacturers.
software.
This standard is provided by the American Standard Code for Information
Interchange, or ASCII code.

Did you know?

Long before ASCII another standard binary code was invented to
represent text. This was the Morse code, which uses lights, tones or clicks
that are either of short (‘dots’) or long (‘dashes’) duration. The duration of
a dash is three times the duration of a dot.
Each character is represented by a sequence of dots and dashes. For
example, the letter ‘C’ is represented by ‘dash dot dash dot’.

Originally the ASCII code consisted of 7 bits and so 128 characters could
be represented.

All of the lower and upper case English characters, punctuation marks
and control actions such backspace, shift on, shift off and carriage return
were represented.

The printable characters of the 7-bit ASCII code are shown in Figure 3.3. The
Activity 8
codes for control actions (mentioned above) are not shown.
Using the table in Figure 3.3,
write down the ASCII codes for If you look at the table you can see that the codes are grouped according
the characters in the following: to function. Important groups are 65 to 90 for the upper case alphabetic
characters and 97 to 122 for their lower case equivalents. The numeric
ASCII code. characters 0 to 9 are represented by codes 48 to 57.

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D B C D B C D B C D B C
32 00100000 space 57 00111001 9 82 01010010 R 107 01101011 k
33 00100001 ! 58 00111010 : 83 01010011 S 108 01101100 l
34 00100010 “ 59 00111011 ; 84 01010100 T 109 01101101 m
35 00100011 # 60 00111100 < 85 01010101 U 110 01101110 n
36 00100100 $ 61 00111101 = 86 01010110 V 111 01101111 o
37 00100101 % 62 00111110 > 87 01010111 W 112 01110000 p
38 00100110 & 63 00111111 ? 88 01011000 X 113 01110001 q
39 00100111 ‘ 64 01000000 @ 89 01011001 Y 114 01110010 r
40 00101000 ( 65 01000001 A 90 01011010 Z 115 01110011 s
41 00101001 ) 66 01000010 B 91 01011011 [ 116 01110100 t
42 00101010 * 67 01000011 C 92 01011100 \ 117 01110101 u
43 00101011 + 68 01000100 D 93 01011101 ] 118 01110110 v
44 00101100 , 69 01000101 E 94 01011110 ^ 119 01110111 w
45 00101101 - 70 01000110 F 95 01011111 _ 120 01111000 x
46 00101110 . 71 01000111 G 96 01100000 ` 121 01111001 y
47 00101111 / 72 01001000 H 97 01100001 a 122 01111010 z
48 00110000 0 73 01001001 I 98 01100010 b 123 01111011 {
49 00110001 1 74 01001010 J 99 01100011 c 124 01111100 |
50 00110010 2 75 01001011 K 100 01100100 d 125 01111101 }
51 00110011 3 76 01001100 L 101 01100101 e 126 01111110 ~
52 00110100 4 77 01001101 M 102 01100110 f 127 01111111 DEL
53 00110101 5 78 01001110 N 103 01100111 g
KEY: D = denary
54 00110110 6 79 01001111 O 104 01101000 h
B = binary
55 00110111 7 80 01010000 P 105 01101001 i
C = character
56 00111000 8 81 01010001 Q 106 01101010 j

Figure 3.3 The printable characters of the 7-bit ASCII code

Top tip Key term

The groups of the characters can be important when you are writing a Encryption: the process of
program. For example, if you are encrypting some text using a simple encoding a message into a form
Caesar cipher shift key (see section 3.4, page 126), you can easily find the that only the intended recipient
corresponding letters. can decode, or decrypt, and read.
For example, suppose the encryption key is +3 (a right shift) and you The message is encoded using an
enter the letter ‘D’. The ASCII code for ‘D’ is 68 and so the encrypted value agreed method or algorithm. This
would be 71(G). If the encryption key is −3 (a left shift), then the plain text is called the key. The encrypted
letter ‘D’ results in the cipher text letter ‘A’ (ASCII 65). message is called a cipher.

Analysing a string
To a computer a string is just a stream of binary codes that represent the
characters. Programming languages have functions that will return the
denary equivalents of those codes and vice versa.

The Edexcel pseudo-code does not have these functions built in, but in the
Python programming language they are ord() and chr().

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Therefore

• ord(‘c’) would return 99, and

• chr(100) would return ‘d’.

Using the ord() function the ASCII codes of the characters can be found
when traversing a string.

By inserting the ord() function into the Edexcel pseudo-code, the

algorithm that does this can be displayed.

SEND “Please enter the text” TO DISPLAY

RECEIVE myString FROM (STRING) KEYBOARD
FOR index FROM 0 TO LENGTH(myString) – 1 DO
SET number TO ord(myString[index]) #The function
is called using
the character in
the string as an
argument.
SEND number TO DISPLAY
END FOR

By using the chr() function you can build up a string using characters
entered by their denary codes.

The following algorithm will allow you to enter ten numbers which will be
converted to characters and appended to the string.

SET myString TO “” #This will create an empty string.

FOR index FROM 0 TO 10 DO
SEND “Please enter a number in the range 65 to 90 or
in the range 97 to 122” TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE number FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD
SET character TO chr(number)
SET myString TO myString + character
END FOR

Creating the functions

The pseudo-code does not have these functions built in. You need to define
them using the commands and statements that are available so that you
can call them when required.

The ord() function needs to take the character as a parameter and return
its denary code.

You can do this in the following way.

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FUNCTION ord(character)
BEGIN FUNCTION
SET arrayAscii TO [[“!”][33], [“””][34],…[“z”][122]] #A two-dimensional array
containing all of the
characters with their denary
codes.
FOR index FROM 0 TO LENGTH(arrayAscii) – 1 DO
IF character = arrayAscii[index, 0] THEN
code = arrayAscii[index, 1]
END IF
END FOR
RETURN code
END FUNCTION

Activity 9
Create a function in pseudo-code that will return the character from the
denary code entered.

Activity 10 Extend your knowledge

Create an algorithm that will encrypt the following sentence: The original ASCII code with its
96 printable characters is very
‘The ASCII code represents characters.’ restricting as many more are
Encrypt it with a shift of 3 to the right (i.e. A should be encrypted as D). needed to cater for all the world’s
languages.
(Remember: the spaces and the full stop should not be changed.) It was changed to an 8-bit code as
Output the encrypted text. Extended ASCII, following which
Unicode was developed.
Present your algorithm as pseudo-code or code and test it in the Carry out research into these two
programming language you are studying. systems.

Representation of bitmap images

Images are also represented and stored as binary code. Key term
The basic unit of a bitmap image is the pixel. Pixel: short for ‘picture element’,
the smallest single point of
Image size and resolution colour in a graphic image.
Image size is usually written as two numbers, for example 640 × 480,
2240 × 1680 or 4064 × 2704.

The first number indicates the number of pixels along the width of the
image and the second is the number in the height.

Thus a 640 × 480 image is made up of 307, 200 pixels and a 4064 × 2704
image comprises 10,989,056 pixels.

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The following images are the same size but have different resolutions.

4288 × 2848 pixels 100 × 66 pixels

There are different numbers of pixels per square inch in the two images.
Key term
Each pixel in the 100 × 66 image is a larger size than those of the
Resolution: the number of 4288 × 2848 image. The greater the number of pixels within a given area the
pixels per inch when the image higher the resolution and the more detail shown. An image of size 100 × 66,
is displayed (for example, on a when displayed in the same area as one of 4288 × 2848 pixels, will have a far
monitor or on paper). lower resolution as there are far fewer pixels. The lower the resolution the
less the amount of detail seen.

Encoding the pixel information

Each pixel is represented by a ‘bit pattern’ – often the same pattern used to
represent a character in the ASCII code.

The number of different colours that can be used is determined by the

number of bits used to encode colour.

For example, if one bit is used for each pixel, then there will be only two
colours – black and white.

The following diagram shows an encoding system with one bit used to
represent each pixel.

Figure 3.4 1-bit encoding forming the letter ‘H’

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 Data representation

If 0 represents black and 1 white, the letter ‘H’ could be encoded with the
following bit pattern.

11011011
11011011
11011011
11000011
11000011
11011011
11011011
11011011

The complete image consists of 64 pixels and because 1 bit is used for each
square, the size of the image is 64 bits or 8 bytes. Key term
As the colour depth increases so too does the number of colours that can Colour depth: the number of bits
be represented. used to encode the colour of each
pixel.
If 1 bit is used then the number of colours is 21 or 2.

If 3 bits are used the number of colours is 23 or 8.

If 8 bits are used the number of colours is 28 or 256.

The current standard represents the colour of each pixel in 24 bits. There are
8 bits for each of the red, blue and green primary colours. Did you know?
As the size of the image and its
There are therefore 256 variations of each primary colour contributing to colour depth increases so too
the overall colour of the pixel and that gives 256 × 256 × 256 or 16,777,216 does the amount of data that has
different colours. to be stored and manipulated.
This standard allows lifelike images, so it is often referred to as true colour. If you were visiting a website
with 4288 × 2848 24-bit images
This shape is filled with a colour named ‘Alice blue’. then, unless you had a very fast
connection, you would quickly
In binary you would have to enter 111100001111100011111111 every time
become frustrated as you waited
you wanted to use it.
for them all to download. Lower
However, as mentioned in section 3.1, hexadecimal comes to our rescue. resolution images have to be
Using hexadecimal you would only have to enter #F0F8FF. used as a compromise between
quality and file size.
File sizes
The file size for a bitmap image is calculated by finding the total number of Activity 11
pixels and multiplying that by the number of bits used to represent each
pixel or Calculate the file sizes of the
following images and express the
Width × Height × Colour depth sizes in bits, bytes and megabytes.
The file size of the left-hand image on page 110 is 1 A 256 colour image with a size
of 640 × 480 pixels.
4288 (width) × 2848 (height) × 24 (bit colour depth) = 293,093,376 bits 2 A true colour image with a
That is 36,636,672 bytes or almost 37 megabytes. size of 640 × 480 pixels.

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Representation of sound
All sounds are caused by vibrations. As objects such as our vocal cords or
guitar strings vibrate backwards and forwards they push the air molecules
alongside them, sending a wave of compressed molecules through the air.
When these compression waves, or sound waves, reach our ears they set up
vibrations in tiny sensory hairs in the inner ear. This sends nerve impulses to
the brain, which interprets them as the sounds we hear.

Sound wave High pressure Low pressure

Figure 3.5 Sound waves travelling through the air from a vibrating bell

Figure 3.6 illustrates the different waves for loud and quiet and high- and
low-pitched sounds.

Amplitude

Louder Quieter

Higher pitch Lower pitch

Figure 3.6 The bigger the wave, the louder the sound; the greater the frequency of
the waves, the higher the pitch

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Recording sound waves

Analogue recording
Analogue recording represents the continuous changes in air pressure
caused by sound waves, as changes in voltage. The changes in voltage are
directly proportional to the changes in air pressure and these in turn are
stored, for example, as grooves of varying depths in vinyl records or as
magnetised areas of a magnetic tape.

When the disc is played the movements of another stylus through the
groove are converted back into voltage changes. After amplification, these
cause the diaphragm of a speaker to vibrate, reproducing the original sound.

It is called analogue recording because the changes in voltage exactly mirror

the changes in air pressure (or are analogous to them). The complete sound
waves are recorded.

Digital recording Did you know?

It was stressed in section 3.1 (on page 92) that computers do not represent A similar technique is used for
data in an analogue way where minute changes in voltage are used to producing movies on film. If a
represent changes in the data. Computers are digital and their transistors series of images, or frames, of
are either on or off with nothing in between, so sound data, like any other the same scene, but with small
form of computer data, must be represented as streams of 1s and 0s. differences between them, are
played back in rapid succession,
Continuous change cannot be represented by a digital stream, so digital
our brains think that we are
recordings take a series of sound ‘snapshots’. When these are played back
watching moving objects.
rapidly in succession the sound produced seems to be continuous.

These ‘snapshots’ of the sound are called samples and the process of taking
Key term
them is called sampling.
Sampling: taking measurements
The following diagram shows an analogue sound wave being sampled. of the sound wave at regular but
distinct intervals of time (e.g.
44,100 samples per second).

Each line represents a new sample. The time between each line/sample represents the
sampling period, which equals 1/44,100 of a second, for a CD with a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz.
Figure 3.7 How a sound wave is sampled digitally

The sampling of the continuous sound wave is carried out by an

analogue-to-digital recorder (ADR), which converts the sound into a
stream of 1s and 0s.

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 Data
A digital-to-analogue converter is required to convert the binary data back
into an analogue wave.
Key terms The complete wave cannot be recorded and so a digital recording can
Fidelity: the correspondence never be as accurate or have the same accuracy, or fidelity, as an analogue
between the original sound recording, but it does have other benefits such as:
and the recording. The greater
• Equipment to record and process digital sound is relatively cheap and has
the fidelity, the greater is the
allowed people to record music at home.
similarity between them. Very
high accuracy is called hi-fidelity • It is easily edited using computer equipment.
or just hi-fi. • It is easily copied.
Bit depth: the number of bits • Unlike vinyl and tape, digital files do not physically deteriorate with use,
used to encode the information although they may become corrupted if the storage medium is damaged.
from each sample. Increasing the • Digital files are more portable than records and tapes and can be copied
number of bits used increases to any digital medium, such as a hard drive, emailed, downloaded and
the amount of detail contained in streamed.
each sample.
Fidelity
The fidelity of the recording is influenced by two factors.

Sample rate
This is the number of samples taken per second – the higher the rate the
higher the fidelity.

Figure 3.8 shows the effect of sampling at different rates.

A sampling rate of 44,100 per second (44.1 kHz) is used for CDs and of
96,000 Hz (96 kHz) for Blu-ray™ audio.

Bit depth or sampling precision

One important detail is the dynamic range of the sound – the range of
volumes of sound in the music.

Original sound wave Wave after sampling • Using 8 bits allows 256 (28)
gradations to be measured.
• 16 bits allows (216) 65,536, and
Low sample
rate • 24 bits allows (224) over 16.7
million.

Therefore using more bits allows

for much smaller gradations in the
High sample volume differences.
rate
For CD recordings a bit depth of 16
bits is used.
Figure 3.8 The effect of sampling at different rates

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Digital audio file sizes

The size of a digital audio sound file depends on the following:
• sample rate per second
• bit depth
• duration of recording
• number of channels – mono (one channel) or stereo (two channels).

Calculating file size

Worked example Activity 12

number of samples per second = 44,100 Calculate the file size of a stereo
bit depth = 16 bits recording of three minutes’
duration = 2.5 minutes duration with a sample rate of
number of channels = 2 44,100 and a bit depth of 24 bits.
The size of the file is found from the following formula:
file size in bits = sample rate * bit depth * duration (in seconds) *
number of channels
Therefore the file size of the above recording is
44,100 * 16 * 2.5 * 60 * 2 = 211,680,000 bits or 26,460,000 bytes or over
26 megabytes.

Exam-style questions
1 Explain what is meant by a ‘pixel’. (2 marks)
2 The following diagram shows a black and white image consisting of 36 pixels.

Figure 3.9 A 36 pixel image of the letter E

a Explain why 36 bits are needed to represent the pixels in the image. (2 marks)
b Write the bit pattern needed to represent these pixels. (4 marks)
c State the number of bits per pixel that would be needed if the image was 16 colours rather than 2. (1 mark)
3 Jane is using a computer program to record herself playing the guitar.
a Describe how the program converts her music into a file. (3 marks)
The software allows her to increase the sample rate.
b Describe two effects this will have on her recording. (2 marks)
c She eventually records the music in mono with a sample rate of 44.1 kHz and a bit depth of 16. If the
recording lasts for two minutes, calculate the size of the file produced. Express your answer in
megabytes. (2 marks)

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Exam tips
1 This simply requires a one-sentence definition.
2 a You need to explain why 1 bit will be needed to encode the colour information of each pixel in a black and
white image.
b You should show the bits required for each line of the image. Don’t forget to state the type of bit used to
represent each colour.
c You could represent this in powers of 2.
3 a This requires a longer answer. You should start with describing how the sound reaches the recording device
and then how it is converted into a digital format.
b Two effects are needed – quality and size.
c This requires you to apply the formula to calculate file size. Read the question carefully so that you use the
correct figures in the calculation and remember that sample rate is defined as samples per second.

Summary
• All data is represented by bit patterns – sequences of 1s and 0s.
• The ASCII code represents text characters as patterns of 7 or 8 bits.
• A pixel is the smallest single point of colour in a graphic image.
• The amount of colour information used for each pixel is called the ‘bit depth’.
• The file size of a bitmap image is calculated by multiplying the number of pixels in the width of the image by
the number in the height and then multiplying by the number of bits used to encode each pixel.
• Digital sound recordings are produced by sampling analogue sound waves.
• The sample rate and the bit depth affect the fidelity of the recording and also the file size.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Represent the following sentence using the denary ASCII codes for the characters:
Data is represented as bits.
S2 An image is described as being 640 × 480. If it has a bit depth of 24, calculate the size of the file.
Challenge
C1 In your own words explain why some digital images are clearer and display more detail than others.
C2 Explain the factors influencing the file size of a digital audio recording.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re
not sure you answered them well, try the following activities again:

• For S1 try Activity 8.

• For S2 try Activity 11.

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 Data storage and compression

3.3 Data storage and compression

Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• convert between the terms bit, nibble, byte, kilobyte (KB), megabyte (MB), gigabyte (GB), terabyte (TB).
• explain the need for data compression and methods of compressing data.
• use the run-length encoding (RLE) algorithm to compress a data file.

Data storage
All data consists of bits – 1s and 0s. In section 3.2 (on page 111), you
calculated the size of an example image file as being 293,093,376 bits or
36,636,672 bytes, and the size of an example sound file (on page 115) to be
211,680,000 bits or 26,460,000 bytes – a typical byte is equivalent to 8 bits.

When converting binary to hexadecimal in section 3.1 (on page 104), you
used a unit called a ‘nibble’, which is equal to 4 bits.

If these files are saved on computers running different operating systems,

their sizes in megabytes (MB) are displayed differently. For example, in
Microsoft® Windows® the image file size would be shown as 34.9 MB, whereas
in Ubuntu® it would be shown as 36.6 MB.

This is because of the method used to calculate higher units. Ubuntu uses
SI units (International System of Units), which treats ‘kilo’ as meaning 1,000 Key terms
as it does when measuring distance and weight. This method is known as Decimal prefix: multiplies a unit
decimal prefix because it uses powers of 10 (e.g. 103 for 1,000). by powers of 10.
The other method, the binary prefix, uses powers of 2, so ‘kilo’ is defined as Binary prefix: multiplies a unit
210 or 1,024. by powers of 2.

The table shows the differences.

Unit Symbol Decimal prefix Size Binary prefix Size

kilobyte KB 103 bytes 1,000 bytes 210 bytes 1,024 bytes
megabyte MB 106 bytes 1,000 kilobytes 220 bytes 1,024 kilobytes
gigabyte GB 109 bytes 1,000 megabytes 230 bytes 1,024 megabytes
terabyte TB 1012 bytes 1,000 gigabytes 240 bytes 1,024 gigabytes

Therefore, every higher unit is 1,000 times larger than the previous one with
decimal prefix, whereas in binary prefix it is 1,024 times larger.

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Did you know?

Although the binary prefix has been used to define file sizes for decades,
more recent use of the decimal prefix has caused confusion. In 1998,
binary prefix units were given new names, such as the kibibyte (kiB) and
the mebibyte (MiB).
To add to the confusion, different components of computer systems are
often described using different prefix systems. For example, the size of
the main memory or RAM (random access memory) might be referred to
using the binary prefix, so that 1 GB means 1,073,741,824 bytes.
However, when referring to the storage capacity of a hard disk drive,
the decimal prefix is used. Therefore a 500 GB hard drive holds
500,000,000,000 bytes.

Activity 13
1 A hard disk is described as having a storage capacity of 1.5 TB.
What is this in:
a gigabytes
b megabytes
c kilobytes
d terabytes?
2 An image file has a size of 363,143,213 bits. What is its size in
gigabytes?

Data compression
Files have to be stored somewhere, for example on local or remote hard disk
drives or on USB drives. If they are graphics or audio files, then these files
can be very large.

Did you know?

In March 2015 it was estimated that:
• 2.5 quintillion – 2,500,000,000,000,000,000 – bytes of data are produced
every day.
• Google stores 10 exabytes (10 billion gigabytes) of data at its vast data
centres.
• on Facebook more than 200 million images are uploaded each day and
on Snapchat almost 100,000 each minute.

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 Data storage and compression

Millions of image and audio files are uploaded and downloaded each day.
There are many benefits to the files being made as small as possible. The
users don’t waste time while their data is being transferred or saved and the
providers can store them in as little space as possible. Key terms
That is why file compression is so important. Compressed files use Compression: changing the
less network bandwidth to upload and download, there is less internet format of a data file so that the
congestion and it makes possible the streaming of video and audio files. size of the file becomes smaller.
Lossless compression:
Compression algorithms are used to make the files as small as possible.
compressing a file in such a way
There are two types of compression – lossless and lossy compression.
that it can be decompressed
Lossless compression without any loss of data.
When lossless compresion is used, no data is lost and the original file can Lossy compression:
be restored. compression where some of the
data is removed; the original file
It is especially useful for files where the same data occurs many times, for
cannot be restored when the
example text, where there are relatively few different items of data (i.e.
lossy file is decompressed.
character and punctuation symbols). In a page of text there are many words
that are used more than once. This is referred to as redundancy.

Lossless compression is essential for text as missing data would completely

distort the meaning of what was being communicated.

Run-length encoding (RLE)

Run-length encoding is used to reduce the size of a repeating string of
items. The repeating string is called a run and is represented by two bytes
– the first byte represents the number of occurrences and the second, the
item of information.

For example, the following string of letters

cccmmmmmsssssdddcccccc

would be represented by

3c5m5s3d6c

If one byte is used to encode each letter in the original uncompressed text,
22 bytes in total are required.

In the RLE version, one byte is used for the letter and one byte is used for
the number, making a total of only 10 bytes.

Obviously, this method is only effective where there are strings of the same
data. If the original data is very different, without repeating strings, then the
encoded version would have a greater file size.

For a black and white image, like the one in Figure 3.10, compression using
RLE would be effective. A colour image in which there are very short runs of
different colours would not be encoded as effectively.

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 Data

Figure 3.10 A bitmap diagram of the number 5

To demonstrate run-length encoding, the letters ‘w’ and ‘b’ are used to
represent the white and black pixels instead of 1s and 0s

Code RLE version Size of coded version

wwbbbwww 2w3b3w 6
wwbwwwww 2w1b5w 6
wwbwwwww 2w1b5w 6
wwbbbwww 2w3b3w 6
wwbbbwww 2w3b3w 6
wwwwbwww 4w1b3w 6
wwwwbwww 4w1b3w 6
wwbbbwww 2w3b3w 6
64 bytes 48 bytes

The file size for this character has been reduced from 64 to 48 bytes. It could
be reduced even further if the number 1 is omitted where there is a run of
only one. The algorithm could be easily adapted.

Activity 14
Show the effect of applying run-length encoding to the following graphic.

Figure 3.11 A bitmap graphic of the letter T

Set out your answer as in the example above.

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 Data storage and compression

Coding the run-length algorithm

Start
An RLE algorithm will have to
traverse a string and count the
number of occurrences of each Input text
character in the run. to be encoded

When the character changes it will

text = input string
have to start counting a new run. newText = “”
code = “”
The flowchart shows a possible length = length of input text string
index = 0
algorithm to do this.

First the input string is checked to

see if it actually has any letters (i.e.
Is NO
is the length greater than zero?) A length =
0?
If yes, a check is made to see if it
only has one letter. If so the run will
YES NO Is
be equal to 1 and the text character length =
B
will be the one at index position 0 in 1?
the string.
YES
If there is more than one character
in the input string, then a loop is run = 1
code = code + run
needed to examine each one. code = code + text(index)

If the character at index position 1 run = 1

newText = text(index)
is equal to the character at position
0, then the length of the run is Output
code
incremented by 1 and the character index = index + 1
at index position 2 is checked.

If this character is different, then a End

new run is started for this character
and the previous character and its C Is
NO
index <= code = code + run
run length are added to the string length – 1? code = code + newText

holding the code.

This continues until the algorithm YES

reaches the end of the string.
D
Does NO
text(index) = code = code + run
run = run + 1 code = code + newText
newText?

E
YES

Figure 3.12 A flowchart of a possible RLE algorithm

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 Data

Activity 15
1 Six variables are used in the flowchart. List the variables and the data
items they represent.
2 Five items are labelled A to E in the flowchart. Match each item below
with the statement that describes it (e.g. A3).
1 This checks to see if the end of the input text has been reached.
2 If there is only one character it and its run length are added to
the output file.
3 This adds the character and its run length to the output string.
4 This checks to see that some text has actually been entered.
5 This checks to see if the next character in the input string is the
same as or different from the one that is being checked.

Extend your knowledge

Using the programming language that you are studying, create and test a
program to carry out run-length encoding on an input string.

Lossy compression
Lossy compression decreases the file size by deleting some of the data. The
original file therefore cannot be re-formed entirely when it is decompressed,
so it cannot be used with text or program files.

It can be used for bitmap image and audio files where we often cannot
notice that data has been removed.

Bitmap images
Digital images can comprise millions of pixels each with a 24-bit depth. They
result in very large files. However, many of the minute differences in colour
are wasted on us. Our eyesight is not capable of distinguishing these small
differences.

A lossy compression algorithm analyses all of the data in the image and
when it finds areas with minute differences it gives them the same colour
values. It can then rewrite the file using fewer bits.

The most commonly used compression technique was developed by

the Joint Photographic Experts Group and produces JPEG files with the
extension jpg.

The images on the next page demonstrate JPEG compression. The one on
the left has a file size of 6 MB, while the compressed version on the right is
only 350 KB. They both have the same number of pixels, but the algorithm
made pixels with similar colour values the same. The size has been reduced
over 17 times, but to our eyes there is little difference in detail and clarity.

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 Data storage and compression

Digitally compressing an image makes little difference to our eyes but huge savings in file size

Audio files
Uncompressed audio files that contain all of the sampled sound data are
saved in Waveform Audio (WAV) format. A three-minute recording typically
has a file size of about 30 MB.

Much of the data in an audio file encodes tones and frequencies that our
ears cannot hear and small differences in volume and frequency that they
cannot distinguish.

The most commonly used algorithm compresses them and encodes them
as MPEG-1 audio layer 3 files or, as they are commonly called, MP3 files, by
removing the redundant or superfluous data.

A 30 MB WAV file can be compressed to a 3 MB MP3 equivalent.

The following graphs show the differences in dynamic range between a

WAV file and its MP3 equivalent. They clearly show the dip in range at high
frequencies.
dB dB
0 0
12 12
24 24
36 36
48 48
60 60
72 72
84 84
96 96
108 108
120 120
dB dB
Hz 5000 10000 15000 20000 Hz 5000 10000 15000 20000
MP3 WAV
Figure 3.13 The difference in ranges between an MP3 and a WAV sound sample can
clearly be seen

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 Data

Exam tips Exam-style questions

For Question 1 just list them in 1 Order the following units from smallest to largest. (3 marks)
ascending order and for Question GB bit TB byte nibble MB
2 just write out the encoded
2 Compress the following two-colour bitmap data using
version.
run-length encoding. (3 marks)
111000110000001110001110

Summary
• File sizes are measured in kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes and terabytes.
• Each unit is 1,000 (103) times larger than the previous one.
• Files can be compressed using lossy and lossless compression algorithms.
• In lossy compression some of the data is lost.
• In lossless compression none of the data is lost.
• Run-length encoding is an example of lossless compression.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 List the units used to measure file size in ascending order starting at ‘bit’.
S2 Convert 2.3 terabytes into bytes.
S3 Encode the following using run-length encoding
aaabbaaaaaaaaacccddd
and calculate the file size of the original and the encoded versions.
Challenge
C1 Explain why it is difficult to compress digital images using lossless compression algorithms.
C2 In your own words explain why an audio file compressed using a ‘lossy’ algorithm often sounds the same as
the original uncompressed version.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re
not sure you answered them well, try the following activities again:

For S1 try Activity 13.

For S2 try Activity 13.
For S3 try Activity 14.

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 Encryption

3.4 Encryption
Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• explain why data encryption is needed.
• explain how a Caesar cipher algorithm works.

When we send sensitive information such as bank or credit card details over
an internet connection we check (or should check) the URL to ensure that
it starts with ‘HTTPS:’, denoting a secure connection. Internet connections
are insecure and messages are easily intercepted. The secure connection
ensures that the transferred data is encrypted and is read only by the
intended recipient.

Did you know? Did you know?

HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) with the Secure Other methods have been used
Socket Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol added to it. It to hide messages. A Roman
ensures that data transfer is encrypted. general sent a secret message
by shaving off a slave’s hair and
Ever since people began to use writing, encryption has been used to make tattooing the message on his
messages secret. In ancient Egypt, scribes slightly changed hieroglyphics so head. When his hair had grown,
that the general public could not understand them. the slave delivered the message
to the recipient who had been
told how to find it.
Modern methods of data encryption
Asymmetric encryption
This method encrypts and decrypts data using two different keys. Every user
has two keys, a public key, known to everyone, and a private key, known only
to themselves. A message encrypted with a particular public key can only be
decrypted by the corresponding private key.

If person A wanted to send an encrypted file to person B, person A would

encrypt it with person B’s public key. On receipt, person B would then decrypt
the file with their private key.

It is commonly used to send encrypted messages because anyone who wants

to send an encrypted message can get the intended recipient’s public key
from a public directory.

Symmetric encryption
This method encrypts and decrypts a message using the same key.

This is the method used by an HTTPS connection. The client contacts the server
and they establish a secure connection. The client generates the key to be used
using an agreed algorithm and sends it to the server using the server’s public
key (asymmetric encryption). The server decrypts it using its private key and
then they both use the common key for their secure transmissions.

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 Data
The Caesar cipher
The Caesar cipher is a very simple encryption method and would not be
used today because it is so easy to crack.
It is named after Julius Caesar who encrypted messages in the following way.
The letters of the alphabet are shifted a set number of places. A positive
shift moves the letters to the right. A negative shift moves them to the left.
For example, with a key of +2, the alphabet would be changed to that shown
on the bottom row.
Plain text
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
(input)
Cipher text
C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B
(output)

With a key of of –3 the letters of the alphabet shift three places to the left,
so the word ‘SECRET’ becomes ‘PBZOBQ’.
Notice how the letters at the end move to the start of the alphabet.

Activity 16 So if the message was

Encrypt the following using the PLEASE SEND MORE TROOPS

Caesar cipher with a key of +3. the encrypted version using a key of +5 is
This is a message UQJFXJ XJSI RTWJ YWTTUX
If the recipient knows the key they can decrypt the message by shifting the
Hints for this activity letters in the opposite direction by the required number of places.
• The ASCII codes are 65 to 90
for the upper-case alphabetic Algorithm for the Caesar cipher
characters and 97 to 122 for This is a perfect example to practise your computational thinking skills.
lower-case ones.
You are going to write a program to encrypt and decrypt a message using a
• A key of +3 means that the
specific key using the Caesar cipher method.
characters in the message are
shifted three places to the Here is a decomposition of the problem:
right. Whereas if the key is –3
1 Determine whether the message has to be encrypted or decrypted.
the characters are shifted to
the left. 2 If the message is to be encrypted, then
• Have a look at Activity 8 on 3 Ask the user to enter the message.
page 106 and the Top tip on 4 Ask the user for the key.
page 107 in section 3.2. 5 Analyse each character in the message and if it is a letter calculate the
• Have a look at analysing a string letter the ‘key’ number of places to the right if the shift is positive or to
on page 107 in section 3.2. the left if it is negative.
• Remember that string index 6 If it is a punctuation mark then do not change it.
positions start at 0. 7 Build up a new message using these new letters.
• Have a look at Activity 10 on 8 Output the new message.
page 109 in section 3.2.
If the message is to be decrypted, repeat the above, but reverse the shift.

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 Encryption

Here is a flowchart of a possible solution. Start

All this seems straightforward, but there are some more sub-problems.
Input ‘e’ for encryption
or ‘d’ for decryption
• Your program will need to check that the user input – the key and the
message – has actually been entered.
Is NO
• The algorithm will have to start at the first character and move to the input ‘e’
or ‘d’?
last (i.e. it must traverse the string), therefore your program will have
to find the length of the message. YES

• Some of the letters may be entered in upper case and some in lower Input shift to be used + or – and a
number of places (between 1 and 25)
case. Your program should be able to cope with this and encode or
decode them.
NO
• Your program will have to leave any characters such as spaces, Is key
appropriate?
commas and full stops as they are.
YES

Input mesage to be
The ‘biggest problem’ encrypted or decrypted

Your program will have to cope with letters near the

start and end of the alphabet. Message NO
entered?
For example, if the key is +3 and the letter to be
encoded is ‘X’, then the encrypted version will be ‘A’
YES
(because it has been shifted three places to the right).
Similarly, if the letter to be decrypted is ‘B’, the new YES Was ‘e’ NO
entered?
version will be ‘Y’ (because a shift of 3 places to the
Examine each character Examine each character
right has been performed). in the message in the message

The algorithm must be able to move from the first

letter of the alphabet to the last and vice versa.
NO Is it a Is it a
NO
letter? letter?

Top tip YES YES

Move the letter the ‘key’ Move the letter the ‘key’
The ASCII codes for upper case characters run from number of places to the number of places to the
left or right in the alphabet left or right in the alphabet
65 to 90. The code for ‘X’ is 88. With a key of +3 this
would encrypt to 91, but this doesn’t represent a
letter of the alphabet. NO Is this the Is this the NO
last character? last character?
It should encrypt to the letter ‘A’, which has the ASCII
code of 65.
YES YES
Therefore 88 has to be changed to 65.
Display the encrypted/
There are 26 letters in the alphabet, so you should decrypted message

be able to see how to get from 64 to 90 using the

number of letters in the alphabet.
Another YES
Start
Don’t forget it’s the reverse if you are decrypting. message?

NO

End

Figure 3.14 A flowchart showing a possible way of setting out a

Caesar cipher

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 Data
Structured programming
Creating the algorithm and coding the program will allow you to use
structured programming using subprograms, and especially functions, which
are called from the main program.

For example, functions are used Return encrypt or decrypt Get method
to:
M
• ask the user if they want to A
I Return key Get key
encrypt or decrypt. N
• ask the user for the key. P
R Return message Get message
• ask the user for the message.
O
• carry out the encryption or G
R
decryption. A
Return encrypted message Encrypted message
M
Each of these functions will return
values that are used by the main Return decrypted message Decrypt message
program.
Figure 3.15 An example of structured programming

Here is the main program in pseudo-code – the subprograms are not included.

SET run TO 1
WHILE run = 1 DO #A WHILE loop is started. It will continue until the variable
‘run’ does not contain the value 1.
SET method TO findMethod() #This calls the function for the user to ask for encryption
or decryption.
SET key TO findKey() #This calls the function for the user to enter the key.
SET message TO getMessage() #This calls the function for the user to enter the message.
IF method == “e” THEN
SET newMessage TO encrypt(message, key) #Functions to encrypt or decrypt are called.
ELSE
SET newMessage TO decrypt(message, key)
END IF
SEND newMessage TO DISPLAY #The encrypted or decrypted message is displayed.
SEND “Please enter x to quit or any other key to continue” TO DISPLAY
RECEIVE response FROM (CHARACTER) KEYBOARD
IF response = “x” then #The user is asked if they want to encrypt or decrypt
again. If not the variable ‘run’ is changed from 1 and
the loop will stop.
SET run TO “x”
ELSE
SET run TO 1
END IF
END WHILE

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 Encryption

Activity 17
Create and test, in the language you are studying, a program to encrypt
or decrypt a message using a key entered by a user.

Exam-style questions
1 Encrypt the following word using the Caesar cipher with a key of +6.
Computer (3 marks)
2 Decrypt the following word using the Caesar cipher with a key of +3.
Pzfbkzb (3 marks)

Exam tip
These questions do not require you to give an explanation or description.
They are asking you to apply the Caesar cipher algorithm to encrypt
and decrypt. You should transpose the characters to the left or right as
instructed by the key.

Summary
• Encryption is needed to ensure that sensitive data is secure and is read only by the intended recipient.
• Encryption keys are used to encrypt the data into cipher text and decrypt it back into normal (plain) text.
• Asymmetric encryption uses two different keys and symmetric encryption uses the same one.
• In the Caesar cipher algorithm the letters of the alphabet are shifted a set number of places as defined by the key.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Encrypt the sentence below using the Caesar cipher with a key of +9:
Data should be encrypted.
S2 Explain how a Caesar cipher algorithm works.
Challenge
C1 Use a diagram to demonstrate that a shift of +5 followed by a shift of –2 is the same as a shift of +3 when
applied to the word ‘gold’.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re
not sure you answered them well, try the following activity again.

• For S1 try Activity 16.

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 Data

3.5 Databases
Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• describe the characteristics of structured and unstructured data.
• decompose, organise and manage data in a structured database.
• describe and use the following:
o tables
o records
o fields
o relationships
o keys.

People have been recording and storing data since writing systems were
invented thousands of years ago.

Did you know?

The first written language was invented 5,000 years ago in Sumer, now in
modern-day Iraq.
The rulers carried out a census and made lists of all the people and what
they owned. This stored information gave them power and allowed them
to start taxing the people.
In 1086 William the Conqueror did something similar with the Domesday
Book. It listed everything that everyone owned so they could be taxed on
their possessions. There was no argument – if the data was in the book, it
was the law.

These books were stores of data, but finding a particular piece of

information in them was difficult They weren’t organised in alphabetical
order. If an official was looking for a particular person, they might have to
Key term read many pages before finding the information they needed.

Database: an organised store of A database is a data store in which the data is organised in an ordered way
data. so that information is quickly retrieved when the data is being searched or
queried.

For example, in an encyclopaedia or dictionary the data is in alphabetical

order. Imagine searching for a word if all the entries were in a random
order.

Computer databases
Computers are ideal for storing and manipulating data because they
can search and sort the data far more quickly than a human can.
Storing the data in a structured way makes searching it much faster and
more efficient.

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 Databases

Creating a database Activity 18

As an example, consider the following scenario of a school that would like to
create a database to store details of their learners. Identify five attributes for each of
the following entities. Write them
To set this up some abstraction is needed. in the format shown.

Identifying the entity and its attributes CAR, BOOK, DVD

The database is about an object called a learner. It will store details about it.
Therefore LEARNER is referred to as the entity. Key terms
Entity: something that is
The next task is to identify the attributes of the entity.
recognised as being capable of an
With respect to an actual learner and their properties that are relevant to independent existence, is uniquely
the school, you might identify the following attributes. identified and about which data
is stored.
First name, surname, date of birth, year, tutor group
It is usually a physical object
There could be many more depending on the requirements of the school. (e.g. a car, a person or a book),
but it can be a concept (e.g. a
This is written as: customer transaction where
LEARNER(first name, surname, date of birth, year, tutor group) details of the items that were
purchased are stored).
The entity is in upper case followed by the attributes enclosed in brackets. Attribute: an item of data stored
about an entity.
Creating the database table
Table: a collection of cells
Now that the entity and its attributes have been identified, you can set up
organised in rows and columns
the structure for storing the data. The structure is in the form of a table.
used to store data in a structured
In this example the table with some of the learners entered looks like this. and organised manner.
File: all of the records in a table or
Fields a group of linked tables.

first name surname date of birth year tutor group

Stephen Jackson 12/5/2004 7 R1

Catherine Byme 13/1/2002 9 A1

Matthew Jackson 17/11/2001 9 R2

Catherine Smith 12/5/2004 7 R1

A record

Figure 3.16 A database table showing examples of information about learners

In the table, the same items of information are being stored about each
learner. These items of information are called fields. All the information
about a particular learner is called a record. Each row of the table represents
one record.

All of the records in a table make up a file.

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 Data
Identifying a primary key
Database management software sets up the tables and manages the records
when they are stored. It needs to be able to identify each individual record,
so each record will need a unique identifier to distinguish it from all the other
Key term records in the table.

Primary key: a unique identifier This identifier is called the primary key.
for each record in the table. It is
In the example table for the school database, none of the fields will
usually a field that is guaranteed
necessarily have a unique value. There could be many learners with the same
to hold unique information for
first name, surname, date of birth, year or tutor group. It would be a strange
each record.
school if the year field had a unique value – it would mean there is only one
learner in each year.

An additional field is needed so each record has a unique identifier.

Education databases solve this problem by giving each learner a unique
pupil identification (UPI) number when they enter the school system. Here is
the school database table with the primary key added.

UPI first surname date of year tutor

name birth group
01560 Stephen Jackson 12/5/2004 7 R1
01356 Catherine Byrne 13/1/2002 9 A1
01390 Matthew Jackson 17/11/2001 9 R2
01630 Catherine Smith 12/5/2004 7 R1

Each record can now be uniquely identified through the UPI field, its
primary key.

This table will store the details of all the learners in the school. It can be
searched to find specific individuals or all the learners in a particular tutor
group, for example, and print out the list.

Now imagine that the database is such a success that the school would like it
to manage the lending of books from the school library.

It will now need to store all of the learner information plus the details of the
books they have borrowed.

Care is needed when designing how this data will be organised and stored.

Data redundancy
The data could be organised in the following way, again with the UPI field
being the primary key.

UPI first name surname date of birth year tutor book name author borrow return
group date date
01560 Stepen Jackson 12/5/2004 7 R1 Computing J. Smith 1/10/15 15/10/15
01356 Catherine Byrne 13/1/2002 9 A1 Gardening F. Green 3/10/15 17/10/15
01356 Catherine Byrne 13/1/2002 9 A1 Plants F. Green 3/10/15 17/10/15

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 Databases

The database illustrates some serious flaws in the way in which the
data is being stored.

• The same data is being entered more than once – UPI, first name,
surname, year and tutor group have to be written every time a
book is borrowed. Also the same book information will have to
be rewritten when it is borrowed by another person. This is time
wasteful. Having the same data entered more than once is called
data redundancy.
• When the same data is entered more than once, errors can occur. In
the second version of the database Stephen is misspelt as ‘Stepen’.
This is known as data inconsistency.

But there is an even greater problem – the UPI is needed to uniquely

identify each record. It cannot appear twice in the same table. This
means that each learner can borrow only one book.

You could solve this problem by adding lots of new fields so that the
learners can borrow as many books as they want.

UPI first surname date year tutor Book Author_1 borrow return book author_2 borrow return
name of group name_1 date_1 date_1 name_2 date_2 date_2
birth

Four new fields are needed for each book borrowed.

• How many new fields should be added?

• How many books will a learner borrow?
• Will all learners borrow the same number of books?

There may be too many fields for some learners and not enough for others.
For many learners some will never be used.

It is obviously very inefficient to use repeating fields in a database (e.g. book

name_1, book name_2, book name_3).

Not enough thought has been given to creating the structure of the
database. This illustrates the importance of database design.

Creating a structured database

The problems are solved by having more than one data table and linking
them together in a single database.

The learner table is retained – it could be named tblLearner – and a separate

one for the books, tblBook, created.

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 Data
The book table might look like this.

book number title author

03169 Computing J. Smith
04675 Gardening F. Green
05936 Plants F. Green

The ‘book number’ field is the primary key. A new number is issued when a
new book is bought for the library.

The book borrowing is now recorded by creating a new table – tblBorrowing

– with the following fields.

UPI book number borrow date return date

There are now three tables, but they are linked. The primary key fields from
the Learner and Book tables are both in the Borrowing table.

tblBook

tblLearner book number*

UPI* title

author

surname tblBorrowing

date of birth UPI

year book number

tutor group borrow date

return date

Figure 3.17 An example of a relational database

The primary key fields in tblLearner and tblBook are indicated with asterisks.
tblLearner and tblBook are linked to tblBorrowing because their key fields
are included in it. tblBorrowing is said to be a link table.
Key terms When a key field from one table is included in another it is called a
Foreign key: a field in one table foreign key.
that uniquely identifies records in
By linking the tables we have structured the data to create a relational
another table (i.e. it is a primary
database.
key in another table).
Relational database: a database Whenever a learner borrows a book, their UPI, the book number and
that allows data elements in one the borrowing and return dates are entered into a new record in the
table to be related to any piece Borrowing table.
of data in another table as long
This allows the librarian to create a search or query, linking the three tables,
as both tables contain a common
to find overdue books and the learners who have borrowed them.
element.

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 Databases

If a book is overdue, all the librarian has to do is identify the learner from
their UPI by looking in the Learner table and the book from its book number
by looking in the Book table. They can send an overdue letter to the learner
stating the book borrowed and when it should have been returned. They can
also work out the fine.

Compound keys
A key field has not been identified for tblBorrowing.

tblBorrowing If the UPI is chosen as the unique identifier, then each

UPI learner will only be allowed one record in the table. They
could only ever borrow one book.
book number
If ‘book number’ is chosen, then each book will only be
borrow date
allowed to be borrowed once. That would be a waste
return date of money.
Key term
This problem can be solved by having a compound key. Compound key: a key that
tblBorrowing consists of two or more fields
In tblBorrowing both UPI and book number could be used to identify a record uniquely.
UPI* combined into a compound key. So learners will be
book number* able to borrow more books because their book number
fields will be different and books can appear more times
borrow date in tblBorrowing as long as they are combined with a
return date different UPI.

There is still a problem. What if a learner wants to reread a book? The database
will not allow this as the UPI and book number fields will contain the same data
as in the previous record.

tblBorrowing This is solved by expanding the compound key to include

the ‘borrow date’ field. Now a learner can borrow a book
UPI*
again as long as it is on a different day.
book number*
An efficient database has been created by carefully
borrow date* structuring the data storage.
return date

Table relationships
Each learner appears only once in tblLearner, but can appear many times
in tblBorrowing.
Each book appears only once in tblBook, but also can appear many times
in tblBorrowing.
Extend your knowledge
There are therefore ‘one-to-many’ relationships between the Learner and
Book tables and the Borrowing table. The process of structuring
the data to create relational
This is shown as follows.
databases is called normalisation.
tblLearner tblBorrowing tblBook Find out about first, second and
third normal forms.
Figure 3.18 A one-to-many table relationship

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 Data

Activity 19
Catherine is creating a database. She wants to store details of all her books and also information about their
authors.

She has created the following table:

BOOKS
Book_ID*
Title
Publisher
Date_Published
Author_Surname
Author_First_name
Author_DOB
Author_Nationality

When she starts to enter data, she creates records as shown below.

Book_ID Title Publisher Date_ Author_ Author_ Author_ Author_

Published Surname First_name DOB Nationality

1 Harry Potter Bloomsbury 1997 Rowling JK 31/07/1965 British

and the
Philosopher’s
Stone
2 Harry Potter Bloomsbury 1998 Rowling JK 31/07/1965 British
and the
Chamber of
Secrets
3 Harry Potter Bloomsbury 1999 Rowling JK 31/07/1965 British
and the
Prisoner of
Azkaban

1 Explain what is meant by:

a data redundancy
b data inconsistency.
2 Restructure Catherine’s database design to remove the problems listed in Question 1.

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 Databases

Unstructured data Activity 20

Most of the data in existence today is not stored in structured databases.
It is unstructured. In other words, it has no pre-defined structure. XtraSave supermarket allows
customers to order online and
Sources of unstructured data include things such as emails, word- have their orders delivered.
processing documents, Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentations, images, XtraSave would like to be able
spreadsheets, uploads to social networking websites and sensors. to print out reports showing the
Not surprisingly, unstructured data is growing significantly faster than following details for each order:
structured data. The amount of unstructured data doubles roughly every • the name and postcode of the
three months. This creates major challenges for organisations – how do customer
they store such vast quantities of data and how do they extract useful • the date of the order
information from it? • the items that were ordered
Unstructured data is a rich source of valuable information that can help • the name of the delivery driver.
organisations make better decisions and give them a competitive edge. It wants to avoid data redundancy
However, extracting information from unstructured data is much more as customer name and postcode,
difficult than searching a structured database. To overcome this challenge, items ordered and the delivery
a number of powerful data mining tools have been developed. Some driver name will need to be in
are capable of analysing text and natural language to identify a person’s more than one order and they
likes and dislikes, feelings and priorities. Others use geospatial data from do not want to have to input
satellites, GPS systems and sensor networks to analyse trends and make the customer, item and delivery
predictions – areas where the population is set to grow, potential crime details more than once.
hotspots, regions at risk from natural disasters etc. Business analytic tools Design the table structure
are used to identify customer preferences, emerging markets, consumer required, indicating the key
trends etc. fields, and show how the tables
are linked.

Exam-style questions
A sports centre uses a database to store details of their members.
MEMBER, SPORT and TEAM are three of the tables used in the database.
1 The data for the first three members in the MEMBERS table is shown below.
MemberNumber Surname FirstName DOB SportCode TeamCode
00033 Abbot Catherine 13/1/1980 HCK HCK_A
00045 Ali Mohammed 10/10/1995 FBL FBL_C
00069 Anderson Patricia 6/6/1994 HCK HCK_C
a State the field that is used for the primary key in the MEMBER table. (1 mark)
b Explain why your chosen field is most likely to be used as the primary key. (2 marks)
2 The database also contains a SPORT and TEAM table.
Explain why SportCode and TeamCode have been included in the MEMBER table. (2 marks)

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 Data

Exam tips
1 You should explain what is meant by a primary key and why the field you
choose is the only one that could contain unique data.
2 You should explain how relational databases function and how tables can
be linked using foreign keys so that data does not have to be duplicated.

Summary
• A database is an organised store of data.
• An entity is something with an independent existence that is uniquely identified and about which data can
be stored.
• A table is a collection of rows and columns that are used to store data in a structured and organised manner.
• A field is one item of information in a database table.
• A record consists of all the fields about an individual entry in a database (e.g. all the details about one learner in
a table).
• The primary key uniquely identifies each record in the table. It is usually a field that is guaranteed to hold
unique information for each record.
• A relational database allows data elements in one table to be related to any piece of data in another table as
long as both tables contain a common element.
• Massive amounts of unstructured data are produced every day. Unstructured data is information that isn’t
organised in a pre-defined structure. Examples include tweets, photos, emails and output from sensors.
Organisations use powerful analytic software tools to extract valuable information from unstructured data.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Describe the property needed by a field if it is selected as the primary key.
S2 Explain why the key field from one table may be included in another table.
S3 Explain how unstructured data differs from structured data.
Challenge
C1 Explain how relational databases minimise data redundancy and data inconsistency.
C2 Explain what is meant by the term ‘big data’ and why the effective use of big data gives organisations a
competitive advantage.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re
not sure you answered them well, try the following activities again:

• For S1 have a look at the definition on page 132.

• For S2 have a look at page 134.
• For S3 have a look at page 137.

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 Chapter 4

Computers

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 Computers

4.1 Machines and computational modelling

Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• describe the input-process-output model.

The input-process-output model

How many computers do you have in your house? There are probably a lot
more than you think. Let’s find out why.

How many of these things do you think of as computers?

You might be surprised to know that every device shown above contains
Key terms an embedded computer. A computer is a machine that takes some kind of
Input: to enter data into a input from its surroundings, processes the input according to given rules,
computer. and provides some kind of output.
Process: to change the meaning
or format of some data.
Output: to display or output
data that has been processed (or INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT
has been stored).

Figure 4.1 A simple input-process-output diagram

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 Machines and computational modelling

You are probably familiar with a desktop computer: the keyboard provides
Exam-style question
input and the screen provides output (which depends on what you type). In a
similar way, the embedded computer in a washing machine has controls that List three outputs and three
provide input and a motor and heater as outputs; how fast they spin and how inputs of a smartphone.
much heat they produce depends on the input setting. (6 marks)

Activity 1 Exam tip

1 Name any other inputs and outputs for A touch screen is an input and
a a desktop computer output device so could appear
b a washing machine. twice in your answer.
2 Sid is a central heating installer. Research the computing devices he
might use in his job.
3 Discuss in a group the inputs and outputs for the devices shown on
the previous page. Think of some categories that you could use to
group the input and output devices you come up with, for example
pointing device or audio input device.

The clever bit in computer science is the activity that goes on between the
inputs and outputs – the processing. Processing means performing a series
of actions on the inputs according to a given set of rules. You might have
met this idea in maths already if you have studied ‘function machines’. You
might also have processed ingredients according to a recipe to make a cake;
or put together steps according to a choreography to make a dance; or
musical notes in harmonic combinations to make a song.
In Chapter 1 (page 2) an algorithm was defined as a precise method for
solving a problem, consisting of a sequence of step-by-step instructions.
In order for processing to produce meaningful results it has to follow an
algorithm. So you might also think of an algorithm as the sequence of steps
that is used to process the input to produce the output.

INPUT OUTPUT

3 ×2 +2 8

Figure 4.2 A simple maths function

If you try to follow a more

complicated function machine INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT
than this one you will probably
need a notepad to keep track of
your working. In a similar way,
anything beyond the simplest
algorithm needs temporary
storage or memory. We should STORAGE
change our diagram of a
computer to include this.
Figure 4.3 A simple function machine with storage

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 Computers
As your algorithms become more complicated it can be useful to show the
Indicates an
input or output. steps in a flowchart. These are the flowchart symbols that you met in
Chapter 1 (page 3).

Indicates a process Did you know?

to be carried out.
There are many examples in history of people trying to discover the
processing that a system is doing by changing the inputs and seeing
Figure 4.4 Flowchart symbols for
what outputs are produced. For example, Gregor Mendel discovered ideas
input/output and process
about genetics by breeding different varieties of pea plants and seeing
what the characteristics of the new plants were; scientists at the Large
Extend your knowledge Hadron Collider are smashing particles together in different ways, piecing
Make a table with the headings together the laws of nature by analysing what comes out.
‘Input’, ‘Process’ and ‘Output’
and with your school subjects Activity 2
down the side. See if you
can find an example for each 1 Work with a partner to write a program to implement a function
subject starting with the ones machine. Decide the mathematical steps required, then ask your
in the text, like this: partner to write the program. You should check your partner’s
program produces the right answers with some example inputs. Do
Subject Input the activity again, but swap roles.
Food Tech ingredients 2 The sentence below is a written description of an algorithm that
checks the strength of a password. Identify the inputs and outputs for
Process Output this program and describe the processing that takes place.
recipe cake Ask the user to enter their password. If the password is eight or more
characters long and contains at least one upper case letter and at least
one symbol then display the word ‘Strong’, otherwise display the word
For each row think about ‘Weak’.
whether the rules or
instructions for the processing
are similar to or different from Summary
those we find in computer • Although computers come in all sorts of shapes and sizes they all do
science. If they are different, in principally the same thing. They take in inputs, process them according to a
what ways are they different? given set of rules, and generate outputs.
• Algorithms expressed in program code specify the processes a computer
Activity 3 carries out.

Code the password algorithm

Checkpoint
in the high-level programming
language you are learning – you Strengthen
could extend it to include a S1 Describe what is meant by the term ‘input-process-output model’.
‘medium’ output for passwords S2 Identify the inputs, outputs and processing involved in uploading an
that meet only two of the criteria. image to a social networking profile.
Challenge
C1 Write a computer program that prompts the user to type in three
numbers, adds them up and then displays the answer on the screen.
Explain your program using the input-process-output model.

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 Hardware

4.2 Hardware
Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• describe the function of the hardware components of a computer system (CPU, main memory, secondary storage)
and how they work together.
• describe the function of different types of main memory (RAM, ROM, cache).
• describe the concept of a stored program and the role of components of the CPU – control unit (CU), arithmetic/logic
unit (ALU), registers, clock, address bus, data bus – in the fetch-decode-execute cycle (the von Neumann model).
• explain how data is stored on physical devices (magnetic, optical, solid state).
• describe the concept of storing data in the ‘cloud’ and other contemporary secondary storage.
• describe the need for embedded systems and their functions.

Stored programs: the von Neumann model Top tip

You probably have a calculator app on your smartphone, but your calculator
Computers may come in all
almost certainly can’t play Candy Crush.
sorts of shapes and sizes, but
Your calculator is designed to do just one job – sums. Your smartphone on it’s worth remembering that
the other hand is a general-purpose computer – it can be programmed to the four functions they all have
do a number of different jobs, from sums to web browsing to games. in common are input, output,
storage and processing.
The first computers, like your calculator, had to be redesigned or at least
rewired to do a different job. The idea of a general-purpose computer
developed in the 1930s and 1940s through the work of Alan Turing and John
von Neumann who proposed that the instructions for the processing could
be held in storage with the input data.

Did you know?

One of the first electrical, rather than mechanical, computers was ENIAC.
Like many technological developments its original purpose was military,
as it was used to determine the flightpaths of artillery shells. It could
be, and was, put to other uses, but this required changing its internal
wiring along with a large number of switches. This reprogramming was
considered to be secretarial work and, this being the 1940s, the job was
assigned to six women. They are now considered to be amongst the first
computer programmers.

Activity 4
Produce a leaflet describing the pioneering work of the ENIAC
programmers. Add the details of any modern, influential female computer
scientists to your leaflet.

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 Computers
A computer in which the processing instructions are stored in memory
Key terms
with the data is called a stored-program computer or a von Neumann
von Neumann architecture: architecture computer.
computer system design in which
You will remember from Chapter 3 that all types of data (including pictures
the program is stored in memory
and sounds) are stored in memory as binary numbers. In the same way, the
with the data.
processing instructions are written as binary numbers. You will learn more
Central processing unit (CPU): about this in section 4.5 on page 167.
hardware device that carries out
the processing in a computer. In a von Neumann architecture computer the hardware device that does the
processing is called the central processing unit (CPU) and the storage is
Main memory/random-access
called main memory/random-access memory (RAM). They are connected
memory (RAM): a temporary
to each other, and to the input and output (I/O) devices, by a group of
store for data and instructions
connecting wires called a bus.
(programs).
Bus: a group of connections
between devices in a computer. Input and
CPU Memory
Output
Fetch-decode-execute cycle:
sequence of steps carried out
repeatedly by a CPU. Bus

Writing: when the CPU sends data

Figure 4.5 Buses used in a computer
to memory to be stored at a given
address.
When a computer is turned on, the CPU fetches an instruction from the
Reading: when the CPU retrieves memory, carries out the instruction it receives, and then fetches the next
the data stored at a given address. and so on. This sequence is called the fetch-decode-execute cycle and it
Memory address: a number that carries on until the power is turned off.
uniquely identifies a (memory)
storage location. Hardware components of a computer system
RAM and ROM
If you have ever bought a desktop or laptop computer you will have seen
the main memory referred to as random-access memory (RAM). This is the
Activity 5 temporary store that the CPU uses for data and instructions (programs).
Look online for an animation of Remember that both data and instructions are just binary numbers, usually
the fetch-decode-execute cycle. in bytes (8 bits). RAM is typically measured in gigabytes (GB). See section 3.3
Try to describe the animation in a (page 117).
step-by-step way.
When the CPU saves data into memory this is called writing: the CPU
uses the bus to tell the memory what data to save and where in memory
Activity 6 to save it. The reverse process is called reading and the CPU must specify
which part of memory to read from. Each memory location has a unique
Use a graphical programming
memory address, in the same way that your home is identified by an
language such as Scratch to
address. You can think of memory like a series of letter boxes each with
produce your own similar
space for one byte of data. The memory addresses are just numbers,
animation.
starting from zero, labelling each mailbox.

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 Hardware

Writing
Address 3 11101000

Address 2 00000000
CPU

Address 1 10010111

Address 0 01101001 Reading

Figure 4.6 Memory addressing

RAM is described as volatile which means that its contents are lost when
the power is turned off. Because of this, computers also need non-volatile
Key terms
memory to store any programs that must run when the computer is first Volatile: memory that is erased
turned on – this memory is called read-only memory (ROM). Programs when the power is turned off.
permanently stored in ROM are known as firmware. Typically these programs Non-volatile: memory that is not
are small and carry out specific tasks, such as initialising the hardware lost when the power is turned off.
components and starting the operating system when a computer is switched Read-only memory (ROM):
on. You might have heard of these programs being called the BIOS (short for memory that cannot be altered
Basic Input/Output System) or UEFI (short for Unified Extensible Firmware and is not lost when the power is
Interface). Nowadays, UEFI has replaced BIOS as the standard firmware used turned off.
in desktop computers.

The photograph below shows the main circuit board of a 1980s computer (the
Sinclair ZX81). The ZX81 had either one or two RAM chips. Two are shown in
the diagram along with three other chips: CPU, ROM and a fourth chip that
connects the input and output devices. You can also see groups of parallel
silver ‘tracks’; these are the buses (the wires connecting the chips together).

The photograph on the right shows a modern-day computer (the Raspberry

Pi). The chip in the centre contains both the CPU and RAM as well as
handling some of the I/O, such as the screen. The role of the ROM is replaced
by a plug-in memory card (not shown). The smaller chip to the right handles
the slower I/O devices such as USB (Universal Serial Bus). Buses can still be
seen although a bit less clearly.

Computer circuit boards: Left – Sinclair ZX81; Right – Raspberry Pi

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 Computers

Key term Cache memory

Most computers require a third kind of main memory: this is called cache
Cache: memory used to
memory (pronounced like ‘cash’). Cache memory is a small amount of fast,
make up for the difference in
expensive memory that is used in-between two devices that communicate
speed between two internal
at different speeds, most often the CPU and RAM.
components.

Activity 7
Research the two chip
manufacturers Intel and
ARM. Compare how their
microprocessors are designed CPU High speed Cache Low speed RAM
and where they are used.

Figure 4.7 Diagram of cache memory

In a CPU cache, frequently used code or data is loaded in chunks from the
slower RAM into the cache. The CPU accesses the cache memory at its own,
faster speed. This means the CPU isn’t slowed down by having to wait for
data from RAM.

Extend your knowledge

In computers up to around the 1980s CPUs and RAM worked at the same
speed as one another, but CPU technology developed much faster than
RAM. This meant that the RAM in newer computers could no longer
keep up with the demands of the CPU, causing a bottleneck that limited
the performance of those computers. To solve the problem, engineers
introduced cache memory, but this created a new challenge. If the data
the CPU needs is not already in the cache (called a cache miss), then the
CPU has to wait for the cache to reload with the correct data. A lot of
research has gone into ways of predicting which chunk of RAM to load
into the cache at any time to reduce cache misses.

Extend your knowledge

Most I/O devices have memory between themselves and the main system
because they communicate at different speeds; this is often called a
Activity 8 buffer (e.g. disk buffer, print buffer or frame buffer (for graphics)). Data is
Produce a presentation to explain transferred at high speed between a processor and this memory. The CPU
what is meant by print spooling can then continue with other tasks while the I/O device takes data from
and deliver your talk to the class. its buffer at a slower rate.

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 Hardware

Activity 9
1 What is cache memory used for?
2 Describe the difference between RAM and ROM. Suggest a use for ROM.
3 Make a cartoon strip or storyboard showing the fetch-decode-execute
cycle.
4 Look back at the photographs and descriptions of the ZX81 and
Raspberry Pi. Working with a partner, identify the similarities and
differences between them. After 35 years, what has changed and what
is the same?

Fetch-decode-execute: in detail
There are many different kinds of CPU, but they share some features in
common. To understand the fetch-decode-execute cycle in more detail you
need to know a bit more about what goes on inside the CPU.
The part of the CPU that does calculations and logic operations is called the
Key terms
arithmetic/logic unit (ALU). Arithmetic/logic unit (ALU): the
part of the CPU that performs
Inside the CPU are a number of memory locations called registers. These
calculations and logic operations.
are extremely fast to access but there are usually only a relatively small
number of them. Some registers play a specific role in the fetch-decode- Register: a storage location
execute cycle, for example holding a memory address, an instruction or a inside the CPU used to hold an
piece of data, while others are general purpose. Some of the registers with a instruction, an address or other
specific role that are found in most computers include the following. single item of data.
Control unit: the part of the CPU
that organises the actions of the
Common registers
other parts of the CPU.
Accumulator: holds the results of calculations performed by the ALU. Clock: an electronic device
All input and output from the CPU passes through the accumulator. inside a CPU that ‘ticks’ at
Program counter: holds the memory address of the next instruction regular intervals and is used to
to be fetched. synchronise the actions of the
Current instruction: holds the instruction currently being executed. other parts of the CPU.

The steps in the cycle are controlled by a control unit and synchronised by
an electronic clock. You have probably seen the advertised clock speeds of
CPUs; for example, a 2.2 GHz CPU means that its clock ‘ticks’ 2200 million
times per second.

ON (1)

OFF (0)

Figure 4.8 Clock signal

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 Computers
The bus that connects the CPU to other devices in the computer is split into
three parts: the address bus, the data bus and the control bus. The address
bus carries memory addresses between the CPU and memory to identify
uniquely a memory location; the data bus carries the value to be read from or
written to memory; and the control bus carries the signals that, for example,
determine whether to read or write the data, and when to do so.

Control Clock

Registers ALU

Bus

Key term Figure 4.9 Inside a CPU

Bus width: the number of The number of connections on a bus is called the bus width. Since each
wires that make up a bus – this connection represents a binary digit, a 1 or a 0, a greater bus width means larger
determines the range of binary number values can be communicated. For example, an eight-bit address bus can
numbers that can be transmitted. send values from 00000000 (0) to 11111111 (255), only 256 possible addresses.
By contrast, a 32-bit computer can address up to 4 GB of RAM.

Now that you know a little more about the parts of a CPU you can understand
in more detail what happens at each step of the fetch-decode-execute cycle.

Fetch-decode-execute cycle
Fetch
The CPU control unit places the memory address of the next instruction
on the address bus. It also sends a signal on the control bus requesting
to read from memory.
The memory receives the signal and looks up that memory location. The
data in memory is copied on to the data bus. The CPU copies this into a
special register.
Decode
The control unit analyses the contents of the register and sends signals
to the other parts of the CPU telling them what to do (e.g. add numbers,
store data back into memory).
Execute
The instruction is completed by the CPU.

Extend your knowledge

You are probably wondering how you get computer games just from copying,
adding and storing binary numbers. First, remember that the I/O devices
are also connected to the bus and they have their own addresses; storing
numbers in their addresses can make pixels appear on a screen or sounds
come from a speaker. Second, remember that modern CPUs can do billions
of these simple instructions per second. What appears to be very complex
behaviour is actually just a very large number of very simple operations.

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Activity 10
1 In groups of three, stage a debate on the best way to improve CPU
performance. One person should research and speak on behalf of
clock speed, another cache size and the third on type and size of RAM.
2 Work with a partner to produce definitions cards for the keywords in
this chapter.
Use your cards to play a describing game. See if you can describe the
keyword on your card to your partner without using the words in
the definition.

Secondary storage
In most situations you need to be able to store your data and programs
after the power is turned off. You have learned that RAM is volatile so most
computers need to be able to copy the contents of their RAM to another
kind of storage that is not volatile – a type that doesn’t lose its contents Key terms
when there is no power. This more permanent storage is called secondary Secondary storage: any kind of
storage. Secondary storage is non-volatile and, compared to RAM, is slower to permanent storage to which the
access, cheaper and has much higher storage capacity. Typical capacities are contents of ROM/RAM are copied
now in the terabytes, i.e. millions of megabytes. (usually a hard disk, optical or
You remember that all data is stored as binary: 1s and 0s. There are three solid-state device).
physical ways of recording 1s and 0s that do not require power. Magnetic storage: secondary
Magnetic storage uses the fact that magnets have north and south poles. By storage that works by
magnetising something, the north and south poles can represent the 1s and 0s magnetising parts of a substance
of your data. This is used in hard disks and magnetic tape storage. as north and south poles to
represent binary 1s and 0s.
Optical storage is used by CDs and DVDs. Shinier or more reflective parts of the
disk represent the 1s or 0s. Optical storage: secondary
storage that works using
Solid-state storage or ‘flash’ memory (such as USB memory sticks or SD cards)
differences in light reflection
represents the 1s and 0s by little pools of trapped electrons on a microchip.
from a material.
Magnetic secondary storage – hard disks Solid-state storage: secondary
Inside a hard disk drive is a stack of disks called platters with a magnetic coating storage that works by storing
on each surface. Tiny magnetic recording heads on the end of an arm float charge (electrons).
a millionth of a centimetre above the disk spinning at 110 km/h underneath.
Data is recorded on each disk along circular tracks, each split into smaller
parts called sectors.
When data is read:
1 The arm moves across to be above the right track.
2 The required sector comes around under the head.
3 The magnetised surface induces a tiny current in the head.
4 The disk controller translates this into 1s and 0s.
Because of these steps, data does not come from the disk immediately. Each
step takes some time. The time for step 1 is called the seek time; for step 2 it is
called the latency.

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Optical secondary storage – DVDs
A CD, DVD or Blu-Ray™ disc is made of several layers as shown in Figure 4.10.
Data is written along a single track that spirals out from the centre of the disc.
The player uses two lasers: one to write data on to the disc and the other to
read data.
When writing, one laser heats the recording material, which creates non-
Top surface for label
reflective depressions on the surface of the disc, called pits. This is slow
because the heating and cooling of the surface takes a little time for each bit
Protective material of data.
Reflective layer
Recording material
If a CD is manufactured ready written, it has pits in the recording layer that are
less reflective than the flat parts, called lands.
Data bits
Control groove (spiral)
When reading, the laser reflects differently off the surface and this is detected
Transparent bottom by a light sensor.
The spiral track is longer on the outside so when reading data from the outside
Figure 4.10 The structure of a DVD
edge the disc has to reduce its rotation speed so that the data passes under
the laser at a constant speed.
When data is read:
1 The disc spins in the drive to ensure all data can be read.
2 The tracking mechanism moves the laser into the correct position over
the disc.
3 The laser shines on to the disc and is reflected back on to a light sensor.
4 Signals from the sensor are translated into 1s and 0s.

Electrical secondary storage – flash drives

Solid-state storage uses chips, called NAND flash, comprised of special kinds of
transistors that can trap electrons in a ‘pool’. Electrons in a pool represent the
0s of the data, while empty pools represent 1s.
Because billions of transistors will fit on a chip, solid-state devices are small
and have high capacity, often several gigabytes, as you will know from the
memory sticks you carry around in your pocket. They also give much faster
access to read data than hard disks.
When data is read from the chip:
1 Control signals identify which bit is to be read out and apply a small voltage.
2 If the electron pool is empty the transistor turns on and a 1 is read out.
3 If the electron pool is full the transistor doesn’t turn on and a 0 is read out.
4 The control signals are changed to read other bits.
5 When data is written to the chip, control signals identify which bit is to be
written and apply a higher voltage.
6 This pulls electrons into the pools of those transistors, recording the 1s
and 0s.
Erasing data also requires higher voltages to remove electrons from the pools.
Because of this, both erasing and writing cause the transistor to break down
slowly; so flash drives can only be rewritten perhaps 1 million times before
eventually failing.

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Both magnetic hard disks and solid-state flash memory are developing
rapidly and will continue to increase in capacity and decrease in size for
several years. The largest computer companies are currently researching
Electron pool
some brand new technologies that might become important in the
future. For example, HP is experimenting with a new type of electrical
component called a memristor to create super-fast, high capacity, non-
volatile memory chips. IBM is developing race track memory – a type
Silicon chip
of magnetic storage that stores information as magnetic patterns on
tiny wires, providing much faster data access speeds than current hard
Figure 4.11 Flash drive drives or flash disk technologies are capable of. You might also have
heard of quantum computing. Quantum computers store data as qubits.
Qubits can be individual atoms and each one is capable of storing (and
processing) more than one bit at once.

Activity 11
1 What is the purpose of secondary storage?
2 Name one kind of magnetic storage and one kind of solid-state
storage.
3 Monty runs his own gardening business. Explain which kind of
secondary storage you would advise Monty to use for:
a storing his garden design software
b taking garden designs to show potential customers
c backing-up all his financial records for seven years.
4 Produce a presentation about future storage: you can start your
research by searching online for the keywords in the text (e.g.
memristor, qubit).
5 If you have an old hard disk you no longer need, try taking it apart
to look at some of the components you have learned about. Your
tutor might have one to show you; you could also ask your school’s IT
technician.

Cloud storage
Sometimes it can be useful to have your secondary storage in a different
place from your computer. For example, you might want to have a back-up
copy of your data in a secure location or share your data with users of other
computers; or you might want to be able to access your data when you are
not sitting at your usual computer.

In Chapter 5 you will learn more about how networks can be used to share
computing resources. Computers that share their secondary storage across a
network are called file servers. You are probably used to using the secondary
storage on a server on your school network (your home drive or a learner
shared area). Some hard disk drives are able to connect directly to a network
(called NAS or network-attached storage). Others connect to several servers

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using their own storage area network or SAN. This type of arrangement is
useful when it’s important not to lose access to your data, for example in a
banking system. If one server or hard disk fails, another can take over its job
without users of the system even noticing.
Key terms Sometimes storage is accessed via the internet using internet services such as
Cloud storage: secondary storage, Dropbox or Google® Drive. In this situation it is usually called cloud storage.
often belonging to a third party, This is an example of virtualisation: you seem to have access to a single,
that is accessed via a network, virtual hard drive when in fact your storage might be spread across several
usually the internet, and so is not servers around the world, with software dealing with the details of where each
in the same physical place as the part of each file is actually stored.
machine’s RAM/ROM. Files stored
Storing data on servers accessed via the internet has the advantages that
‘in the cloud’ can be accessed
from anywhere via an internet • you can access the data from anywhere on many devices using a web
connection. browser.
Virtualisation: any process that • the data is securely backed up by the company providing the storage
hides the true physical nature of service.
a computing resource, making it • you don’t need to transfer your data if you get a new computer.
look different, usually to simplify
Some people will be concerned about security: you might, for example, have
the way it is accessed.
read about high-profile cases of private photographs being accessed and
released on the internet. Other people might be uncomfortable with not
being able to have their data ‘in their hand’ and worried about losing access
if they lost their internet connection. See section 5.2, page 193, for more on
cloud security.

server

Cloud

SAN

Internet

NAS
Your computer
Figure 4.12 Cloud storage diagram

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Embedded systems Activity 12

An embedded computer system is one that is designed to do a specific
Find out about the storage
job, usually as part of a bigger system that might have other electrical or
systems used on your school
mechanical parts, such as a washing machine. This makes them distinct
network. Research, for example,
from general-purpose computers like the PC or laptop you use every day.
what ‘drives’ are available in My
Embedded systems are all around us in every part of daily life, for example
Computer. Does your school use
in your cable or satellite TV box, your car, games console, traffic lights,
a SAN or NAS? Where are the
toaster or toys. They might be so simple that you don’t even think of them
servers located? How does this
as computers.
compare to using a service such
Embedded computers are often cheap, low-power devices using simple as Google Drive?
technology and limited memory. They might run just one program, which is Write a short report giving the
very rarely updated, and so is stored permanently in firmware (ROM or flash advantages and disadvantages of
memory). They often use sensors of some kind. different systems.

Activity 13
1 Modern cars contain an engine management system. This is an
example of an embedded computer system.
a Suggest two inputs to and two outputs from this system.
b Explain one function of the engine management system.
2 Make a table listing five other embedded systems you might
encounter in your daily life. You could look back to page 140 at the
beginning of this chapter to get some initial ideas.

In recent years wireless network technology, the internet and embedded

systems have come together (converged) so that many devices can now
communicate and be accessed and controlled remotely via the internet. This
has become known as the ‘internet of things’. For example:
• your printer in school might automatically order new toner when it is
getting low;
• your electricity meter might automatically send readings to the supplier
via the internet;
• you might be able to control your central heating from your smartphone.
Imagine a future where your fridge knows when you're running out of milk
and sends you a text telling you to pick up some more on the way home.

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Exam-style questions Activity 14

1 State what is meant by the 1 Write a computer program that simulates a traffic light control system.
term volatile memory. It must cycle through the normal sequence of lights, printing out the
(1 mark) current state. Your tutor might give you the opportunity to use your
2 Explain why having cache program to control a real light output.
memory can improve the
2 Draw a flowchart showing the processing required by a chip-and-PIN
performance of the CPU.
credit card reader. This is used when you pay for something in a shop:
(2 marks)
it collects data about the purchases from the till, gets your card details,
3 List the steps in the fetch part checks your PIN, sends encrypted data to the bank and waits for a reply; it
of the fetch-decode-execute might print a receipt if the transaction is allowed and informs the till
cycle. (4 marks) of the result.

Exam tip Summary

In Question 2, remember that • von Neumann computers process data using a stored program.
‘explain’ means you have to give • A CPU runs a program by accessing main memory using the fetch-decode-
a reason as well as your answer. execute cycle.
• Main memory can be volatile RAM or non-volatile ROM.
• Cache memory is used between devices that communicate at
different speeds.
• CPU, memory and I/O devices are connected using a bus.
• Inside the CPU, registers provide storage and the ALU performs calculations.
• Secondary storage can be magnetic, optical or solid state.
• Secondary storage can be located away from your computer in the cloud.
• Embedded systems are cheap, low-power computers that are dedicated to
a specific task.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Describe in detail the fetch-decode-execute cycle. Include the roles of the memory, buses and special registers.
S2 Describe the advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of secondary storage.
S3 Explain what is meant by the term internet of things.
Challenge
C1 Describe the operation of a von Neumann architecture computer.
C2 Compare the features of CPU registers, cache memory and RAM.
C3 Explain the purpose of secondary storage and justify an example of a situation where optical storage is
the best choice.
C4 Evaluate the use of embedded systems to produce ‘driverless cars’.

How confident are you in your answers to these questions? If you are not sure that you
answered them well, go back and review the fetch-decode-execute section on pages 147–148.
Try to explain this to a family member at home; this will help you to understand it yourself.

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4.3 Logic
Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• construct truth tables for a given logic statement (AND, OR, NOT).
• produce logic statements for a given problem.

Truth tables
You learned in Chapter 1 (page 9) about selection – determining which
parts of a program run depending on certain conditions – usually
expressed using IF statements.

IF health <= 0 THEN

SET game_over TO true
END IF
In general, this kind of statement has the form:

IF CONDITION THEN COMMANDS

When this code is translated the logic statement or condition is calculated. If
the result is TRUE then the commands will run.
Here is a more complicated condition.

IF health <= 0 AND lives = 0 THEN

SET game_over TO true
END IF Key term
You can probably work out from this code when the game is over because Truth table: a table showing
you will have played games and understand what ‘health’ and ‘lives’ all possible combinations of
mean. But how does a computer do this? A computer needs to be able to the inputs and outputs of an
calculate AND to work out if the condition is TRUE or FALSE. operator.

In the example the game is only over if both parts of the condition are
health <= 0 lives = 0 Game over?
true. We can show all the possibilities for this condition in a table.
No No No
This kind of table is called a truth table. It is the truth table for the AND
No Yes No
operator. The outcome is only true if both of the conditions are true.
(Usually you will see a ‘Yes’ written as a ‘1’ and a ‘No’ written as a ‘0’.) Yes No No
Yes Yes Yes
Perhaps the game doesn’t have lives and we only want to end the game
if you run out of ‘health’ or you pass the winning score of 1 million.
Health score > Game over?
IF health <= 0 OR score > 1000000 THEN <= 0 1000000
SET game_over TO true 0 0 0
END IF
0 1 1
Here are the possibilities – this time it is the truth table for the OR
1 0 1
operator.
In this case the outcome is true if either of the conditions is true. 1 1 1

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 Computers
There is one more logical operator (or Input Output
Key terms
Boolean operator) called NOT. This
Boolean: something that can 0 1
operator just swaps 1s and 0s. Notice that
take only the values True or unlike AND and OR, NOT has only one input. 1 0
False; named after English
mathematician George Boole. We could use this in our ‘game over’ example as follows.
Logic circuit: an electronic circuit
IF (NOT god_mode AND health <= 0) OR score > 1000000 THEN
that has inputs and outputs
SET game_over TO true
that follow one of the Boolean
END IF
operators.
We can list all the possible combinations in a truth table as below. (Like in
maths, brackets are evaluated first.)

god_mode NOT health <= 0 NOT score > 1000000 game over?
god_mode god_mode AND
health <= 0
0 1 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 1 1
0 1 1 1 0 1
0 1 1 1 1 1
1 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 0 0 1 1
1 0 1 0 0 0
1 0 1 0 1 1

The three logic operations AND, OR and NOT are very easy to build as electronic
circuits known as logic circuits.

Activity 15
1 Write, in words, the condition for the game to be over in the final
example in the table. (You will see why Boolean logic is clearer and
easier to use than English when the situation gets complicated.)
2 State which part of the CPU works out the logic for conditions.
3 Write a computer program that asks for your year group, grade and
target and then prints out whether you are invited to revision class or
not. Start by assuming revision classes are only for Year 11 students
whose grade is below target, then you can invent your own criteria for
invitations to revision class.
4 Write the truth table for the statement below. This time there are
three parts to the condition. Remember: as in maths, brackets are
worked out first.
IF year = 11 AND (grade < target OR target > 7) THEN
SET revision_class TO true
END IF

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Writing logic statements

When you write programs you will often have to work out the correct logic
statements for a given situation so that the right code runs. Mistakes in the
logic (logic errors) are a frequent cause of bugs so it is important to check both
that the logic is right and that the code matches the logic you have worked out.

Worked example
Monty has decided to expand his gardening business to give online advice. He is writing a web page that
advises customers which fertiliser to buy from his online shop. The web page will ask customers about their
plants and then give relevant advice using these rules:
• If plants have yellow leaves mainly near the soil then they need a nitrogen fertiliser.
• If plants have brown leaves that are small then they need a phosphorous fertiliser.
To program this, you first need to work out what are the important features in the rules – these will be your
variables. In this case, the colour of the leaves is important. We can write the rules in pseudo-code like this.

SET advice TO ‘nothing needed’

IF colour = ‘yellow’ THEN
SET advice TO ‘nitrogen’
ELSE
IF colour = ‘brown’ THEN
SET advice TO ‘phosphorous’
END IF
END IF

Notice that we started off by assuming the plants were growing normally and only changed the advice if certain
conditions were met.
Monty points out that if leaves go brown, but are normal sized, then the customer needs potassium fertiliser –
now the size of the leaf is also important.

SET advice TO ‘nothing needed’

IF colour = ‘yellow’ THEN
SET advice TO ‘nitrogen’
ELSE
IF colour = ‘brown’ AND size = ‘small’ THEN
SET advice TO ‘phosphorous’
ELSE
IF colour = ‘brown’ AND size = ‘normal’ THEN
SET advice TO ‘potassium’
END IF
END IF
END IF

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Activity 16
1 Add the following rules to Monty’s website logic on page 157.
• If plants have cracked or misshapen leaves then they need a
calcium fertiliser.
• If plants have leaves that are yellow mainly on the tips then they
need a magnesium fertiliser.
2 Why is Monty’s advice an example of abstraction?

Activity 17 Worked example

1 Explain why this code would Lisa has built her own programmable alarm clock. She wants to program
not work if the last two lines the alarm to wake her up at the correct time depending on the day. She
were swapped around. gets up
2 How can you change the • at 7.30 a.m. if it is a school day.
conditions so that it works with • at 9.00 a.m. if it is the weekend or a school holiday, except on Saturdays
the code either way round? in term time when she gets up at 8.00 a.m. to play hockey.
Let’s work out the important features of these rules. The alarm times
depend on whether it’s term time or holidays and also on the day of the
Top tip week; so term time and day will be the variables for your conditions.
Note that we have used brackets
SET alarm TO ‘7:30 am’
in this example. You have
IF term_time = false OR (day = ‘Saturday’ OR day =
learned about BIDMAS in your
‘Sunday’) THEN
maths lessons and in Chapter 1
SET alarm TO ‘9:00 am’
(page 25). It tells you the order
ELSE
to do the sums. It is the same
IF term_time = true AND day = ‘Saturday’ THEN
with logic operators: brackets
SET alarm TO ‘8:00 am’
go first, then NOT, then AND
END IF
and finally OR. This is called
operator precedence. END IF

Key term Activity 18

Operator precedence: the order 1 Work out what happens for the following statement.
in which you apply the operators
IF gender = ‘female’ AND (subject = ‘computer science’
(including logical operators) in a
OR subject = ‘physics’) THEN
mathematical equation.
SEND “Superstar!” TO DISPLAY
END IF

a For a girl studying French.

b For a girl studying computer science.
c For a boy studying physics.
2 Which answer would be different if the programmer had forgotten the
brackets?

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Exam-style questions Exam tip

1 Edward is developing a logic circuit for an automatic door system. The operator precedence for
• The output from the sensor on the street (S) is 1 when someone NOT, AND and OR are likely to
approaches the door from outside. be tested in the exam question,
so you need to know it.
• The output from the sensor in the building (B) is 1 when someone
approaches the door from inside. This means you should always
• The opening mechanism works only if the manual switch (M) is off (0). check carefully whether you
need brackets.
Write a suitable IF statement in pseudo-code to represent this logic.
(2 marks)
2 Write pseudo-code representing the logic for a cinema ticket pricing
application. (3 marks)
• Standard pricing is £5.
• Children under 4 are free.
• Children under 16 and people over 65 are half price.

Summary
• AND, OR and NOT are called logical or Boolean operators.
• They are used in selection statements such as IF.
• A truth table shows all possible combinations of inputs and the output produced.
• The order of precedence is: brackets, NOT, AND, OR.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Construct a truth table for the AND operator.
S2 Write a logic statement for the operation of headlamps on a car – the headlamps come on if the light sensor
reading is dark or if the headlamp switch is turned on.
S3 Produce a revision summary of this chapter.
Challenge
C1 Construct a truth table for the expression P = (A AND B) OR C.
C2 What combination of logic operations would produce an output of 1 only if the two inputs were different?

How confident are you in your answers to these questions? If you are not
sure that you answered them well, go back and review the examples on
pages 157–158.

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 Computers

4.4 Software
Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• describe what an operating system is and how it manages files, processes, hardware and the user interface.
• describe the purpose and functions of utility software (managing, repairing and converting files; compression;
defragmentation; backing up; anti-virus, anti-spyware).
• describe how software can be used to simulate and model aspects of the real world.

Computer systems consist of both hardware and software. Software

Key terms
is the set of programs that run on a computer system. You can usefully
Software: the set of programs run divide software into two types. The first type is what you normally think
by a computer system. of as programs, those that do a job for us that would otherwise have to be
Application software: software done by hand, such as payroll calculations. This is application software.
that performs a task that would The other kind of software is there to help us use the computer and the
otherwise be done by hand, application programs, such as providing the user interface and tools to
perhaps with pen and paper. manage the hardware. This is system software and it is usually divided into
Operating system: software operating systems and utility software.
designed for particular hardware
and which manages other Operating systems
programs’ access to the hardware. The operating system (OS) is usually loaded when the computer starts up.
Utility software: software that You will probably already know several operating systems, for example
does a useful job for the user that Microsoft® Windows®, Linux, Android, iOS etc.
is not essential to the operating
Why do you need this software? Unlike embedded systems, a general-
system and not the reason for
purpose computer can be used to do a range of jobs. Software written
using a computer in the first place.
for general-purpose computers needs to be able to run on a range of
different hardware, for example your favourite web browser runs on your
laptop or desktop computer and also on your mobile phone or tablet.
One of the jobs of an operating system is to manage whatever input and
output devices the computer has. A programmer writing an application
uses simple commands, say OpenFile, and the operating system deals
with exactly how to open a file. This will depend on what sort of secondary
storage the file happens to be on. You might have realised this is yet
another example of abstraction.

This system means applications have to be written for a particular

operating system but will work on any hardware. You will probably already
be familiar with this idea because you know, for example, that Android
apps run on any Android device. Many different models of smartphone or
tablet will run the app, but the same apps won’t run on your friend’s
iOS phone.

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 Software

Word Utility Web Image

processor program browser editor

Operating
system

Hardware

Figure 4.13 The operating system sits between the hardware and the programs

Did you know?

The operating system provides developers of application programs
like word processors with a set of commands such as OpenFile or
DisplayJPEG: this set of commands is usually called an application
programming interface or API. Using the operating system API rather
than accessing hardware directly means that an application program
will run on the operating system no matter what hardware it is installed
on. It also means that the operating system controls what application
programs are allowed to do. This helps to reduce the risk of programs
crashing and to maintain security.

Managing files and the directory structure, and input/output in general, is

one of the important jobs of the operating system. An operating system also
shares access to the hardware among the different programs that are running
(and on some operating systems among the different users who are logged on
to the computer). Two important pieces of hardware that have to be shared
are the CPU and RAM.
• In section 4.2 you learned that a von Neumann system does only one thing
at a time. When you have several applications open they can’t really be
running simultaneously. The operating system keeps up this illusion by
allowing each program to use the CPU for a short time before switching to Key terms
the next program. This is called scheduling. Scheduling: the algorithm that
• It is possible to load many applications all at the same time and each the OS uses to allow each running
uses some memory. What if you keep loading applications until RAM is process to use the CPU.
full? In this case the operating system creates another illusion, by moving Paging: the algorithm the OS uses
programs from RAM to disk and back again when needed. This is called to move programs from RAM to
paging, swapping or virtual memory. You might notice this as a lot of disk disk and back again when needed
activity and your computer running more slowly when lots of applications once main memory is full.
are open.

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As well as the applications you are running, the operating system is also
Exam-style questions
running other programs in the background. They include various parts of the
One of the functions of an operating system itself such as the programs that manage the network, the
operating system is scheduling. scheduler and also any hardware drivers and utility programs such as anti-
1 Describe the purpose of virus. Each task that is running is called a process. To see all the processes that
scheduling. (2 marks) are running, including the invisible ones
2 Give three other functions of • on Microsoft® Windows®, press CTRL-ALT-DEL and choose Task Manager.
an operating system.
• on Linux, type ps aux at the command prompt.
(3 marks)
• on OS X, run the Activity Monitor from Applications/Utilities.

Exam tip Information about how much the hardware is used by each process is
displayed, including.
The command word in Question 1
is ‘describe’ and two marks are • the proportion of the CPU time spent on this process.
allocated to the question, so
• the amount of memory used by this process.
make sure you make two distinct
points in your answer. • the amount of available memory (real memory and virtual memory, VM).
These processes are running one at a time, being given their share of the CPU
Key terms time by the scheduler. They are all running alongside one another, but not
really at the same time, so we say they are running concurrently. An operating
Concurrent: processes that run
system that allows processes to run concurrently is called a multi-tasking
apparently at the same time are operating system. Almost all modern operating systems are multi-tasking.
described as being concurrent.
As well as allowing multi-tasking, some operating systems allow different
Authentication: the process of users to use the hardware. In some cases only one user can use the
proving to a computer system hardware at once (single user), whereas in others several users can be
who you are (e.g. using a sharing the hardware (multi-user). Your smartphone is an example of a
username and password). single user system, whereas your school network servers will be running a
User interface: the way the multi-user operating system so that many of you can log on at the same
user interacts with the operating time. In a multi-user system, each user has to identify themselves (with a
system username, fingerprint etc.) and provide a password (or other log in) to prove
they are who they say they are – this is called authentication. Authority
to use the facilities of the computer system is based on who you are, for
example learner users might not be able to print, whereas tutor users
can. In such systems there is usually also a super-user (sometimes called
administrator or root) who can access all resources and also control the
access rights of other users.
The operating system also provides and runs the user interface. Sometimes
this is a graphical user interface (GUI) with windows, icons, menus and
pointers (WIMP) like Microsoft® Windows® or MacOS, or sometimes it is just a
text, command-line interface (CLI) like MS DOS.
The choice of user interface depends on the applications a computer is
expected to run. An embedded system might not have an operating system
as such, and therefore does not have a user interface. A computer acting
as a web server might only need a command-line interface because it is
intended only ever to be managed by technicians. A computer used for
video-editing will almost certainly need a graphical user interface.

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 Software

Did you know?

In common with many school subjects, as you learn more about computer
science you will discover that some details were missed out so that you
could understand the key ideas first. At least in computer science you are
used to this idea of abstraction. One such detail is the idea of a driver.
The driver for a device is the software that really communicates with the
I/O device on the computer’s bus. It transfers data between the hardware
device and the operating system in an agreed format – also known as the
application programming interface (API). To find out more about drivers
and operating systems search online for ‘NDIS’ – this is the API that is used
for Microsoft® Windows® network drivers – or ‘ALSA’, the API for sound
drivers on Linux.
An API is yet another example of abstraction. A software developer deals
with the essential tasks like OpenFile, but the detail of how data is taken
from secondary storage is hidden, managed by the operating system.

Activity 19
1 Run/open the program that lists the running processes on an
operating system you are familiar with. Make a table listing the
application software, utility software and operating system processes
that are running.
2 There are several different algorithms that operating systems can use
for scheduling. The one described on page 161 is called round-robin
scheduling. Research and describe at least one other method used for
scheduling.
3 Take one of the programs you have already written and add a feature
to save or load data using the operating system API.

Utility software
Utility software is software that does a useful job for the user. It is
• inessential to the operating system, and
• not the reason for using a computer in the first place (that is, it is not
application software).
Utility software, sometimes called tools, can be split into three areas:
• basic tools;
• file management;
• security.
Basic tools
Basic tools include things like a simple text editor (e.g. Notepad or nano),
calculator, command prompt, hex editor and software for accessibility
such as for producing large print. They are usually included as part of the
operating system.

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Activity 20 File management tools

No matter how much storage you have, somehow you always manage to
Make a list of all the utility fill up the space with files. This brings problems such as not being able to
software you can find on your find your favourite photos, losing files if there is a fault and things simply
computer. Try to organise your running slower on your computer.
list into groups or categories such
as ‘file management tools’. Pair File management tools include software to keep your data secure by making
a back-up copy of your files in another location. Some programs
with a partner and share your list.
can recover files that have been deleted or repair files that might have
Make a ‘problems’ list of software
become corrupted.
that you cannot agree a category
for. Finally pair with another Another useful file management tool is for converting files between
couple of learners and compare different formats. This is especially useful for multimedia files where there
their problem list with yours. are a large number of common formats (e.g. jpg, gif, png).
Another important file management tool is a defragmenter which is used
Key term to speed up access to data stored on magnetic hard disk drives. Files are not
Back-up: a copy of files in another stored on disk in one large chunk. They are stored in smaller pieces called
sectors or clusters and a single file’s clusters can be spread across the disk.
location so that they are still
Accessing these fragmented files can be slow, so a defragmenter moves
available if the original copy is
the bits of files around so they are closer together, speeding up disk access
damaged or lost. Backing up is the
(at least in theory). Note that, unlike magnetic disk drives, solid state/flash
process of making a back-up copy.
drives do not require defragmentation as access times are the same across
Defragmenter: a utility that the entire volume.
moves file clusters on a disk so
You can also use a file management tool to compress the files you don’t use
they are closer to each other in
very often. This frees up space on the disk but those compressed files are
order to speed up disk access.
then slower to access as they have to be uncompressed to open them.
Virus: software that is designed
to make and distribute copies Security tools
of itself, usually for a malicious Security tools include anti-virus and anti-spyware software. Computer
purpose. viruses and spyware can be used to capture private information, to
Spyware: software, possibly introduce a process on your computer to do a job for the attacker such
a virus, that is designed to be as send out spam email, or to crash an important machine such as a web
installed secretly on a computer server. Some are simply written to annoy users. Such software is called a
and record private information as virus because it copies itself and spreads: anti-virus tools try to identify code
the user enters it. that copies itself and prevent those processes from running.
Firewall: a utility that controls Firewall software controls your connection to a network, deciding which
program access to the network, network data can flow to and from your computer. This can help to prevent
both incoming and outgoing. infection by viruses.
Encryption software is used to make files unreadable without a password.
Top tip Data on your tutor’s laptop might be encrypted so that it is not
Be careful not to confuse understandable if the laptop is stolen.
compression with encryption.

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Simulation and modelling

In Chapter 1 you learned about how you can use abstraction to model the
real world. By now you will be getting used to the idea of abstraction as a
central part of computer science. It means hiding complexity, only exposing
the key or important features of a situation and leaving out the details.
One important application for computer science is the ability to do
experiments that can’t or shouldn’t be done in the real world. For example,
• you can’t increase the average temperature of the Earth to see what
happens to our weather;
• you shouldn’t stop one of a pair of twins from exercising to see if it causes
depression.
You can, however, write a computer program to model or simulate these
situations and see what results you obtain. Scientists, engineers, economists
Key terms
and other experts can ask ‘what if?’ questions using computer models, for ‘What if?’ question: running a
example, what if the bridge were twice as long? computer model with a given set
There are two big problems with this approach. of inputs to see what the model
produces as an output or prediction.
• The model or simulation includes assumptions. It is not reality so the
answers might not be right. Heuristic: a type of algorithm
capable of finding a solution to
• The real world is far too complicated to allow for every possible factor in
a problem quickly and easily, by
your model, so you have to use abstraction to simplify it. This makes it
using a combination of trial and
even less likely that you will get a totally right answer.
error and educated guesswork
Nevertheless, computer models can reveal some interesting things about to cut corners and eliminate
how the world works or about how humans work with machines. less likely alternatives. Heuristic
Examples of computer models algorithms don’t always find the
A flight simulator allows pilots to train to fly aircraft safely. They can make best solution but they will usually
mistakes in the simulator without endangering their own lives or the lives find one that works.
of passengers. Commercial flight simulators use a moveable cabin and real Monte Carlo methods: carrying
flight controls so pilots can see, hear and feel things just as if they were out a statistical analysis of a
flying a real aircraft. number of random samples in
If you ever watch the weather forecast you will sometimes hear the presenter order to obtain approximate
talking about their computer and sometimes even about computer models. solutions to a problem. The larger
The atmospheric models used to forecast the weather are some of the most the number of samples used, the
complex pieces of software that exist. They split the atmosphere up into small more accurate the result is likely
pieces and keep track of the temperature, pressure, humidity and other factors to be.
in each piece. They start the model with real measurements, then they let it Neural networks: processing
calculate the effect each piece of atmosphere has on its neighbours and see information in a similar way to
how the weather patterns develop. human brains and learning and
Another example of a computer model is used for earthquake prediction. adapting over time. This makes
Unlike the previous examples, we don’t know the mathematics behind how them useful tools for solving
earthquakes work. Models like these have to use information from past pattern recognition problems,
examples and probability to come up with best guesses as to what might such as facial recognition,
happen and when. Some common techniques used in such models are medical diagnosis and quality
heuristics, Monte Carlo methods and neural networks. There is a whole control, which computers are
field of computer science devoted to finding patterns in data and using normally not very good at.
them to predict the future: this is machine learning.

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Activity 21
1 Using a programming language that you are learning,
a write a simulation of rolling a die. The die must come up with 1 to 6 with equal probability.
b adapt your program so that the die is biased to give 6 more often than it should.
2 In a group, research techniques used in machine learning and illustrate your findings using presentation
software. Bring your talks together and present them back to the class.

Summary
• An operating system (OS) is software that
o manages a hardware device;
o manages users’ access to the I/O devices, including files on secondary storage;
o provides the user interface;
o shares the computing resources such as CPU and memory between processes.
• Processes are tasks running on the computer, including application programs.
• Utility software does useful jobs for the user, such as file management.
• Computer modelling enables experts to ask ‘what if?’ questions without affecting the real world.
• Computer models are very useful, but contain assumptions and simplifications so you can’t rely completely
on their results.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Name one operating system and list the main functions it performs.
S2 Describe the differences between command-line and graphical user interfaces.
S3 Explain why anti-virus software is utility software.
S4 Computer models suggest that if we continue burning fossil fuels at the current rate, average sea levels will rise
25 cm by 2050. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using a computer model for this problem.
Challenge
C1 State what is meant by a process and explain the purpose of scheduling.
C2 Suggest why some users might prefer a command-line interface to a graphical one.
C3 Write a program to model the populations of rabbits and foxes in a habitat. Use the following
information to help you.
Foxes eat rabbits
Foxes die of starvation if they don’t eat enough rabbits
Rabbits and foxes both reproduce, but rabbits reproduce faster
Rabbits and foxes both die of other causes

How confident are you in your answers to these questions? If you are not
sure that you answered them well, make a revision resource by researching
operating systems, utility software and computer models online before
attempting the questions again.

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4.5 Programming languages

Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• explain what is meant by high-level and low-level programming languages, and describe their suitability for a
particular task.
• explain what is meant by a compiler and an interpreter and give the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Low-level programming language

You learned in section 4.2 that a von Neumann architecture computer uses
the stored program concept. The instructions that the computer carries
out, the program, are stored in memory just like any other kind of data. This
means that programs are also just binary numbers – that’s all you can store
in memory, after all. So how can binary numbers represent a program?

One other thing you learned in section 4.2 is that the CPU can only do a
few very simple things. It only ‘understands’ a few very simple instructions.
Complex things like playing games emerge from having a really large
number of those simple things happening very fast. Those few simple
instructions that a CPU knows how to do are called the instruction set
for that type of CPU. Each instruction is given a binary code and it is these
codes that make up your programs. The binary codes representing a
program are called machine code. Key terms
A machine code program would look something like the diagram below Instruction set: the list of all
– you can probably see why programming in machine code would be possible commands a particular
completely impractical. CPU knows how to carry out.
Machine code: the binary
0110100100100101010101011111010101100101011010110101010 codes representing each of the
instructions in the instruction set.
Figure 4.14 An example of a machine code program
Translator: a program that
converts source code into
Not only would it be incredibly difficult to work out the sequence of 1s and machine code.
0s you need, but also your program would only work on that kind of CPU
Source code: the text of the
because different CPUs have different instruction sets. Instead, you need
program that a programmer
a translator which converts your programs into the CPU’s machine code
writes.
language.
Assembly language: a low-
Translators are also programs. Their input is the text of your program – this level language written using
is called your source code. Their output is machine code which the CPU can mnemonics.
run (execute).
Low-level programming
The simplest translator is called an assembler. It converts assembly language language: a programming
to machine code. Assembly language is called a low-level programming language that is closely related to
language. This is because the programmer is working at the lowest level of the CPU’s machine code.

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detail, the level of the CPU hardware itself. Each instruction in assembly
Key term
language is the same as a machine code instruction.
Mnemonic: a short, simple,
acronym that represents each Assembly language is a bit easier to work with than machine code
of the instructions in a CPU’s because each instruction is written as a short, memorable keyword called
instruction set, e.g. LDR (load a mnemonic. For example, the instruction for the CPU to add numbers
register), STR (store) and CMP together might be 01101001 in machine code, but is just ADD in assembly
(compare). language. The assembler replaces each mnemonic with the appropriate
binary machine code and data.
LDR R3, [R1]
MQV R2, #0
CMP R3, R0
MOVGT R2, #1
An example of assembly code

Did you know?

The 1980s space-trading game Elite, which featured 3D graphics and a
galaxy of hundreds of planets to explore, was written entirely in assembly
language and occupied just 22 KB. To see what an amazing feat of
programming that was, look at the file size of a modern 3D graphics game.
To learn more you could play an authentic version of the game on an
emulator – search online for ‘BeebEm’.

Writing programs in assembly language is challenging for three

reasons.

• A very limited range of instructions is available. Every task, even the

simplest, has to be built up from the smallest steps – some older
CPUs could not even multiply numbers.
• You have to manage all your data. There are no strings, integers or
real numbers, just binary, so you have to decide how to represent
your data. You also have to decide and manage where it is stored in
memory.
• Debugging is very difficult. When the assembled program runs, any
bugs usually just make the machine crash and you have to reboot to
try again.
Nowadays almost no programs are written in assembly language. The
Activity 22
exceptions are some hardware drivers and programs designed to run
Make a list of tasks for which on embedded systems that you learned about in section 4.2. This is
assembly language is better because writing in the CPU’s home language can be useful if you want
suited than a high-level your program to be very small and very fast or to directly control the
programming language. I/O hardware.

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Extend your knowledge

Research the Little Man Computer simulation. Make a list of the machine
code instructions that Little Man Computer ‘understands’.

High-level languages Key terms

It is much more common to write software in high-level programming Compiler: a translator that
languages such as Python, C, Java or Visual Basic. For these programs to run converts high-level language
on the CPU the source code has to be translated into machine code. This can source code into object code,
be done often machine code. The source
• all at once, and the finished machine code program saved and run later; code is translated all at once and
saved to be executed later.
• one line at a time.
Interpreter: a translator that
Compilers and interpreters converts high-level language
A translator that translates the whole program in one go is called a source code into object code,
often machine code. The source
compiler and one that translates and runs your program one line at a time
code is translated and executed
is called an interpreter.
one line at a time.
A compiler converts high-level language to machine code and saves the Object code: the translated
output as a machine code program, sometimes called object code. This source code. Often this will be
usually has the .exe file extension, short for ‘executable’, because the machine code, but might also be
machine code can be executed or run. an intermediate code, which has
to be further translated before it
An interpreter translates your source code one line at a time and runs it
can be executed.
there and then. There is no object code file, only your original source code.

Using compilers or interpreters – a comparison Activity 23

Interpreter Compiler Implement one of the algorithms
you designed in Chapter 1
Every computer that will run your The output from a compiler will in a graphical programming
program needs the interpreter run on its own on any similar language, such as Scratch, and a
software installed. computer. textual language, such as Python.
Interpreters find errors when they A compiler cannot produce Which language did you find
happen and can often tell you any object code unless the whole most intuitive, which was easiest
what has gone wrong. program is correct – they tend to use? Which one would you
to report a lot of errors initially, recommend for someone starting
making it harder to debug your to program?
program.

Programs tend to run slower It can be easier to protect your

using an interpreter because the code from being altered or copied
interpreter has to translate the if it has been compiled because you
source code while the program only give people the object code
is running. (machine code), which is hard
to understand.

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Exam-style questions Exam tip

Manjit is using a high-level programming language to develop a computer The command word in Question 2
game for children. is ‘compare’, so you need to talk
1 Explain why the program code she writes will need to be translated about similarities and differences
before it can be executed by a computer. (2 marks) between a compiler and an
interpreter. Make sure your
2 Compare using a compiler with using an interpreter to translate the
answer relates to both.
code. (4 marks)

Summary
• CPUs can only run programs written in machine code.
• A translator is a program that converts source code into machine code.
• Humans program computers mostly using a range of high-level languages, but sometimes in assembly language (a
low-level language).
• Compilers and interpreters are types of translator, each having their own advantages and disadvantages.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Explain what is meant by machine code.
S2 What is the job of a translator?
S3 Momina is a C programmer and uses a compiler. Denis is a Python programmer and uses an interpreter. What
challenges will Momina face in developing software compared with Denis?
Challenge
C1 Explain the difference between high-level and low-level programming languages.
C2 Evaluate the choice of translator between compilers and interpreters.

How confident are you in your answers to these questions? If you are not
sure that you answered them well, you could review the chapter by
searching online.

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 Chapter 5

Communication and the internet

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 Communication and the internet

5.1 Networks
Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• explain why computers are connected in a network.
• describe the different types of networks and usage models.
• describe the characteristics of network topologies.
• describe wired and wireless connectivity.
• explain that network data speeds are measured in bits per second.
• describe the role and need for network protocols.
• explain that data can be transmitted in packets using layered protocol stacks.

Computer networks and their use

Key term Computer networks
Network: an arrangement of A network is a collection of two or more computers that are connected
computers and other devices together for the purpose of sharing resources and data. All types of
connected together to share computer (e.g. desktops, laptops, tablets, e-readers, gaming systems, shop
resources and data. tills and even internet-enabled fridges) can be linked in networks.

Many networks include servers. A server is a powerful computer that

provides the network with a service, such as storing files or sending/
receiving emails. A small network might have one server, whereas a large
business network could have tens or hundreds of servers.

Why are networks used?

Did you know?
A network can support multiple users accessing multiple services
Internet-connected fridges simultaneously.
are already available. They
can provide details of what Almost all organisations (small or large), including schools, have a computer
food is inside them and send network that provides multiple services to its users. The network allows
reminders to your smartphone multiple users:
or tablet when you need to • to read/write personal files on a central server – this provides extra
restock items. storage space to that on a single computer and also gives a back-up
facility;
• to access shared files among several users;
• to download data or updates to computer programs;
• to send data to a shared printer;
• to access the internet;
• to communicate with each other – perhaps through email or video, or to
play interactive games.

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Activity 1 Key terms

Carry out the necessary research, then create a leaflet that explains to Local area network (LAN): a
new learners the following. network that covers a relatively
small geographical area, often a
1 What a network is and what kinds of devices can be connected to it.
single site.
2 What services your school network provides and how to access them.
Wireless local area network
3 What services a home network typically provides. (WLAN): a local area network
in which connected devices use
high frequency radio waves to
Different types of network communicate.
LAN and WAN Wide area network (WAN):
A local area network (LAN) is a network that covers a relatively small a network that covers a large
geographical area. This is often a single site, such as a home, a hospital or geographical area. It connects
a factory. together two or more LANs
and is usually under collective
The hardware (e.g. cables, routers, etc.) that connects the computers, servers ownership. The largest wide area
and other hardware devices are usually owned by the organisation that the network is the internet.
network belongs to.

Many people have a wireless local

area network (WLAN) at home.
Computer
A wireless router allows all the
computer devices in a household
Computer Computer
to access the internet and share
devices such as printers and
external hard drives. LAN

A wide area network (WAN)

Printer
covers a large geographical area, Server
usually across several sites of an
Computer
organisation. Each site has one
or more LANs, and they are all Computer
connected together to make a WAN. Computer
WAN
The WAN allows employees on
Computer Computer
different sites to communicate and Computer Computer

share data.
LAN
LAN

Server Printer
Server Printer

Computer
Computer

Figure 5.1 LANs may be connected together to form a WAN

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 Communication and the internet

Exam-style question Client–server and peer-to-peer networks

There are two main models relating to computer networks – client–server
A bank wants to share data and peer-to-peer.
between its head office and its
400 branches. Explain why the Client–server
bank would use a WAN rather In a client–server network there is at least one server, which is a powerful
than a LAN for this purpose. computer that provides a service or services to the network. Individual computers
(2 marks) (such as the ones in a typical school computer room) are referred to as the client
computers. The server will authenticate the user (see section 5.2) and then give
the user access to the files that he/she has been given permission to access.
The server provides services to the clients as required.
A client accesses data or files from a server using the following process:
1 A client will make a connection to the server using its address. The server
will know the address of the client because this will be included in the
Exam tip request for a connection.
This question tests your 2 Once the connection has been made, the client will make a service
understanding of the differences request to the server.
between a LAN and a WAN. A 3 If the request is valid, the server will send the requested data to the
good answer should explain the client using the address identified in step 1.
difference between a LAN and a
Sometimes additional steps, such as authentication, are needed,
WAN and then explain why the
depending on what the client is trying to access. For example, when Chris
network used by the bank to
wants to check his web-based email from his laptop he will use a web
share data between head office
browser (the client) to access the website, which is hosted on a server.
and the branches would need to
The website will serve a web page that asks for his username (his email
be a WAN.
address) and his password.
He will enter his username/password and then submit them to the server.
If the details are correct he will be authenticated and the server serves
back the web page that displays his emails and allows him to manage his
email.
Key terms Peer-to-peer
Client–server network: a Unlike in a client–server network, there aren’t any centralised servers in a
network that has at least one peer-to-peer network. Each computer can act as both a client and a server.
server to provide services to the Each computer in a peer-to-peer network can provide a service, such as
client computers. share some files or provide access to a printer. Each computer can also
Peer-to-peer network: a request services from any other computer that has been configured to
network that doesn’t have provide that service.
any centralised servers. Each Some instant messaging systems use a peer-to-peer service to allow users
computer in the network can act to chat in real time. There is no central server that you sign on to and your
as client and server. messages are sent directly to the recipient.

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Did you know? Activity 2

Some peer-to-peer networks connect using the internet. These 1 Create a table comparing a
particular peer-to-peer networks are often used for sharing files, client–server network with
especially pirated movies, music and computer games. It is difficult a peer-to-peer network. Use
to find out who is sharing files when they are distributed using peer- one column for the client–
to-peer networks because no records of who downloaded what are server network and another
normally kept. for the peer-to-peer network.
There are also legal uses of internet-based peer-to-peer file sharing, 2 Research why internet-based
for example some versions of Linux are only downloadable using peer- peer-to-peer networks are a
to-peer file sharing. The lack of records also benefits those people popular way of distributing
worried about privacy. pirated material such as
movies or music. Present your
Network topologies findings as a short report.
There are several different ways that the connections between networked
devices can be arranged. The arrangement of these connections is referred Key term
to as the network topology.
Network topology: describes
There are four main network topologies – bus, ring, star and mesh. how the devices on a network are
connected together.
Bus
Computer Computer Server

Terminator

Terminator
Computer Computer

Printer

Figure 5.2 Bus network topology

A bus network consists of a single cable to which each networked device

is connected. Messages are sent along the cable in the form of electronic
signals. At each end of the cable is a terminator.

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The purpose of a terminator is to absorb signals that have reached the end
of the cable, preventing them from bouncing back and causing interference.
As a bus network only has one cable (the bus), only one message can be sent
at any one time. A bus network needs a system to deal with multiple devices
sending a message at the same time. The most common method is called
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (which is shortened
to CSMA/CD). A collision occurs when two or more network devices send a
message at the same time, making all the messages unreadable.
A simplified CSMA/CD sending algorithm works like this.

1 Check if bus is busy.

2 If not busy then send message, else go to step 1.
3 Listen to see if message received correctly.
4 If message not received correctly then go to step 5, else go back to
listening for messages.
5 Wait random amount of time, go to step 1 to retry sending message.

Making each device wait a random amount of time (a small number of

milliseconds) before checking whether it is safe to send prevents the
competing senders from repeatedly sending at the same time.

Did you know?

The bus topology isn’t widely used in business computer networks any
more; however, it is used in many modern cars and some aircraft to
allow all the different systems within the vehicle to communicate. The
most well-known standard is called CAN (Controller Area Network) bus.

Top tip
Algorithms can be represented in many different ways. Improve your skills
and understanding by drawing a flowchart (see section 1.1 of Chapter 1,
page 3) that shows how the CSMA/CD algorithm works.

Advantages and disadvantages of the bus topology

Advantages Disadvantages
Relatively cheap to install since only Whole network will fail if the cable is cut or damaged
one cable is needed
Easy to add extra network devices Can be difficult to identify where a fault is on the cable
The more devices that are added to a bus network the slower they
run. This is due to only one message being able to be sent at once and
because more collisons happen
All data sent is received by all devices on the network; this is a security risk

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 Networks

Ring

Computer Server
Computer

Printer
Computer Computer

Figure 5.3 Ring network topology

A ring network is a network in which the cable connects one network device to
another in a closed loop, or ring. Each network device has what can be thought
of as an ‘in’ and an ‘out’ connection.
Messages sent on a ring network all travel in the same direction and, unlike
a bus network, there are no collisions. Data is passed from one device to the
next around the ring until it reaches its destination.

Advantages and disadvantages of the ring topology

Advantages Disadvantages
Adding extra devices does not affect the performance Whole network will fail if the cable is cut or damaged or a
of the network device on the network fails
Easy to add extra network devices Because all the devices in the network are connected
in a closed loop, adding or removing a device involves
shutting down the network temporarily
Can be difficult to identify where a fault is on the network
More expensive to install than a bus network as it
requires more cable to complete the ring

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 Communication and the internet
Computer
Star

Computer

Printer

Hub or Switch

Server

Computer

Computer
Figure 5.4 Star network topology

In a star topology each network device is connected to a central point. This

central point will be either a hub or a switch. A central hub receives and
directs messages to the correct recipients. The star topology is the most
widely used, but it does require a lot of cabling because each device is
connected to the central point.

Advantages and disadvantages of the star topology

Advantages Disadvantages
A damaged cable will not stop the whole network If the hub or switch fails then the whole network will fail
from working, just the network device connected
to it
If a switch is used, then the network is efficient as Expensive to install due to amount of cable needed and the
messages are only sent to devices needing them. hub or switch
This also adds to security as not all devices will see
a message
Easy to locate faults because they will normally only
involve one device
A new device can be added or removed without
having to close the network down

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 Networks

Mesh
Fully connected Partially connected

Computer Computer

Computer Computer

Computer

Computer

Computer Computer Computer

Computer Computer

Figure 5.5 Mesh network topology showing fully connected and partially connected types

There are two main types of mesh topology – fully connected and partially
connected. In a fully connected mesh network every network device is
connected to every other network device. In a partially connected mesh
network some network devices may be connected to multiple other devices,
but others might only be connected to one other device. Each device in a
mesh network will pass messages on to other devices within the network.
Mesh networks can be wired or wireless. In a wired network the number
of connections needed for a fully connected network soon becomes very
expensive and difficult to implement as the number of network devices
increases. Wireless mesh networks don’t have the same problems.
Mesh networks are very fault tolerant. If a device or connection fails,
messages are simply routed around it. In a fully connected mesh network a
large number of failures could happen and the rest of the network devices
would still be able to communicate. The ability of a partially connected mesh
network to carry on working correctly will depend on how many connections
to each device are available. Key term
Internet: a worldwide system
The largest mesh network of all is the internet.
of interconnected networks
Mesh networks are used to communicate between sensors in the ‘internet of that enables information to be
things’, especially if the devices are mobile, because the optimum network exchanged and shared.
paths can be used no matter where a sensor is located.
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 Communication and the internet
Advantages and disadvantages of the mesh topology
Advantages Disadvantages
Very fault tolerant, especially in the case of a fully Difficult and expensive to install wired mesh networks
connected mesh network – if one device fails, messages
can be rerouted
Very high performance because each network device is Can be difficult to manage due to number of
likely to be connected to multiple other devices connections within the network
In a wireless mesh network each node extends the range
of the network

Exam-style question
A small business has a network consisting of three computers, one printer
and a server. The network uses a star topology. Draw a diagram of the
network and label all parts. (4 marks)

Exam tip
• This question tests your knowledge of network topologies and the
components within them.
• A good answer will show the network cables in the correct layout,
any required network hardware and the correct items connected
to the network. The diagram will need to be labelled to show what
each item is.

Activity 3
1 Close this book and draw an annotated diagram for each of the
following topologies: ring, star, bus and mesh.
2 From memory, list the advantages and disadvantages for each
network topology you drew in Question 1.
3 Research which of the four network topologies in Question 1 would
be most suitable for providing local access to the internet in a
country that doesn’t have reliable wired communication links. Write a
paragraph explaining your decision and how the system could work.

Communication media
Key term There are many different ways that computers can be connected together to
Communication media: form a network. Networks are classified as either wired or wireless according
the means by which data is to the transmission or communication media used.
transmitted between devices on Wired
a network. Coaxial cable, fibre-
Wired connection methods involve a physical connection between the
optic cable and microwaves are all
computer and the network. Most wired connections are made of copper
forms of communication media.
wire but they could also be fibre-optic cable, which is made of either glass

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 Networks

or plastic. Copper wire carries electrical signals, whereas fibre-optic cable

carries light signals. Fibre-optic cables transmit data far faster and allow
signals to travel over greater distances than copper wire.

Wireless
Wireless connectivity does not require a physical connection between
devices. Most wireless connections transmit and receive radio signals, but
other connection methods such as infra-red light or microwaves can be used
over limited distances. Did you know?
Important methods of wireless communication are the mobile phone Many TV remote controls use
network, Bluetooth® and Wi-Fi®. infra-red light to send signals
to control the volume or
Extend your knowledge change the channel.
The internet of things is a term that covers the growing range of
physical items that can be connected to the internet. These physical Key terms
items (the ‘things’) can report details about themselves and be
Protocol: a set of rules that
controlled over the internet. So your central heating could report the
govern how communications on a
temperature of your house and allow you to adjust the thermostat
network should be formatted and
from any internet-connected device, including your mobile phone.
what data they should include.
ZigBee is an open-source protocol for allowing devices to be
Eavesdrop: having unauthorised
controlled by using low-power digital radio transmitters/receivers that
sight of data being sent from
are embedded within the device.
one computer to another over
a network. This is covered more
Wired or wireless connectivity? fully in the later section on
There are advantages and disadvantages to both wired and wireless technical weaknesses (section 5.2,
connection methods. page 189).

Advantages Disadvantages
Wired connectivity
Faster than wireless connectivity Expensive to install and reconfigure

Not easy to intercept or eavesdrop on data Requires many cables at a premises

Less susceptible to interference than wireless
connectivity
Wireless connectivity
No need for a cable to connect devices or to the internet Data transmission speeds can be slower than wired
connectivity
Allows users to use their own device Interference from other wireless devices can adversely
affect performance
A wider range of devices can communicate with each Walls and other physical objects can adversely affect
other/a network because it is not dependent on having performance
the correct cable
Data needs to be encrypted (see section 3.4) to
prevent eavesdropping or interception

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 Communication and the internet

Network data speed

Being able to measure the speed of a network allows you to:
• determine whether an equipment upgrade is necessary;
• estimate how long it will take to download a file;
• determine whether actual performance lives up to the promises made by
the service provider.
The speed that data can be transmitted through a communications medium
is measured in bits per second (this can shortened to bps, b/s or bit/s).
Modern high-speed networks can transmit billions of bits per second.

Unit Abbreviation bits per second

bits per second bps 1
kilobits per second kbps 1,000
megabits per second Mbps 1,000,000
gigabits per second Gbps 1,000,000,000

Although the units listed above have similar names to the units used to
measure storage (such as the capacity of a hard drive or the amount of
RAM a computer has), they are different and you should make sure not to
confuse them.
For example, you might measure storage in kilobytes (see Chapter 3,
section 3.3, page 117); however, you measure the speed of a network
connection in kilobits per second.

Calculating the time needed to transmit a file

Worked example
If you have a network connection of 12 Mbps and you want to
download a 50 MB file, how long would it take?
To find out:
1 Convert the file size from megabytes to bits.
50 MB × 1024 × 1024 × 8 = 419,430,400 bits
2 Convert the transmission speed from Mbps to bits per second.
12 × 1000 × 1000 = 12,000,000 bps
3 Divide bits by bits per second
419,430,400/12,000,000
Time = 34.95 seconds

Key term
These times are only theoretical as transmission speeds are not constant
Bandwidth: the amount of data
and other factors affect the speed of data transmission.
that can be carried on a network
in a given period of time. The amount of data that can be carried from one point to another on a
network in a given period of time is referred to as its bandwidth. Bandwidth

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is usually expressed as bits per second (bps). Another important factor is the
latency of the network connection. Latency refers to any kind of delay that
data travelling through a network might encounter. A low latency network
connection is one where any delays are small and a high latency network is
one where data suffers from long delays.

Activity 4
1 Find out how fast your school, home and mobile phone internet
connections are. Compare these, ensuring you use the correct units
(kbps, Mbps or Gbps). Make a note of your findings.
2 Work out how long it would take to download a 300 MB file using
your home and school networks.

Extend your knowledge

A personal area network (PAN) is a network that is used to connect
devices belonging to an individual person. These devices might include
a mobile phone, a laptop, a tablet or a smartwatch. The PAN can be
used to share data such as calendar entries or files between devices
and is likely to include access to the internet through a mobile phone.
Research uses of PANs and think about what data you would find
useful to share between your different personal computing devices.

Protocols
In relation to computer systems and networks a protocol is a set of rules
that determine how communications between devices are formatted and
how these communications will be sent/received.
Without protocols different computers and other hardware wouldn’t be able
to communicate with each other because they would essentially be speaking
different languages.
A protocol might contain details of:
• how each computer will be identified (its address);
• what route the data will take to get to its destination (routing
information);
• how errors will be detected and dealt with (error checking);
• whether each part of a message should be acknowledged as received
correctly;
• what to do if data isn’t received correctly;
• how the data is to be formatted;
• how the data is to be sequenced (i.e. does it need to be sent in order or
can it be put in its correct order later?);
• how the speed of the sender and receiver can be synchronised.

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Did you know?

In the 1980s, manufacturers of home computers each developed their
own set of protocols, rather than all using a standard set of protocols.
This meant that if you bought one manufacturer’s computer, you
would have to buy a printer especially designed for that system. If you
later bought another manufacturer’s computer you would also have to
change your printer and most other hardware.

There are many different protocols for different purposes. The main ones
in use relating to networks and the internet are detailed below.

Email protocols
Emails are sent and received using a set of standard protocols. This means
that when you send an email it doesn’t matter what email provider the
recipient uses or what type of computer system they have.
There are three main email protocols in use.

Protocol Description
SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. This protocol is used when sending email
through the internet. It details the format that messages are sent in,
what commands email servers should understand and how they should
respond to them.
POP3 Post Office Protocol, Version 3. POP3 is the current version of the Post Office
Protocol that is used for retrieving email from an email server. Normally
email clients using POP3 will connect to the mail server, download any
messages and then delete the messages from the server.
IMAP Internet Message Access Protocol. IMAP allows emails to be accessed
using multiple email clients. For example, you might access your email
using an email client on your computer, your tablet and your mobile
phone. IMAP leaves messages on the server until you delete them. This
means that no matter which email client you use, you should see an up-
to-date list of your email messages.

Network protocols
Ethernet
Ethernet is a family of protocols that are used in wired LANs. They cover
everything from the physical parts of a network, such as type of cable or
optical fibre and type of connector to be used, to the logical parts, such as
how data is sent, checked for errors and the speed that data can
be transmitted.

Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi is a digital communications protocol that sets out how data is
transmitted on wireless LANs. Wi-Fi is a trademarked term that is owned by
Wi-Fi Alliance.

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TCP
The Transmission Control Protocol provides a reliable connection between
computers. In this context ‘reliable’ means that the receiving computer can be
certain that it has received all the data it should have (none of it is missing)
and the data received is identical to the data sent (the data is correct).
TCP does this by:
• specifying that the receiving computer sends acknowledgements that
each section of the data sent has been received; Key term
• using checksums to ensure that the data received is accurate; Checksum: an error detection
technique. A mathematical
• allowing the receiving computer to tell the sending computer to slow
formula is applied to the data and
down transmission, so the receiving computer has time to process the
the resulting numerical value is
received data (this is called flow control);
transmitted with the data. The
• ensuring that data sent up to the application layer (see below) contains recipient computer applies the
no duplicates and is in the correct order. same formula to the received
TCP is used when you access web pages, send/receive email or upload/ data and then compares the
download files. checksum sent with the data to
the calculated checksum. If the
TCP/IP checksums don’t match the data
is likely to have been corrupted
TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. TCP/IP
and the recipient computer
is a protocol stack, which means that it is a collection of protocols that
requests the data again.
work together. It is named after the two most important protocols used
in the stack.
These protocols work in a hierarchical set of layers, where each layer deals
with a particular function of the network. Each layer will pass information up
Did you know?
and down the protocol stack as it is processed.
You will sometimes see TCP/
The TCP/IP protocol stack has four layers. Data passes down the stack when
IP described as protocol suite
sending, and back up when receiving.
rather than a protocol stack.
These two terms are often used
Layer Description interchangeably, but some
Application This is the top layer of the stack. It is the layer which sources state that the suite is
interacts with the user to provide access to services and the definition of the protocols
data that is sent/received over a network. Examples of and that stack is the software
protocols that work at this layer are HTTP, FTP and email implementation of the protocols.
protocols.
Transport This layer manages end-to-end communication over a Top tip
network. There are two main protocols that operate at this
layer – TCP and UDP. (You only need to know about TCP for Remembering a list of items
GCSE Computer Science.) where the order is important
Internet This layer deals with sending data across multiple (such as the TCP/IP layers) can
networks (possibly the internet), from the source network be difficult. Why not try using a
to the destination network. This is known as routing and mnemonic like ‘Another Truck
is the role of the Internet Protocol (IP). Is Late’, where the initial letter
Link This layer controls the transmission and reception of of each word matches the initial
packets of data to/from a local network. letter of the layer name?

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 Communication and the internet
Data sent using TCP/IP is broken up into packets. Each packet of data consists
Key terms
of a small section of the data being sent along with a packet header.
Packet: a small quantity of data A packet header contains details of:
being sent through a network. The
• the sending computer;
packet is labelled with the sender’s
address (source), the recipient’s • the recipient computer;
address (destination), how many • how many packets the data has been split into;
packets are being transmitted and
the position of this packet in the • the number of this particular packet.
complete message. Once the recipient computer receives all the packets, it will use the
Web server: powerful computer information in the header to reconstruct the data into its original format.
systems that store web pages and A network that moves data in packets is called a packet switched network.
any multimedia that the pages (More details of how this works can be found in section 5.3.)
might contain.
Computer A sends data Computer B receives data

Application layer Application layer

Transport layer Transport layer

Internet layer Internet layer

Link layer Link layer

Figure 5.6 Layers within the TCP/IP suite pass data down the stack when sending and back
up the stack when receiving

HTTP
Extend your knowledge
The HyperText Transfer Protocol is used when sending and receiving data
Another protocol that plays between web browsers and web servers. The HTTP protocol covers how
a major part in the TCP/IP data should be formatted, what commands the web server and web browser
protocol suite is called UDP. should understand and how they should react to each command.
Research this and create a
For example, if you request a web page that doesn’t exist on the web server,
table explaining the differences
then the web server will send your web browser a 404 error message and your
between TCP and UDP.
web browser will display this error and a short description of the error.

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 Networks

HTTPS Activity 5
The HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure is the secure version of HTTP. This
means that the data sent between your web browser and the web server is When you use online banking
encrypted, which should prevent the data being sent/received from being your data will be transferred
read by a third party. HTTPS also helps the web browser and user to know that using HTTPS. Research why
they are communicating with the intended web server rather than a fake that HTTPS is used rather than HTTP.
is trying to steal sensitive data, such as passwords or bank details. What advantages does HTTPS
give the bank customer and
FTP the bank itself? Create a poster
File Transfer Protocol is used to transfer files over a network that uses the TCP summarising this information.
protocol (see above), such as the internet.
FTP is often used when sending web pages and other associated files that
have been created on a web developer’s computer to the web server. Once the
files are on the web server, other computers connected to the internet will be
able to view them.

Internet protocols
IP
At the internet layer, the Internet Protocol (IP) deals with:
• the addressing system to identify individual computers/servers on the
network (usually the internet);
• splitting data into packets and adding the packet header with details
such as the sender/receiver addresses.
Each device linked directly to the internet has a unique IP address assigned
to it to allow data to be routed to it. There are two versions of the Internet
Protocol (IP) in use: the earlier version is called IPv4 (Internet Protocol
version 4) and the newer version is called IPv6. IPv6 has a number of
improvements compared with IPv4. One of the major ones is that it has
a larger address space than IPv4. Address space refers to the number of
addresses available to assign to devices.

Extend your knowledge

We are rapidly running out of IPv4 addresses, which is why IPv6 is
being introduced.
IPv4 has 4,294,967,296 addresses, whereas IPv6 has
340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 addresses.
The format of IP addresses differs between the versions.
• An IPv4 address consists of four sets of decimal numbers separated
by a dot. Each decimal number can range from 0 to 255. A typical IPv4
address looks like this – 192.168.182.42
• An IPv6 address consists of eight blocks, separated by a colon. Each
block is a 16-bit hexadecimal number (leading zeros can be removed).
A typical IPv6 address looks like this – fd2a:1450:4013:c01:0:0:0:5e
Source: https://www.arin.net/knowledge/ipv4_ipv6.pdf

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Activity 6
Create a revision sheet that includes the following:
1 a definition of what a protocol is;
2 a table that includes the following protocols: SMTP, POP3, IMAP,
Ethernet, Wi-Fi, HTTP, HTTPS and FTP along with a brief description of
what each one is used for;
3 a diagram showing the TCP/IP protocol layers – you should annotate
this to show what each layer does and which protocols run at each
layer.

Summary
• A network is a number of computers and other devices connected together to allow them to communicate
and share data.
• A LAN covers a relatively small area. A WAN connects LANs together and spans a large geographical area.
• Client–server and peer-to-peer networks are two different network configurations. In a client–server network
a central computer fulfils service requests from client computers, whereas in a peer-to-peer network each
computer can act as a client and a server.
• Network devices can communicate using wired or wireless connections.
• A protocol is a set of rules governing communications on a network. They specify the format for
communications and how they must be sent/received.
• There are many different protocols, each serving a different purpose.
• A network topology is how the connections between devices in a network are configured.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 What is the difference between a LAN and a WAN?
S2 What are the advantages of wireless networks compared with wired networks?
S3 What are the three major protocols used in sending and receiving email?
S4 What is a protocol stack?
S5 From memory, draw a diagram showing the bus, ring and star topologies.
Challenge
C1 Why might a chain of supermarkets use a WAN to connect all its stores?
C2 Explain the advantages of a peer-to-peer network in terms of privacy when sharing files.
C3 Most networks in use in schools and offices today are based on the star topology. Why do you think this
topology is used?
C4 IMAP is now used much more than POP3. Can you explain the link between this and the popularity of
smartphones?

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re not sure
you answered them well, try drawing a concept map showing how the information
in this section links together. Your concept map can have brief definitions on it and
some people use colours/pictures to help them memorise the contents.
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 Network security

5.2 Network security

Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• describe why network security is important.
• explain network-related validation and authentication techniques.
• describe security issues associated with cloud storage.
• describe common types of cyberattack and how to protect software systems from them.
• describe how network vulnerabilities are identified.

Network security and its importance Key term

Network security covers a wide range of activities that protect data from
Network security: activities
threats to its confidentiality, correctness (integrity) and availability.
designed to protect a network
Confidentiality – An organisation’s computer system often holds data and its data from threats such as
about its people (employees and customers), products or financial viruses, hacker attacks, denial of
performance. It could not run efficiently, or sometimes at all, without a service attacks, data interception
network and this data. It is important (and in the case of personal data, the and theft, and equipment failure.
law) that the network is not hacked so data is not intercepted or stolen by
criminals or competitors who might use the data for illegal purposes or
business advantage.
Some ways to protect data confidentiality include:
• ensuring only authorised users can access the parts of a network and its
resources that they have a reason to require, such as its storage (data),
printers or internet connection. For example, the managing director of
a company is able to access the financial records, whereas a checkout
employee is not (see also in the later section ‘Other ways to secure a
network’).
• stopping misuse – even users who have been given permission to access
a network might deliberately or accidentally access data they have not
been given permission to read.
• encrypting data – if a criminal or other unauthorised person gains access
to data and it is encrypted then they won't be able to read it without the
encryption key.
Correctness – Data is useless unless it is correct. Use of the network to
communicate and store data must not change the data or allow the data to
be changed without authorisation. Imagine the seriousness of an error on
your health records or in a manufacturing control system.
Availability – A network is useless if data cannot be accessed when it is
needed. Complex systems are likely to fail at some time (e.g. a piece of
hardware might stop working and have to be replaced, or program code
might become corrupted), but it is also important that protection is put

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in place to prevent failures caused by criminals. Virus or denial of service
Key term
(DoS) attacks can, for example:
Denial of service (DoS):
• slow down network performance or stop it working altogether;
an attack on a network that
attempts to prevent legitimate • delete data;
users from accessing its services. • allow data to be stolen or eavesdropped on;
• alter data or program code.

Network security importance

Here are some more specific examples of the importance of network
security. The data stored on the network could be:
• required for the running of the organisation – The business might
have details of its customers, stock and outstanding orders saved on
the network. If the data were lost and the business failed to fulfil any
outstanding orders, this could mean losing the trust of customers who
then go elsewhere. This could lead to the business going bankrupt. This
has happened to a number of businesses, some of them very large.
Even a school would struggle to run effectively without its network and
the data stored on it. Data, such as contact details, registers, timetables,
medical conditions, handouts for learners, presentations to be shown by
tutors, are stored on the network and could become inaccessible if the
network fails for some reason.
• private and confidential – There are many types of private and
confidential data that people or businesses wouldn’t want to make public.
For example, a hospital stores patient details on its network, including
medical conditions and what drugs have been prescribed. There is a legal
requirement to keep personal data secure. If the network isn’t secure and
the confidential data is leaked, then the hospital could be sued. Many
potential patients would be put off using the hospital due to a lack of
trust in the ability of the hospital to maintain patient confidentiality,
which could result in the hospital being closed down.
• financially valuable – Many types of data stored on business networks
might be financially valuable. For example, imagine a business was
planning a huge sale to increase its revenue and attract new customers.
If a competitor managed to get hold of the details of the planned
price reductions before the sale started, it could launch its own sale
beforehand, undercutting the business. This tactic would reduce the
chance of the sale increasing revenue or attracting new customers.

Top tip
Articles relating to network security can often be found on news websites
under the technology section. Reading these articles will broaden your
knowledge about the latest security threats. You can then look for further
details on specialist information technology websites, where you will
often find details of what happened and how to protect against that kind
of threat.

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 Network security

Authentication and validation

Authentication is the process of checking the identity of a user of a
computer system or network. This is often done by validating a username
and password against details stored on a central server, but other systems
of authentication exist, such as using a PIN (personal identification number)
or fingerprint recognition. If the details you provide match those on record,
then you are allowed access to the network and its resources:

Extend your knowledge

Passwords have many weaknesses, for example people write them down
or use guessable passwords (like a pet’s name). Programs exist that
repetitively try guessing passwords. To improve the security that passwords
provide, an additional check, such as having to type in the code from a
portable hardware device called a ‘secure token’ or from an SMS message
sent to your mobile phone, is being introduced by some businesses. This
is called two-factor authentication. How does this enhance security? Try
researching some different two-factor authentication systems and think
about which ones are likely to be the most secure.

Activity 7
Think about how you would write a program so that only approved users
who enter their password correctly can get beyond the log-in screen.
1 Write the pseudo-code for the username and password checking part
of the program.
2 Write your program.
3 Discuss how secure you think your implementation is. How could it
be improved?

Other ways to secure a network

There are many different ways to help secure a network, authentication
alone is not enough. Three others you need to know about are: access
control, firewalls and physical security.
Access control
Once a user has been authenticated they gain access to the network; however,
you wouldn’t want every user on a network to have access to every file. Key term
Access control is the method that controls whether a particular user will Access control: this determines
gain access to a particular file. Access control also decides if that user gets: which users have access to which
data, and what they are allowed
• read-only access – in this case the user can open the file and read its
to do with it.
contents, but not modify the contents or delete the file;
• read and write access (modify access) – in this case the user can read the
file, alter the contents and then save the changes.

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 Communication and the internet
In some network systems you might need further permission if you want to
Did you know?
delete a file – this is sometimes referred to as full control of the file.
A system administrator (often
Controlling the level of access a user has to a file is useful for many reasons.
shortened to sysadmin) is a
For example, you might want employees of a shop to be able to open a price
person whose job is to manage
list, but not accidentally or deliberately modify any prices.
and maintain the network
system. This job includes Access controls are set up by an organisation’s system administrators
ensuring the network is working according to the management’s requirements.
correctly, setting up users,
Firewall
dealing with security issues,
A firewall is a network security system that monitors and controls data that
installing software and many
is moving from one network to another. Often one of these networks is the
other tasks.
internet, in which case the firewall sits between the local internal network
and the internet.
A firewall inspects incoming and outgoing data and uses a set of rules
(often known as a firewall policy) to decide whether to allow or disallow
the data to move from one network to another. The rules in a firewall are
designed to secure the internal network from a range of potential threats.
The organisation that owns the firewall can customise the rules so that the
firewall is suitable for their particular circumstances. Some examples of what
the rules can do are:
• Stop certain protocols from being used (for example FTP) to stop the
organisation’s data from being potentially copied to an external server.
• Block data coming from or going to certain network addresses. The
blocked addresses could be of particular computers, servers or websites,
or even a range of network addresses that belong to particular countries
Key terms or organisations.
Hacking: the act of gaining • Stop attempts at hacking the internal network’s servers by disallowing
unauthorised access to a data that matches the pattern an attacker would use.
computer system and the data it
Firewalls can be software or hardware based. Individual computers (such
contains.
as your home computer or laptop) are likely to have a software firewall
Physical security: controlling installed with some default rules to protect your computer from common
access to critical parts of a threats. A business with a LAN and internet connection is likely to have a
network using physical methods hardware-based firewall because these have much more flexibility in terms
(such as locked doors) rather of the rules that can be applied and allow faster throughput of data.
than software.
Physical security
Physical security ensures that critical parts of the network can only be
physically accessed by authorised people, such as the network technicians or a
systems administrator. It also includes protecting against theft of equipment
and might involve installing a burglar alarm, security tagging and physically
locking down equipment, etc.
The starting point for physically securing a network is having the servers
located in a locked room, normally referred to as the server room. Electronic
lock systems have many advantages over traditional lock-and-key systems as
entry/exit times can be recorded and individual cards/fobs can be deactivated
if lost or if an employee leaves the company.
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Physical security is very important because anyone with physical access to

Key term
the server can more easily bypass the security provided by the authentication
system or access control system. Having done so they could copy, modify or Malware: short for ‘malicious
delete any data on the network, or install malware that would allow them to software’. It is used as a generic
gain remote access whenever they wanted. term for any kind of software that
is designed to disrupt the use of
Activity 8 a computer system.

A business has a network comprising 50 computers, several printers and

an internet connection. The business
• employs two technicians to manage the network;
• has several departments, including sales, accounts and human
resources;
• is run by a managing director, with a manager in charge of each
department and around 60 other employees.
1 Create a poster explaining to the employees what authentication is
and what makes a secure password.
2 Where should the servers in this business be located? Justify your
answer and explain who should be able to get physical access to
the servers.

Cloud storage and security

The concept of the ‘cloud’ is discussed in Chapter 4, section 4.2 on page 151.
This section covers the security issues associated with cloud storage.
Many of the advantages to cloud storage relate to securing the availability
of data.
• The cloud storage provider is responsible for the hardware your data is
stored on. They will need to ensure that the data is accessible and that they
maintain the hardware and software needed to make the data available.
• The amount of storage available to an organisation can easily be changed
as and when required – the cloud storage provider can normally make
extra storage available in minutes. Doing this physically would mean
ordering more hard drives and employing technicians to install them and
set them up. This would take considerably longer than a few minutes.
• Having data stored off-site (not on the organisation’s premises) means
that it is protected from loss due to fire, theft of computers/servers,
electrical failure, and so on. As the data is still available the business
may be carried on from elsewhere. This could be the difference between
staying in business or going bankrupt.
• Many cloud storage systems also manage the back-up of your data. They
may take hourly or daily snapshots of your data and be able to restore
from these in the case of hardware failure or accidental deletion of files.

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However, cloud storage also has a number of security disadvantages.
• You are relying on a third-party storage provider to keep your organisation
running. What happens if the cloud storage provider goes bankrupt, has a
catastrophic failure or has its servers stolen? In any of these cases it is likely
you would be unable to access your data, at least temporarily, but possibly
permanently.
• Data stored anywhere accessible via the internet carries the risk of other
people gaining access to it. This might happen through a deliberate attack
by hackers, or as a result of an accidental configuration error that results in
the data becoming publicly accessible. Also the internet isn’t a particularly
secure network and data may be accessed as it is being sent to/from the
cloud storage provider. The loss of data, particularly of a confidential
nature, could be devastating for an organisation.
• Users of cloud storage have to assume that the people providing the
service are trustworthy and that their data is being held safely and securely.
• The cloud storage provider might have its servers located in a different
country (or countries) to your organisation. Some types of data can only
legally be stored in countries that have similar data protection laws to
our own.
• Access to cloud storage is dependent on having a reliable, high-speed
internet connection available. How will a business operate if the internet
becomes unavailable for some reason?
The decision to use cloud storage involves carefully weighing up the
Activity 9 advantages against the disadvantages. Many of the disadvantages present
Discuss with a classmate the risks to the operations of an organisation, but the impact of some of these
advantages and disadvantages of risks can be reduced. For example:
moving your school’s files/data • Many cloud storage providers will store your data at multiple locations so
to cloud storage. Focus on the that fire, flood, hardware or electrical failure should have no major impact
security and privacy issue that on accessing your data.
the school will need to address.
• You can encrypt your data so that it is much more difficult to read while it
is either being transferred to/from the cloud storage provider or stored on
the provider’s servers.

Contemporary storage and security

The types of storage systems available are constantly evolving. One recently
developed storage system is network-attached storage (NAS).
NAS is a hardware device that is connected to a network to provide file
storage for any device connected to that network. A typical NAS device
designed for home use could consist of a single hard drive and associated
network hardware, whereas an organisation’s NAS device might consist of
many hard drives and the associated network hardware.

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NAS devices often include a wide range of additional features, such as

allowing access over the internet, and specialist apps to allow smartphones
and tablets to access the files stored on the NAS easily.
Often NAS devices are designed for ease of use rather than being secure.
Once a NAS is connected to the internet it becomes possible for it to be
hacked remotely. Home users often make mistakes such as:
• Not changing a device’s default password, thus giving access to the stored
files to anyone who looks up the default password on the internet.
• Not updating the software running on the NAS. Manufacturers tend to release
updated software to fix security weaknesses as they are found. If the software
isn’t kept up to date, these weaknesses might be used to gain access to the
stored data. The security weaknesses are often published on the internet for
criminals to read.
There are ways to minimise the security risk to data when using a NAS or similar
device. Firstly, decide if the data does indeed have to be accessible over the
internet and if NAS is the correct storage device for the data. If the data needs
to be available over the internet, then ensure you use a complex password,
remove any default passwords and ensure that all software patches (updates)
are applied. Key term
Another widely used storage device is the USB flash drive. USB flash drives are USB: Universal Serial Bus
easy to transport, relatively cheap for the amount of storage available and very sockets found on most modern
convenient to use. computer systems.
The downside is that people can carry large amounts of possibly sensitive
information around with them on a small drive that is easily lost. Anyone can
find a lost flash drive and access the information. To overcome this, encrypted
USB flash drives are available. These are unreadable until a password or
numeric code is entered on to a very small keypad on the body of the drive
itself. (See Chapter 3, section 3.4, page 125 for more on encryption.)
USB storage devices also present an ideal opportunity for an employee to steal
data, perhaps to sell to somebody else.

Activity 10
Many providers offer cloud storage aimed at individuals.
1 Create a table to compare what three of these providers offer.
Headings for the table should include: Amount of free storage space,
Cost for more storage, Security measures.
2 Research and write a brief report that explains what commitments
these providers make to keep your data secure. Relate this to the
security measures you found out about in step 1 of this activity.

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 Communication and the internet

Key terms Cyberattacks

A cyberattack is any kind of electronic attack on a computer system, server,
Cyberattack: any kind of
network or other IT device. These attacks might be designed to:
malicious attack on a network-
connected device. • gain access to data contained within the system;
Social engineering: any kind of • delete or modify information;
attack on a computer system or • make the system unavailable for use;
network that exploits how people
• physically damage a device connected to the network (usually by overriding
behave and respond to certain
safety limits).
situations.
Phishing: attempting to get Types of cyberattack
confidential information by There are many different forms of cyberattack and these are constantly
sending a user a message changing as technology evolves. Most cyberattacks can be classed as
that appears to come from exploiting either human behaviour or technical weaknesses.
a trustworthy person or
organisation. Social engineering
Shoulder surfing: gaining access Attacks that rely on exploiting human behaviour are often referred to as social
to information by watching engineering because the attacker will ‘engineer’ a situation where the target
someone enter it into a computer person (or group of people) gives away confidential information or gives access
system. to the confidential information.
Two common forms of social engineering are phishing and shoulder surfing.

Phishing
A phishing attack is an attempt to get sensitive, confidential information from
the user of a computer system or service. Often the information the phishing
attack is targeting is usernames and passwords or financial details such as bank
account or credit card details.
There are various forms of phishing. The most common types are through email
or fake websites that look legitimate, but phishing can also happen via phone
calls or instant messaging.
A typical phishing attack might start with an email that asks the user to update
details at a bank, online payment system, online auction website or social
network. Sometimes the bogus reason given for this request is that there has
been a fraud attempt on the user’s account.
Once the user clicks on a link within the email, a website that looks and acts like
the real website will open, but when the user enters his or her login details they
are passed to the attacker, who will use them for financial gain.
Phishing takes advantage of people trusting the contents of emails to be
genuine. Many people don’t bother to look at the web address they have been
taken to or think about whether their bank is really going to email them to
request a security update.

Shoulder surfing
Shoulder surfing means gaining access to confidential information by directly
observing a user, possibly literally looking over their shoulder, as they complete a
task. Often shoulder surfing is used to get a person’s username/password or PIN.

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Often shoulder surfing happens in busy places where the target is

concentrating on completing a task quickly. A classic example is at a cash
machine on a street, where the shoulder surfer stands near the cash machine
and sees the user enter his or her PIN on the keypad. Once the PIN has been
seen the card is stolen. The card and PIN can then be used to withdraw cash.

Activity 11
1 Research recent cyberattacks. What kinds of organisations are targeted?
How successful were the attacks? What information was taken?
2 Some organisations have been known to deny that a cyberattack
successfully happened or downplay the effects of a cyberattack. Why
might they do this? What are the risks to a business of lying about
cyberattacks?

Technical weaknesses
Other forms of cyberattack rely on technical weaknesses (vulnerabilities) in the
system being attacked. Some common examples are described below.

Unpatched software
Software is very complicated and usually security issues are found as it is used
in the real world. The maker of the software will normally provide updates
(referred to as patches) to fix security issues as they are found.
Often these security issues are discussed on the internet and some people will
Key term
use this knowledge to attack unpatched software to gain unauthorised access Unpatched software: software
to information. that hasn’t had the latest security
The patches to fix the security issues often have to be manually installed by updates applied to it, making it
a technician. Sometimes these patches get forgotten about or the organisation vulnerable to attack.
doesn’t have any technicians to install the patch, so the software remains
vulnerable.

USB devices
You read earlier about the weaknesses associated with USB flash drives, but
any USB device can potentially be a security threat because it might contain
malware that could be transferred to your system or copy data to the attacker
via the internet.

Eavesdropping
One form of attack mentioned earlier is an eavesdropping attack. In
computer security terminology, eavesdropping means intercepting data
being sent to/from another computer system. In a similar way that a person
can eavesdrop on a conversation without the speakers knowing about it,
eavesdropping on a network is simply reading data without actually copying
or stealing it. The owner of the data might not know that the data has been
read until it is used by the criminal.
Security weaknesses such as unpatched software or a USB device might allow
malware to be installed on the network that allows an eavesdropping attack to
be carried out, but specialised hardware might also be used.

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Protecting against security weaknesses
There are many ways to strengthen computer systems and networks from
attacks, starting from when software is designed and written, to deciding
on what kind of operating system should be used and how network security
provision will be implemented.

Design and implementation of software

Security must be considered at the system and software design stage if a piece
of software is to be as resistant as possible to cyberattack. It should not be an
afterthought when the system has been implemented.
The software and system designers will need to consider the following,
for example:
• What kind of authentication is needed?
• Do different users need different levels of access to the information stored
within the system?
• Should warnings be issued before allowing users to carry out potentially
risky operations such as copying or deleting large amounts of information?
• Does stored data need to be encrypted?
• What threats will the software face? Will the software be run on computers
that are connected to the internet? How do they guard against phishing,
malware and other hacking attempts?
Once the designers have considered security, they need to look at the
implementation (writing the code) phase.
One major issue at this point is guarding against bad programming practice.
Usually a software project will have many different programmers working
on the code. Some programmers write poor quality code and don’t consider
how safe or secure their code is, and sometimes time pressure might make
even a good programmer take shortcuts to meet deadlines.
Key term Another major issue is that some methods used in programming might lead
Code vulnerability: a computer to code vulnerabilities. A code vulnerability is when the code does the
program (the code) that has task intended, but has been written in such a way that it creates a potential
been written in such a way that it security issue.
creates a security issue that may
More details about the kinds of issues and their impact that need to be
be taken advantage of to gain
considered when creating software can be found in Chapter 6 page 216.
access to the computer system or
data within it. Issues like these can be minimised by having regular code reviews. There
are two main types of code review.
• Review by another programmer, usually someone who is more senior and
has more experience of writing secure code. The reviewer will look at the
code produced, checking to see if any bad programming practices have been
used or if any code vulnerabilities are present. This is fairly labour intensive
and therefore expensive.

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• An automated review. Here, a specialist piece of software is used to examine

the code. The software will highlight potential issues such as common
vulnerabilities in the programming language or obvious bad programming
practice. This software can’t find every issue and is also fairly expensive.
Sometimes a combination of both types will be used. If issues are found, then
the original programmer will be asked to improve the code and another code
review will be scheduled. Key terms
Modular testing is important to security because if small problems remain Modular testing: testing each
they might be used by hackers to gain access to the system or the data it block of code as it is completed
contains. For example, failing to validate input correctly could lead to a hacker to ensure the code works as
being able to crash the program and then gain access to the underlying expected.
system, which could allow valuable data to be accessed. Audit trail: a record of activities
that have taken place on a
Other security measures to protect from cyberattacks
computer system. This record is
Here are some other methods to reduce the chance of cyberattacks succeeding.
generated automatically and will
• Use an audit trail. An audit trail is a record of activities that have taken record what has happened and
place on a computer system, and which cannot be changed. The audit trail who or what made the change.
is automatically generated and likely to be in chronological order. Ordinary
users of a system shouldn’t be able to read an audit trail. The amount of
detail in an audit trail varies but is likely to contain date and time of change,
what change happened, who or what (as in a user or other software that is
part of the system) made the change. Audit trails allow technicians to figure
out what happened during a cyberattack, if the attack was successful, what
sections of the system were accessed and if data was copied or modified.
• Use secure operating systems. Different operating systems are designed for
different purposes. Some are designed with security in mind and these are
likely to be much harder to attack successfully due to the way they have been
written and the features they offer. When implementing a computer system
that will contain sensitive or confidential data the choice of operating system
must be considered carefully.
• Provide effective network security. To keep a network secure requires
effective management, monitoring and training of its users. Well-educated
technical staff, with up-to-date training, are needed to keep software patched
correctly, implement policies that reduce the chance of an attack being
successful, train users in best practice in terms of security and monitor the
systems to ensure there is no unauthorised access.

Identifying vulnerabilities
Ethical hacking is the branch of computer science that relates to cybersecurity
and preventing cyberattacks from being successful. Ethical hacking is
Activity 12
essentially ‘good’ hacking – it is looking for weaknesses in software and A patch has become available for
systems so that they can be improved – whereas hacking is seen as ‘bad’ – a major web browser. Research
trying to gain access to a system to steal data or cause damage. the risks that the user faces by
not updating his/her software
There are many ways that vulnerabilities can be identified and some of
and add details of the potential
these are explained below. Once a vulnerability has been found, steps to
risks to your revision notes.
remove or reduce its impact can be taken.

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 Communication and the internet
Penetration testing
Penetration testing (often shortened to ‘pen testing’) is where the IT systems
of an organisation are deliberately attacked to find any weaknesses. These
attacks are authorised by the organisation and are therefore legal. The attacks
might be run by employees of the organisation or by a business that has been
contracted to run the tests.
The pen tester(s) is likely to try to gain access to all systems that the
organisation has and the attacks will often include looking for technical
weaknesses and trying social engineering methods.
Once the pen testing has been completed, a report is usually presented to a
senior manager within the organisation explaining what issues were found and
the likely impact of them.

Commercial analysis tools

It is possible to use software tools to scan a system for vulnerabilities. These
commercial analysis tools or vulnerability scanners can be either purchased or
hired. The tools look for common issues and alert the user to them.
These tools can only identify already-known vulnerabilities and must be kept
up to date to be effective. They can be used to scan the network from within
(internally) or from outside (externally). Both of these scans can be valuable. An
internal scan can show up issues that could be exploited by a rogue employee
or a hacker who managed to physically get into the building or gain access to
the network in some other way. The external scan might show vulnerabilities
that a hacker could exploit from outside the company network.
One negative aspect is that these analysis tools aren’t really restricted in terms
of who can purchase them, so they could be used by a potential hacker to find
security vulnerabilities.

Reviews of network and user policies

All networks should have written policies that document:
• who is authorised to carry out various activities on the network;
• how and when patches to software should be applied;
• access controls;
• password requirements, including how complex passwords should be and
how often they should be changed;
• how security is set up and maintained on the network;
• what data audit trails should collect and how long they should be kept for;
• anything else relevant to the security and maintenance of the network.
Before an employee is given access to the network they should be given a
copy of the network user policy to read and sign to show they accept the
organisation’s rules on the use of the network.

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This user policy is likely to contain details of:

Exam-style question
• what is acceptable and unacceptable use of the network;
Describe how an email phishing
• what will happen to the user if they do something unacceptable (depending attack targeting bank customers
on the severity of what they do wrong, this could include losing their job); might work. (4 marks)
• how to report faults, problems and security issues;
• security information, such as good practice when choosing and using Exam tip
passwords.
• This question tests your
Over time the hardware, software and usage of a network are likely to change. understanding of what a
Any policies relating to the network should be regularly reviewed to ensure that phishing attack is and how one
they are up to date and suitable to help maintain network security. might work.
• A good answer should state
Activity 13 the chain of events that might
Find your school’s Network User Policy (you might need to ask your lead to someone entering their
tutor for a copy). bank logon details into a fake
bank website.
1 Review the policy. Has it been updated recently? Is it easy to
understand? Is it detailed enough?
2 Using your school’s policy and any others you can find on the
internet, try to redraft the policy to make it easy to understand for
non-specialist users of IT.

Summary
• Authentication is the process of checking the identity of someone trying to use a computer system.
• Cloud storage is storing data using a third party, usually in a system connected to the internet.
• A cyberattack is any kind of electronic attack on a computer system, server, network or other IT device.
• There are many different types of cyberattack; most exploit technical weaknesses or human behaviour.
• Many different measures need to be taken to prevent cyberattacks from being successful. These start at the
design stage of the system and include keeping systems up to date, training staff and proactively testing the
security of the network regularly.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 What is the most common authentication method in use?
S2 What is access control?
S3 What is social engineering?
Challenge
C1 In your own words, summarise the different types of cyberattack.
C2 The number of cyberattacks happening is increasing each year. Why do you think this is the case?

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re
not sure you answered them well, try writing a list of questions then work
through this section adding relevant points as you find them.

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5.3 The internet and the World Wide Web

Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• describe what the internet is and how it is structured.
• describe what the World Wide Web (WWW) is and the meaning of related terminology.

The internet
The word internet is a shortened form of the words ‘inter’ and ‘network’,
which together means interconnected networks. It’s a good idea to think
of the internet as a network of networks (i.e. the biggest WAN of all). Your
school, many organisations and many people’s homes all have a network
that is a part of the internet.

The reach of the internet is global – all countries have multiple cables, fibre-
optic links and satellites that connect it to other countries. These links plus
others within each country can be thought of as the internet backbone – the
connections that link all the networks together.

How the internet works

Key terms
Your computer or network is likely to be connected to the internet using an
Internet Service Provider (ISP): Internet Service Provider (ISP). An ISP is an organisation that provides
an organisation that provides its internet connections. This connection to the internet can be provided in a
customers with a connection to number of ways, but the most common is through telephone lines.
the internet.
The internet uses the TCP/IP protocol stack to allow communication between
Router: a piece of networking all the different networks. More detail about protocols can be found in
hardware used to forward section 5.1, page 185.
packets of data from one network
to another. The Internet Protocol (IP) part of the stack provides the technical rules on
addressing; that is, it provides each device or network connected to the
internet with a unique address to send data to/from.
As discussed in section 5.1, two versions of IP, Internet Protocol version 4
(IPv4) and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), are currently in use.
The networks that are a part of the internet are linked together using
routers. A router is a piece of networking hardware that forwards packets
between networks. A router has a routing table that is essentially a list of
rules stating where to send packets for different destinations. When a router
receives a packet it looks in the packet header for the destination address
and then uses the rules within the routing table to decide where to send it.
It is likely that a packet will need to be forwarded between several routers
before it reaches its destination.
When an internet-connected computer wants to send data to another whose
IP address it already knows the following happens.

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1 The sending computer splits the data into packets.

Each packet has a header that contains the sender’s address, the
destination address, the current packet number and the total number
of packets that make up the data.
2 Each packet is sent to your ISP.
3 Your ISP will have a router. This router will inspect the packet header,
and decide where to send the packet depending on its destination
IP address.
4 The packet is likely to end up at another router, which will again look
at the destination IP address and forward it on. This can happen many
times before the packet reaches its destination network and intended
recipient.
5 Once a packet reaches its destination, the receiving computer will
reassemble the data from the packets. Depending on the protocol
being used, the packets might arrive in the wrong order and have to
be put back in order using the information in the packet header. Activity 14
Find out what services other
The internet, like any network, has many different services running on top than the World Wide Web and
of it. Email and the World Wide Web are two of the most commonly used email use the internet. Create a
services to which the internet provides access. list with a brief definition of each
service, what protocols it uses
The World Wide Web and how it uses the internet.
The World Wide Web (often shortened to WWW or ‘the Web’) is a service that
runs on the internet. It provides access to web pages (a type of document),
Did you know?
which are linked together using a hypertext system. Hypertext is simply
text that contains links (hyperlinks) that can be selected to go to another The World Wide Web was
document/web page. These documents can contain text, graphics and invented in 1989 by a British
multimedia. scientist called Tim Berners-
Lee. Can you find out when the
Accessing the World Wide Web internet was invented?
You access the World Wide Web using a program called a web browser. There
are many different web browsers to choose from but they all use the same
protocols and use the internet to transfer information. The web browser’s
job is to convert the data received from a web server (see page 186) to a
human-readable format. When a user accesses a website using the client–
server system mentioned on page 174 in section 5.1, the web browser is the
client and the web server provides the service to the web browser.

How the World Wide Web works

The World Wide Web uses the internet to transfer data from one computer
system to another. The computer being used to access the World Wide Web
connects to the internet using an ISP and will be running a web browser.
Getting a web page or other file using the World Wide Web involves a large
number of steps that use different protocols and standards.

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 Communication and the internet

Key term 1 The user of a computer enters the web address of the information he or she
HyperText Markup Language wants to look at. A web address is also known as a URL (Uniform Resource
(HTML): essentially a text Locator). A URL may be for a web page or an individual file, for example
document that contains any text a URL could be just for a particular picture file rather than a web page.
to be displayed along with: 2 The computer uses a system called the Domain Name Service (DNS) to
• details of how the text should find the IP address of the required web server.
be formatted (e.g. font size, 3 The web browser connects to the web server using the IP address and
colour etc.); requests the relevant web page or other object (picture, sound or
video file).
• details of any hyperlinks and
where they link to using a URL; 4 A web page is transferred from one computer (normally a web server)
to another using HTTP or HTTPS, which were covered in ‘Network
• details of any objects such as protocols’ in section 5.1.
pictures or videos that should
5 Data sent from a web server to a web browser is in HyperText Markup
be shown within the web page
Language (HTML) format. The web browser displays the web page as
when it is displayed.
described by the HTML.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Page Title</title>
</head>
<body>

<h1>This is a Heading</h1> This is a Heading

<p>This is a paragraph.</p> This is a paragraph.

</body>
</html>

Figure 5.7 How a web browser display of a web page is generated from HTML

Exam-style question
Which of the following protocols would not be used when transferring a
web page from a web server using the internet? (1 mark)
a TCP
b IP
Exam tip c IMAP
• As this is question is for d HTTP
1 mark, only one answer is
correct. If the user selects a hyperlink, then the URL that the link points to will be
loaded using the method outlined above. The URL might point to a web
page on the same web server or on a different web server. This is where the
‘web’ part of World Wide Web comes from – different pages and web servers
are linked together in a complex pattern.

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 The internet and the World Wide Web

Exam-style question Exam tip

Explain the difference between the internet and the World Wide Web. • This question tests your
(2 marks) understanding of how the
internet and World Wide Web
are related.
Activity 15 • A good answer should state
1 Draw an annotated diagram that shows how a packet gets from one what the internet and WWW
computer to another through a number of routers on the internet. are and how the WWW uses
the internet.
2 The internet is capable of continuing to work even when some parts
of the physical network fail. Research and discuss how the internet
deals with faults of this kind.

Summary
• The internet is a global network of networks. It is used to transfer data between different computer systems.
• The internet has many different services running on top of it. Two common services are the World Wide Web
and email.
• The World Wide Web runs on top of the internet. Although people often mix the two terms up, they are not
the same and as a learner studying Computer Science you need to use the terminology correctly.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Write your own definition of what the internet is.
S2 Write a definition of what the World Wide Web is and add an explanation of how it is different from
the internet.
S3 Describe what happens when you enter a web address into a web browser.
Challenge
C1 Explain in your own words the role of all the protocols used when requesting a web page from a web server.
C2 Explain why you think the internet and World Wide Web are so embedded in modern life.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If

you’re not sure you answered them well, try finding some online videos
that explain the concepts visually.

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 Chapter 6

The bigger picture

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 Computing and the environment

6.1 Computing and the environment

Learning objectives
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• explain how the manufacture, use and disposal of computing technology damages the environment.
• describe efforts being made to reduce the environmental damage caused by computing technology.
• give some examples of how computing technology is helping to protect the environment.

It’s hard to imagine what life would be like without the internet, social
Key terms
media, search engines and e-commerce. Global demand for smartphones,
tablets and other forms of computing technology, including embedded Computing technology: an
processors, web servers, sensors and hard drives, is growing rapidly year on all-encompassing term referring
year. At the same time, the pace of new product releases and consumers’ to the hardware, software and
desire to own the latest model is shortening the lifespan of these devices. infrastructure that underpin
The average life expectancy of a smartphone, for example, is estimated to current and emerging computer
be less than two years. The more computing technology we buy, the more systems.
we throw away. e-waste: any form of discarded
electronic equipment, including
Not surprisingly, the manufacture, use and disposal of computing
computing technology.
technology have a significant impact on the environment, using up
dwindling resources of non-renewable materials, creating massive piles
of potentially harmful e-waste, consuming vast quantities of energy and
damaging people’s health.

Manufacture Top tip

Manufacturing a smartphone, a PC or any other piece of computing Try to stay up to date with
technology is a complex process, starting with the extraction of raw computer science news, so
materials and ending with the finished item being shipped to the customer, that you know about emerging
with lots of stages in between. This makes it difficult to determine technologies and are aware of
accurately the overall environmental impact, although there’s no doubt that current issues. The BBC’s Click
it’s considerable. website is a good starting point.
Raw material extraction It’s also worth checking out the
technology section of the BBC
A number of non-renewable natural resources are used in the manufacture
website and subscribing to the
of computer products. They include sand (to make glass for screens),
cs4fn magazine.
oil (used to make plastics) and various metals used in wiring and circuit
boards. Some of the metals used, such as silver, gold, copper and palladium,
are precious and in short supply. Others, such as arsenic, cadmium and
chromium, are hazardous and pose a serious health risk. Radioactive metals
used in computer products, such as uranium and thorium, can contaminate
air, soil and groundwater, and are toxic to human health.

In some regions of the world, mining of raw materials is poorly regulated.

Excavation causes extensive damage to the local environment, scarring
the landscape with unsightly holes and waste heaps, contaminating water

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 The bigger picture
supplies and endangering wildlife habitats. Poorly equipped miners working
Extend your knowledge
in dangerous conditions run the risk of being seriously injured and are also
China is the world's largest susceptible to long-term respiratory illnesses, such as silicosis, bronchitis or
producer of rare earth metals – a lung cancer.
group of 17 chemical elements
that, due to their unique Production
magnetic, luminescent and Once extracted, the raw materials are shipped to factories – often thousands
electrochemical properties, help of miles away – to be manufactured into components, such as circuit boards,
improve the performance of chips, screens, disk drives and cases.
computing technology and make
it more energy efficient. In turn, the components are dispatched onwards for assembly into finished
products.

The manufacture of computing technology is energy intensive. Large

amounts of non-renewable fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, are used
during the process. Burning fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide (CO2) and
contributes to global warming.

Semiconductors are present in every piece of computing technology.

Extend your knowledge
Manufacturing semiconductors is highly water intensive. For example, a
The United Nations University factory producing 40,000 semiconductors a month uses around 20 million
has estimated that the litres of water a day – on a par with the consumption of a city with a
manufacture of a computer and population of 60,000. This can result in water shortages in areas where
monitor weighing 24 kilograms semiconductor factories are located, and untreated wastewater discharge
requires ten times the amount can cause environmental pollution.
of fossil fuels (240 kilograms),
approximately the same weight This table lists six of the most hazardous materials used in the manufacture
of chemicals and around 1,500 of computing technology.
litres of water.
Material Examples of use
Cadmium A metal used in the manufacture of rechargeable
batteries, printer inks and toners.
Lead A metal used in the manufacture of circuit boards and
cable sheathing.
Mercury A metal used in the manufacture of LCD screens.
Hexavalent A chemical compound used to make casings.
chromium
Polychlorinated Toxic compounds added to plastics, circuit boards, and
biphenyls (PCBs) connectors to make them more fire retardant.
Polybrominated
diphenyl ethers

Research indicates that exposure to these materials is harmful to human

health, causing both physical and neurological damage. Furthermore, chemical
emissions and wastewater from manufacturing plants put people living in the
vicinity at risk.

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 Computing and the environment

There is growing recognition of the need to address this problem.

The EU Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive was

transposed into UK law in 2013. It restricts the use of all six of the materials
listed in the table above, forcing manufacturers of computing technology to
replace them with safer materials.

At the same time, governments are imposing tough recycling targets

designed to ensure that more reusable material is recovered from redundant
computing technology, and reused so that fewer raw materials are needed
and reserves of scarce resources are protected.

Growing public awareness is putting pressure on manufacturers to improve

working conditions in their plants and impose stricter requirements on their
component suppliers.

Usage
The amount of energy consumed in the manufacturing process pales into
insignificance when compared with the energy required to keep mobile
phones, computers, networks, telecommunication links, etc. up and running
day after day. Even though each individual device doesn’t require a huge
amount of electricity, close to two billion connected PCs and laptops and
more than six billion mobile devices collectively do.
In recent years considerable efforts have been made to improve the energy
efficiency of computing devices. However, the amount of energy they
Did you know?
actually consume depends on how they are used and what they are used for. A lot of energy is wasted while
The task that a computer is performing and the software being used are key a computer or printer sits idle.
determinants of the actual energy usage. High-end applications, complex Using the ‘sleep mode’ when a
calculations, 3-D modelling and video games are particularly power hungry. device is not in use can reduce
Cloud computing (see section 4.2, page 151) and data centres in particular consumption by more than
are major energy guzzlers. Vast amounts of electricity are needed to power 50 per cent.
and cool all the computer equipment that is needed, putting them ahead of
the aviation industry in terms of the energy they consume. The worst culprits
are the small, inefficient data centres hosted by private organisations and
government departments, which tend to be far less efficient than the large
facilities operated by cloud providers such as Google® and Apple.
Energy efficiency measures and the use of renewable energy can
significantly reduce the carbon footprint of data centres. Facebook, for Activity 1
example, has built a huge data centre in northern Sweden, just 100 km Research why using a laptop
south of the Arctic Circle. Its location was selected because of its access rather than a desktop is more
to renewable hydroelectricity and the cold climate that helps to keep the energy efficient.
servers cool.

Activity 2 Key term

Data centres consume large amounts of energy. Carbon footprint: the amount of
1 Research what this energy is used for. carbon dioxide an individual or
organisation produces as a result
2 Identify four measures that can be taken to make data centres more
of the energy they consume.
environmentally friendly.

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 The bigger picture

Disposal
The disposal of redundant computing technology represents another
serious threat to the environment. The quantity of e-waste is growing at a
tremendous pace. According to the UN’s StEP Initiative, e-waste will soon
weigh as much as eleven of the great Egyptian pyramids.
Although great efforts are now being made to recycle more e-waste, large
amounts are still shipped overseas to developing countries where they are
dumped in landfill sites. This can have serious consequences for the environment
and public health. The problem is compounded by the fact that the developing
nations themselves are generating more and more waste of their own.
E-waste that is not recycled properly can be a serious health and environmental
issue. As you know, computer products contain a whole host of dangerous
materials. Once a computer is dumped in a landfill site, the likelihood is
that some, if not all, of these toxic substances will leak out into the ground,
contaminating water supplies, infiltrating the food chain and polluting the air.
For every one million mobile phones, 24 kg of gold, 250 kg of silver and nine
tonnes of copper can be recovered. The presence of these valuable metals
in old computing technology is a powerful incentive for local people living
near the landfill sites, many of whom are desperately poor, to try to recover
them. However, dismantling old computer equipment without protective
clothing and specialist training is extremely dangerous. People who do so
risk exposure to hazardous materials such as mercury and lead and are in
danger of inhaling toxic fumes.

Did you know?

Electronic waste is expected to top 60 million tonnes globally by
2017 – an increase of a third in five years.

Activity 3
‘One person’s cast-off is another person’s treasured possession.’
Research, then briefly describe two initiatives that aim to prolong the
life of pre-owned computing technology.

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations

(2013) set targets for the collection, recycling and recovery of computing
technology and other electronic items. They apply to businesses but not to
individuals.
The aim of responsible recycling is to recover valuable metals and reusable
components such as plastic, glass and metal, and to dispose of dangerous
substances safely.
Major manufacturers of computing technology now have recycling
programmes. In developing countries there are some promising initiatives
to create state-of-the-art recycling plants that can turn e-waste into an
e-opportunity.

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 Computing and the environment

Activity 4 Did you know?

1 Give three possible environmental impacts of using computing Green computing indicates
technology. the efficient use of resources
in computing. It makes
2 Suggest one possible action that could be taken to reduce each
companies and individuals
of them.
responsible for producing
and using technology with
a minimal carbon footprint.
Preserving the environment The main emphasis is on
The picture is not entirely bleak. Computing technology is at the heart energy efficiency, use of
of efforts to combat climate change, provide disaster warnings, protect safer materials during the
endangered species and habitats, and reduce energy consumption. manufacturing process and
promoting environmentally
Climate change
friendly systems.
NASA is analysing satellite data and measuring sea surface temperatures to
learn more about how and why sea levels are rising.

Networks of wireless sensor probes are used to gather information about

glaciers. The probes are placed under the surface of the ice and measure
temperature, pressure, stress, weather and sub-glacial movement. A base
station collects the data from them. The system is helping scientists to
understand more about the speed at which glaciers are melting.

Researchers at the University of Oxford are using spare home computer

time to establish if global warming is to blame for heavy flooding in the UK
in recent years.

Early warning
Tsunami early warning systems use sensor networks to detect approaching
tsunamis and a communications infrastructure to issue timely warnings so
that coastal areas at risk can be evacuated.

Conservation
Information from GPS and satellites is being used to track Malaysian
elephants. The results are analysed by computer to help improve
conservation strategies and assess the effectiveness of the Malaysian
Government’s elephant conservation programme.

Miniature transponders fitted to bees allow scientists to study the effects of

disease and pesticides.

Mobile phones are being used to listen out for illegal logging activities in the
rainforest and provide rangers with real-time alerts.

Energy
Engineers at Manchester Metropolitan University are working on a project
to make buildings more energy efficient. Sensors in each room monitor A lioness with a tracking device.
light levels, temperature, how many people are present and electricity GPS collars help to monitor and
consumption. Real-time analysis of the room data enables automatic conserve wildlife.
adjustment of electricity usage.

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 The bigger picture
The latest generation of giant solar energy farms uses sensors to track
the movement of the sun and computer-controlled motors to adjust the
position of the solar panels to optimise power generation. Developments in
battery storage allows surplus electricity to be stored.

Exam tip Exam-style question

Make sure you give real positive Discuss the impact of computing technology on the environment.
and negative examples of how (6 marks)
computing technology affects
the environment.

Summary
• Some of the materials used in the manufacture of computer components are non-renewable and in
short supply. Others are dangerous and pose a risk to human health.
• The Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive restricts the use of hazardous materials in
computing technology, forcing producers to find more environmentally friendly alternatives.
• Computing technology consumes huge amounts of energy. Data centres are one of the worst culprits.
• Energy efficiency measures and use of renewable energy can significantly reduce the carbon footprint
of computing technology.
• There is a possible health risk, especially for children, from exposure to the electromagnetic fields
generated by wireless devices, such as smartwatches and smart clothing.
• Unregulated disposal of e-waste in landfill sites poses a significant threat to the environment.
• The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations set targets for responsible recycling
of e-waste.
• Computing technology is helping to preserve the environment in a number of ways, including monitoring
and modelling climate change, conservation and smart energy.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Identify two hazardous substances used in the manufacture of computing technology.
S2 Which UK law restricts the use of hazardous substances in the manufacture of computing technology?
S3 Why is dumping e-waste in landfill sites harmful to the environment?
S4 List two ways of reducing the environmental damage caused by data centres.
S5 List two ways in which computing technology is helping to preserve the environment.
Challenge
C1 Summarise the health risks associated with the manufacture and disposal of computing technology.
C2 Describe three ways in which computing technology can help to reduce energy consumption.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions?

If you’re not sure you answered them well, reread this section and have
another go at the activities.

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 Privacy

6.2 Privacy
Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• explain why computing technology poses a threat to privacy.
• weigh up the benefits and drawbacks of giving away personal information.
• describe the legislation that protects against computer misuse.

Now that you know about the damaging environmental impact that
computing technology has, does it make you have second thoughts about
swapping your smartphone for the latest model? Might you decide that your
concern for the environment outweighs your desire for a new phone? If so,
Key terms
you are making an ethical decision. Ethics relate to what is right and wrong Ethics: a set of moral principles
and govern a person’s behaviour. that govern a person's behaviour.
An action might be legal, but not necessarily ethical. For example, it’s perfectly Privacy: the right to be left
legal to leave your old desktop computer gathering dust in the attic, but if you alone and free from unwanted
know that someone in a developing country would benefit enormously from scrutiny and intrusion.
having it, the right thing to do might be to dust it down and pass it on Personal data: information that
to them. is personal and unique to an
individual.
Computing technology confers a wide range of social and economic benefits,
but it also creates a host of challenging ethical issues. Privacy and security
are two of them.
While most people would agree that computing technology has helped to
create a much more open society, some would argue that it comes at too high
a cost. The amount of personally identifiable information that is gathered,
stored and analysed represents a massive invasion of privacy.

Personal data
Every time you post an update on social media, sign up for an online
account, use a web-based email service or a search engine you are adding,
knowingly or unknowingly, to an enormous hoard of personal data that is
held about you – where you live, what you look like, who your friends are,
your likes and dislikes, your bank account details, products you’re interested
in buying, the route you take to school each morning.
This personal data is stored on servers that belong to online services, such
as Facebook and Google®, not to you.
Did you know?
Facebook has the biggest
Every organisation you come into contact with, not just the online
database of faces in the world,
companies, is likely to collect information about you. Your school, for
with over 350 million photos
example, stores your attendance record, your end-of-year exam results,
posted and tagged to the
which books you’ve borrowed from the library, the after-school activities you
website every day.
take part in and much more besides. Does this worry you?

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 The bigger picture
Some people are very concerned about the amount of personal information
that is collected, often without their consent and over which they believe
they have little or no control. They are worried about who has access to it,
what they are using it for, how secure it is and how accurate it is.
Key term Weak security could result in personal information falling into the wrong
Identity theft: the stealing hands, making people vulnerable to phishing attacks, scams, identity theft
of another person’s personal and fraud.
details, such as their bank account
number, sort code or passport Sometimes the information is inaccurate, but getting it changed or removed
number, for the purpose of is extremely difficult, if not impossible. It's not unheard of for inaccurate
making purchases and running up information about a person to follow them throughout their entire life,
debts in their name. affecting how they are seen and treated by others.

Did you know?

The UK Data Protection Act (1998) controls how organisations and the
government can use personal data. It specifies the following principles.
• Data must be processed fairly and lawfully.
• Data must be obtained and used only for the specific and lawful
purposes for which it was collected.
• Data must be adequate, relevant and not excessive.
• Data must be accurate and up to date.
• Data must be kept for no longer than necessary.
• Data must be kept secure.
• Data must not be transferred to regions not bound by similar
principles of the Act.

Activity 5
1 What information can you find out about yourself by typing your
name into a search engine? Is it accurate? What sort of impression of
you does it portray?
2 Research the Safe Harbor Decision privacy principle. Why has the EU
declared it invalid?

One reason why so many people voluntarily give away information about
themselves is that it enables an organisation to understand their needs
better and provide them with a more personalised service. For example,
setting up an account with an online supplier makes it faster and more
convenient to purchase from them.

But do these benefits outweigh the drawbacks?

You might not mind that an online retailer knows who your favourite band
is if it means you get to hear quickly when their next album is released, but
is it right to target a financially vulnerable person with adverts for products
they will want but can’t afford?

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 Privacy

Did you know?

Cookies are small data files that keep a record of your web browsing
history. They record which websites you visit and how often, which
products or services you buy or show an interest in. Cookies enable
online stores to learn a lot about you.
The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (2011) gives
consumers the right to opt out of having data about their browsing
habits collected in this way.
Unlike a cookie, spyware is a computer program stored on your hard
drive (usually without you realising it’s there) that collects information
about you and transmits it to a third party. It represents another
serious threat to privacy.

Big data
Data analysts are able to learn more and more about us and gain insights
into our behaviour by analysing huge volumes of personal data gathered
from various sources.
Analysis of so-called ‘big data’ can benefit society. For example, by helping
to identify adverse side effects of drugs that might otherwise go unnoticed,
optimising energy use in cities and providing insights into the spread of disease.
But is the price we pay too high? Where do we draw the line? Big data
comprises large amounts of information, each piece of which on its own could
be seen as being harmless, for example your phone number, what music you
download, your hobbies, etc. However, when collated together these individual
bits of information produce a very accurate, detailed profile of an individual,
revealing far more about them than they might have willingly disclosed. This Activity 6
might lead to the individual becoming a victim of identity theft or an intruder Find two examples of how
illegally accessing personal information through social engineering. (See society is benefiting from big
'Personal data' on page 213.) data analysis.

Surveillance
Have you any idea how often you’ve been watched on CCTV today? Could
a drone have been hovering overhead taking aerial photographs of you on
your walk to school? If you’ve driven anywhere by car, travelled by public Key terms
transport or been in a shop, the chances are you’ve been recorded by some Surveillance technology:
form of surveillance technology. CCTV, drones, number plate
Most people are willing to allow the security forces to use surveillance recognition, bugging and
technology to track people’s movements and tap their phones if it enables tracking devices used to monitor
them to uncover terrorist plots. But what if it were used by companies to and record people’s activities,
monitor your shopping habits or by criminals noting the time you leave often without their knowledge.
the house each morning? It’s not unheard of for employers to use hidden Whistle-blower: someone who
cameras to check up on their staff. Is this acceptable? draws attention to the activities
Some people believe that use of surveillance technology goes too far. In of an organisation or person
2013 Edward Snowden, a so-called ‘whistle-blower’, raised awareness of the believed to be acting illegally
extent to which governments worldwide are now monitoring and spying on or unethically.
their citizens.

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 The bigger picture

Activity 7 Did you know?

The right to privacy must be UK police track vehicle movements in real time using automatic
balanced against the needs of number plate recognition and CCTV. Records can be kept for two years
society. Describe two situations to be analysed for intelligence.
in which you believe an CCTV combined with facial recognition software enables the police to
invasion of privacy is justified. identify and track specific individuals.
Explain your reasoning.

Key term Location-based services

Location-based services: With the help of location-based services and Wi-Fi, people can share
services that enable people their current location, arrange to meet up with friends nearby, check in to
to access and share real-time a venue, find their way to a particular location and much more. A drawback
location information online. is that location-based services also allow other people to track your
movements, find out where you live and what you are doing. This can be
dangerous and represents a huge invasion of privacy.
Activity 8
Describe three ways in which Privacy-enhancing tools
location-based services can Privacy-enhancing tools, while not 100 per cent effective, do give some
benefit a user and three risks protection against privacy invasion. This table lists some of the most
associated with their use. popular of these tools.

Tool Purpose
Encryption Prevents unauthorised people from reading your data.
Cookie cleaners, anti-spyware and ad Software that detects and removes cookies, spyware and adware installed on
blockers your computer.
Identity management services A trusted third party holds evidence of your identity and issues you with
an identifier that enables you to conduct transactions with other parties
without revealing any personal information about yourself.
Password managers Stores all your website login information in an encrypted password
database with a master password, which is the only one you have
to remember.

Cyber-security
As you learnt in Chapter 5 (see page 192), hacking represents a serious
security threat.

The Computer Misuse Act (1990) makes hacking a crime. It identifies three
types of illegal activity.

• Unauthorised access to computer material, either a program or data.

• Unauthorised access with intent to commit further offences (e.g.
accessing personal data about a person so as to steal their identity).
• Intentional and unauthorised destruction of software or data (e.g. by
installing malware).

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 Privacy

A 2015 amendment to the Act grants immunity from prosecution to the

Did you know?
security services, enabling them to hack data on laptops and mobile phones,
and in databases belonging to suspected criminals. Sony was the victim of a major
cyber attack in 2014. The
company claims that hackers
Activity 9 working for the North Korean
Government were to blame.
Research the ‘Carphone Warehouse Data Breach’ of 2015. How many
Private emails were disclosed
customer records were thought to have been stolen? What are the
to the public, and a number of
implications of this breach for both the customers and the company?
unreleased films were made
available on sharing websites.

Summary
• Computing technology enables organisations to gather, store and analyse vast quantities of personal
information about the people they come into contact with.
• Individuals give away all sorts of personal information about themselves online.
• Collecting and analysing information about the people they come into contact with enables organisations
to provide a more personalised service.
• Big data analysis benefits society at the expense of many individuals’ privacy.
• Surveillance technology helps keep us secure, but encroaches on our privacy. It is difficult to determine
what level of surveillance is acceptable.
• The Computer Misuse Act (1990) makes hacking illegal.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Describe two ways in which an individual’s personal data could end up stored in databases owned by
a third party.
S2 What might happen if personal information falls into the wrong hands?
S3 List two privacy-enhancing tools and describe what they do.
S4 List the activities that the Computer Misuse Act (1990) makes illegal.
Challenge
C1 Why do some people decide that the benefits of revealing personal information about themselves
outweigh the drawbacks?
C2 Describe a situation where the right to privacy is less important than the needs of society.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re
not sure you answered them well, reread this section and have another go at
the activities.

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 The bigger picture

6.3 Digital inclusion

Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• explain how people benefit from being ‘technology-empowered’ and the disadvantages of being
‘technology-excluded’.
• describe measures that are being taken to promote digital inclusion.

Computing technology is a great enabler, giving many people access to

news, information, products and services at any time wherever they are. But
those people who neither have the opportunity nor knowledge to use this
Key terms technology are excluded from the advantages it provides. Is this fair?

Digital inclusion: ensuring Digital inclusion is about providing everyone with affordable access to
that everyone has affordable computing technology and the skills to use it.
access to computing technology
The gap between those who are ‘technology-empowered’ and those who are
and the necessary skills to take
‘technology-excluded’ is known as the digital divide.
advantage of it.
Digital divide: the gap between There is a digital divide between industrialised and developing countries
people who are technology- and also between people who live in the same country.
empowered and those who are
technology-excluded.
Impact
There are many reasons why technology exclusion is not a good idea.
Information and The internet is becoming the default option for accessing
services information, public services and entertainment.
Employment Having poor digital literacy skills makes it harder
to find a job and limits employment opportunities,
relegating individuals to poorly paid work with little
prospect of progression.
Democracy The internet gives people a voice and lets them
express their views to a worldwide audience. This is
particularly important where citizens have limited
freedom of expression.
Economic growth Businesses that are able to exploit computing
technology to the full have a competitive advantage
over those that can’t.
Saving money Paying bills and shopping online often saves
consumers money and gives them better protection.
Social isolation Having access to the internet helps people to keep in
touch with friends and relatives.

Towards digital inclusion

Data from the Office for National Statistics suggest that the UK is making
good progress towards achieving digital inclusion for its citizens. Figures for
2015 for England, Scotland and Wales show that:
• the internet was accessed every day by 78 per cent of adults
(39.3 million), compared with 35 per cent (16.2 million) in 2006;

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 Digital inclusion

• 96 per cent of adults aged 16 to 24 accessed the internet ‘on the go’,
compared with only 29 per cent of those aged 65 years and over;
• 61 per cent of adults used social networking and, of those, 79 per cent did
so every day or almost every day;
• 76 per cent of adults bought goods or services online;
• 86 per cent of households (22.5 million) had internet access, up from
57 per cent in 2006.

Other industrialised nations in North America, Europe and Northern Asia are
also doing well.
The same can’t be said for other parts of the world. According to the United
Nations’ State of Broadband report (2015), billions of people living in the
developing world are still without broadband internet, including 90 per cent
of those living in the poorest nations.
Age, disability, disinterest, poverty and cultural norms all play a part in
digital exclusion, but lack of connectivity is one of the major causes.
The good news is that, according to the World Bank, 77 per cent of the
world's population already live within range of a mobile phone network. In
areas with a limited or non-existent landline infrastructure, mobile phone
technology can fill the gap. Even though the number of phones per 100
people in poor countries is much lower than in the developed world, they
are having a huge impact.

Did you know?

Facebook plans to use drones and satellites to bring the internet to
Africa. They have also developed an app, called Free Basics, which
provides free basic access to services.

Activity 10
Use the internet to find some actual examples of how mobile phones
are being used in Africa or elsewhere to promote digital inclusion.
Write a brief report summarising your findings.

Efforts to bridge the digital divide require more than simply giving people
internet access. The UK’s digital inclusion strategy sets out the actions that
the government and its partners are taking to reduce digital exclusion.
Ambitious digital literacy programs are
under way in India, Kenya, Colombia
Activity 11 and elsewhere to ensure that people
have the know-how and skills they need
Identify five actions a government can take to reduce digital exclusion.
to exploit digital technology to the full

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 The bigger picture

Summary
• Digital inclusion means that everyone has affordable access to computing technology as well as the skills to
use it.
• A number of factors contribute to the digital divide – lack of or poor connectivity is one of the main ones.
• Someone who is ‘technology-excluded’ misses out on all the opportunities computing technology offers.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 What is meant by the terms ‘technology-empowered’ and ‘technology-excluded’?
S2 List three drawbacks of being ‘technology-excluded’.
S3 List four factors that contribute to the digital divide.
S4 Describe two ways of providing access to the internet in areas with a poor landline infrastructure.
Challenge
C1 Access to the internet is a key factor in reducing the digital divide. Describe two further measures that
governments can take to promote digital inclusion.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re
not sure you answered them well, reread this section and have another go
at the activities.

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 Professionalism

6.4 Professionalism
Learning outcomes
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• explain what professionalism means in the context of computer science.

Computer scientists write software to make computers do new things or

accomplish tasks more efficiently, create mobile apps, design and build
embedded systems, devise security policies, invent new products and much
more besides.
Some work for big multinational computing companies, such as Microsoft®
and Apple, others for small start-ups; some are self-employed, some
are employed in the IT departments of organisations such as hospitals,
universities and companies.
Wherever they work they are expected to behave ethically and demonstrate Key term
professionalism. Professionalism: the skill and
The British Computer Society (BCS) is the Chartered Institute for IT. The competence expected of a
BCS Code of Conduct sets out the professional standards its members are person in a professional setting.
expected to uphold. Among many other matters, it specifies that computer
scientists must: Did you know?
• respect the privacy, security and wellbeing of others and the Most computer scientists pay an
environment; annual membership fee to belong
• avoid injuring others, their property, reputation, or employment; to a professional association. This
gives them access to specialist
• develop their professional knowledge, skills and competence on a
technical conferences, training
continuing basis; and publications. It also provides
• be familiar and comply with relevant legislation; them with an opportunity to
• not disclose confidential information; interact and share knowledge and
expertise with each other. Having
• not misrepresent or withhold information on the performance of
membership of a professional
products, systems or services.
association on their Curriculum
Vitae (CV) sometimes carries
Exam-style question weight when a computer scientist
is applying for a new job.
Airtest produces exhaust emissions testing software. A programmer
discovers that there is a bug in the software that produces inaccurate The three main professional bodies
results under particular circumstances. for computer scientists in the UK are:

State what course of action the programmer should take and explain why. • The British Computer Society
(BCS)
(3 marks)
• The Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Exam tip • The Association for Computing
This is a scenario-based question, so make sure you relate your answer to the Machinery (ACM).
scenario – don’t mention what you personally would do, but what the Airtest
programmer should do. Don’t forget to refer back to the code of conduct.

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 The bigger picture

Activity 12
A computer scientist is developing an embedded system to control
car brakes.
Discuss in a group how she should respond if:
1 she spots a bug, but knows that fixing it will delay completion of
the project;
2 she’s aware that there is a remote possibility that someone could hack
into the code and stop the brakes from working;
3 a competitor offers to pay her for details of the code;
4 her employer makes claims for the system that are not entirely true.
Discuss any other ethical dilemma she might encounter as a professional.

Summary
• Computer scientists must abide by the law.
• They should behave ethically by adhering to a professional code of conduct.
• It is important that programmers demonstrate professionalism as the work they do could put the lives of other
people at risk.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 What does the BCS Code of Conduct say a computer scientist should do?
Challenge
C1 What does ‘professionalism’ mean for a computer scientist?

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re
not sure you answered them well, reread this section and have another go at
the activities.

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 The legal impact

6.5 The legal impact

Learning objectives
By the end of this section you should be able to:
• describe how copyright and patents can protect intellectual property.
• explain the purpose of a software licence.
• differentiate between open-source and proprietary software and outline the benefits and drawbacks of each.

Intellectual property Key terms

Intellectual property (IP) – not to be confused with an IP address – is a Intellectual property (IP): a
unique creative product of a human mind. A piece of software, a computer creation of the human mind
game, a design for a new processor, a digital image, a piece of music and a that is unique and has a
literary work are all examples of IP. Each of them was created by somebody, commercial value.
is unique and has a commercial value. Patent: an exclusive right
granted to an inventor to make,
Copyright and patents
use and sell an invention for a
The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988) makes it illegal to copy,
fixed period of time.
modify or distribute intellectual property without permission.
That said, there are a multitude of peer-to-peer networks, torrent sharing
websites and forums on the internet that allow people to download
copyrighted software without paying for it. Not only is this illegal, it is also
unethical, since it means that the programmer who wrote the code doesn’t Did you know?
get the money that is due to them. The creators of the illegal
Copyright only protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself. So if software sharing website, The
you were to develop an original piece of software, its source code would be Pirate Bay, received a prison
protected, but there’s nothing to stop someone else from copying the idea sentence and were fined over
and writing a program that essentially performs the same task. You would US$4,000,000 for hosting
have to prove that the similarities between the two programs are more than hyperlinks to illegally obtained
just coincidence and can only be explained by copying. software and media.
The © symbol indicates that a piece of software, a movie or some other type
of artefact is protected by copyright.

Did you know? Top tip

In 1994, Apple agreed to license parts of its GUI (see section 4.4, page Make sure you know which laws
162) to Microsoft® for use in the first version of Microsoft® Windows®. affect the use of computing
When Microsoft® released Windows® 2.0, it used the overlapping windows technology, including the Data
feature of the Macintosh OS, which was not included in the original Protection Act (1998), the
licence agreement. Consequently, Apple sued Microsoft® for copyright Computer Misuse Act (1990), the
infringement. Copyright, Design and Patents
Act (1988) and the Regulation of
A patent offers more protection than copyright. It protects the idea or Investigatory Powers Act (2000).
design of an invention, rather than just a particular form of it. In order to get Keep an eye out for any
a patent you have to be able to demonstrate that what you have invented amendments to these laws or
is distinct from anything else that already exists. A patent holder has the for relevant new government
exclusive right for 20 years to make, use and sell their invention. legislation.

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 The bigger picture

Did you know? Exam-style question

For years, various smartphone Assess the extent to which the patent system is a barrier to technological
manufacturers including Apple and innovation. (4 marks)
Samsung have been battling in the
courts over patent infringements.
Apple alleged that Samsung had
Exam tip
stolen the ‘look and feel’ of its
iPhone and used it in the Galaxy The command word here is ‘assess’, which means you should consider
smartphone. both sides of the argument and come to a conclusion.
There is a real concern that
the inventiveness that patents
are designed to encourage will Licensing
suffer as a consequence of these Every piece of software, even if it is free, has a licence. Even though the
so-called ‘patent wars’, with user purchases a piece of software, the licence states that they don’t
manufacturers spending their actually own it. The licence allows the buyer to use the software subject
money on lawsuits rather than on to the licence terms, but the manufacturer retains ownership. Before you
new inventions. This would be very can install the software you have to agree to the terms of its licence. These
bad news for consumers. specify:
• how many copies of the software you are allowed to use;
Activity 13 • whether you can install the software on more than one computer;
• what type of organisation can use the software – some licences are for
1 Get into groups of three. Each
charities, students or home users only;
person in the group should
describe how they would feel • how long the software can be used for – perpetual software licences last
if an app they have created forever, but some licence agreements expire unless you renew them.
was made available for free You are usually not allowed to resell the software. Paid-for software is often
on the internet, without their supplied with a unique licence key, which certifies that the software is
permission. genuine and prevents illegal copying.
2 Create a podcast for software If a computer scientist wants to permit other people to use their code
developers, explaining how without charge, they can use an open-source licence to specify what
software can be protected as restrictions (if any) there are.
intellectual copyright.
A Creative Commons licence provides a way for the creator of a piece
of music, a photograph or other form of intellectual property - including
software - to allow other people to use it providing they abide by the
Key terms conditions specified in the licence.
Creative Commons: an
organisation that allows people Open-source and proprietary software
to set copyright terms for their Open-source software is freely available on the internet. Anyone is
intellectual property. One use permitted to edit the code and pass it on to others, providing they don’t
of a Creative Commons licence charge a fee.
is to allow people to copy
material as long as it is not used
commercially.
Open-source software:
software that is free to edit and
redistribute.

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 The legal impact

The advantages and disadvantages of open-source software are shown in

Did you know?
this table.
The Python programming
Advantages Disadvantages language is open source and
• It is free to use. • It might not be particularly ‘user friendly’ is maintained by the Python
and might look unprofessional. Software Foundation. Members
• It can be modified.
of the programming community
• It can be used • There might be little or no technical support
often contribute to the source
to demonstrate available.
code to build on the language.
programming concepts. • Criminals may be able to identify and
exploit vulnerabilities in the code.
Key term
Proprietary software is the opposite of open source – it is closed source. This Proprietary software: software
means its source code is protected and users are not allowed to modify it. that belongs to an individual or
a company. Its licence specifies
On the plus side, proprietary software is extensively tested prior to release,
that users are not allowed to
any bugs that do come to light thereafter are quickly fixed and there is
modify the source code and
plenty of user support. The drawback is that if the software doesn’t exactly
places restrictions on its use.
do what you want it to, you’re not allowed to change it.

Summary Did you know?

• A programmer loses out financially if their software is downloaded Microsoft® Windows® 10, iTunes,
illegally. Adobe Photoshop and Mac OSX
• The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988) makes it illegal to copy, are all examples of proprietary
modify or distribute intellectual property without permission. software.
• Copyright protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself.
• A patent offers more protection than copyright. It protects the idea of Activity 14
an invention rather than just a particular form of it.
• A software licence specifies how a piece of software can be used. Create a table that summarises
the differences between open-
• Open-source software is freely available and can be edited and shared.
source and proprietary software.
• The source code of proprietary software is protected and users are not
allowed to modify it.

Checkpoint
Strengthen
S1 Describe the purpose of a software licence.
S2 What are the main differences between open-source and proprietary software?
Challenge
C1 Explain how a patent would protect you as an inventor of a product.
C2 Identify relevant legislation that computer scientists should be familiar with.

How confident do you feel about your answers to these questions? If you’re not
sure you answered them well, reread this section to enhance your knowledge.

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 Preparing for your exam

This section of the book will help you to prepare Explain. Providing points that are linked to a
for the external assessment. GCSE (9–1) Computer justification. For example: ‘Explain why increasing
Science has two written examination papers and a the size of the cache will improve a computer’s
project. You must carry out the project in the final performance.’ This requires you to describe the
year of your course and sit both examinations in your purpose of the cache and then go on to explain why
final term. its size makes a difference.

Calculate. Carrying out a calculation. For example:

Paper 1 – Principles of Computer Science ‘Calculate the file size in bytes of a 24-bit colour
This paper is worth 40 per cent of your GCSE image that has a width of 600 pixels and a height of
Computer Science qualification and is 1 hour and 400 pixels.’ Remember that you are not allowed to
40 minutes in length. It is designed to test your use calculators. Instead you should show the relevant
knowledge and understanding of the principles of stages involved in carrying out the calculation.
computer science, and covers aspects of all six topics
listed in the specification. Compare. Observing similarities and differences
between two or more alternatives. For example: ‘Rosie
The number of questions in the paper can vary, but is developing a program to control a smart lighting
you must try to answer all of them. Most questions system. Compare using an interpreter with using a
have some straightforward parts and some more compiler to translate the program into executable
challenging ones; even if you can’t answer all of a code.’ In this instance it’s advisable to take account of
question you should be able to tackle at least parts the context in your answer.
of it.
Evaluate. Making critical judgements by considering
Understanding the questions relevant information. For example: ‘Evaluate the use
of a “divide and conquer” strategy for sorting and
Each question begins with a short introduction.
searching data.’
Don’t be tempted to skip these as they give guidance
as to the sort of answer expected. You could miss Discuss. Exploring an issue, situation or problem.
out on marks by giving generic responses when a For example: ‘Discuss the ways in which computing
contextualised answer is required. technology can make a positive contribution to
household energy consumption.’ You must structure
It’s important to pay attention to the command words
your response and use appropriate evidence to
at the start of questions. These indicate what sort of
support your conclusions.
answer is needed and how much depth you should go
into. The meaning of some frequently used command Show. Show the sequence of steps involved in
words is described below. applying a bubble sort algorithm to this list of
names: “William”, “Rhys”, “Maddie”, “Greta”, “Edward”,
State, give, name, identify, list. Recalling facts.
“Daani”, “Anja”.’
For example: ‘State what is meant by the term
overflow.’ or ‘Give one reason why programmers use There will be at least one six-mark extended writing
subprograms.’ A simple statement will usually suffice question in this paper. Make sure you allow enough
as an answer. time to plan your answer and try to use correct
terminology where appropriate.
Describe. Giving a description of something. For
example: ‘Describe how binary digits are used to Write your answers in the spaces provided on the
represent bitmap images.’ Use the number of marks paper. Try not to use more space than is provided and
allocated as a guide to how many distinct points you if you do write your answer somewhere else make
should make. sure it is clearly labelled.

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 Preparing for your exam

Sample answers with comments

Here is a sample answer to a Paper 1 style question.

Smarts Leisure owns a chain of fitness centres throughout the north-west. Its head office is in Stockport.
Each fitness centre has its own wireless LAN. All the fitness centres are connected to head office via a WAN.

1(a) (i) Identify two ways in which a LAN differs from a WAN. (2 marks)
1 LAN on one site.
2 WAN covers a wider geographic area.

(ii) Explain how devices are connected on a wireless network. (3 marks)

Radio waves are used to connect devices on a wireless network. Each device has a wireless network
adapter that sends and receives radio signals. A router broadcasts a wireless signal that devices can
detect and ‘tune’ into.

1(b) Files are divided up into packets before transmission. Two fields in a network packet are source
and destination.
Give two additional fields found in a network packet. (2 marks)
1 Sender
2 Sequence Number

1(c) Members of a fitness centre can log on to Smarts Leisure’s website to view details of their training.
Explain the server-side processing that takes place when a member views their
training online. (3 marks)

The server receives the request from the client computer and retrieves training data from the database.
It sends data to the client computer.

1(d) Smarts Leisure is concerned about cyber-security.

Discuss what measures Smarts Leisure should take to reduce the security risks from social
engineering. (6 marks)

Social engineering involves tricking people into revealing confidential information. Hackers use a variety of
methods to get people to give away confidential information.
An attacker could call the Smarts Leisure help desk pretending to be an employee who has forgotten their
password. Staff might be fooled into helping them to log on remotely and reset their password.
Smarts Leisure must make sure that all their employees are aware of this kind of attack and know that
they should always verify a caller’s identity before giving them access to the network or parting with
sensitive information over the phone.

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 Preparing for your exam
Emails that tempt users to click on a weblink are another risk. Staff might be fooled into filling in a
web form that asks for personal information. Or without realising it they might allow Trojan software
to be secretly installed on their computer, which will capture sensitive information and email it to
an attacker.
Smarts Leisure must ensure that all their employees are aware that they must never reveal personal or
sensitive information in response to an email, no matter who appears to have sent it. Hackers sometimes
visit a company posing as a bogus employee or visitor. If they are allowed in, they can look for information
lying on desks, listen in to conversations, plant a key logger or connect a laptop to the network.
Smarts Leisure has a lot of people going in and out of their fitness centres. This makes it more difficult
to prevent unauthorised access. They should issue their employees with passes and restrict access to the
office area to people with passes. Confidential information should never be left on desks and screen locks
should be activated on all computers when not in use.
Smarts Leisure should consider employing someone to carry out penetration testing to identify which of
its employees are vulnerable to social engineering. These employees can then be given training to help
them spot an attack and respond appropriately.
(Total for Question 1 = 16 marks)

Verdict
1(a) (i) The student has only given one difference
Exam tip
between a LAN and a WAN, not the two
that were required. Each answer should They could have said that a LAN is relatively
compare a LAN with a WAN. inexpensive to set up and run, whereas a WAN
requires costly hardware and dedicated leased
1(a) (ii) The candidate has made three lines. Using ‘whereas’ is a good way of making sure
distinct points, demonstrating sound you compare one thing with another.
understanding.

1(b) There are lots of possible answers to this question, but you would get no marks for giving
source or destination as an answer, since these are provided in the question. 'Sender' is just
another name for 'source' so in this case the candidate only identified one additional field.

1(c) This question is worth three marks, suggesting that the examiner is expecting three
distinct points to be made. The student has only given two points so loses out on a mark.
They omitted to say that the server constructs
a web page to display results of a search. Exam tip
Your answers should take account of the context of
They have, however, related their answer to the question. You could miss out on marks by giving
the scenario, which is a sensible thing to do. generic responses.

1(d) This question requires an extended answer.

The student has selected relevant knowledge and demonstrated good understanding of key
concepts. They have produced a well-structured, coherent response, identifying risks and
suggesting appropriate measures. Their answer takes account of the context, giving advice
directed at Smarts Leisure.

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 Preparing for your exam
Paper 2 – Application of Computational Thinking
This paper is worth 40 per cent of your GCSE Computer Science qualification. It focuses on topics 1 and 2 of the
subject content of the specification and assesses your computational thinking and problem-solving skills. It is
2 hours in length, which means you have plenty of reading and thinking time, as well as a chance to check your
answers, especially the algorithms. (It’s easy to overlook logic errors and to use the wrong comparison operator
in an expression.)

Calculators are not allowed but you can use a stencil to help you draw flowchart symbols.

Pseudo-code
Some of the questions will use pseudo-code. It’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with the Edexcel pseudo-
code before the exam. But don’t worry if you don’t remember all the commands. You will have a clean copy of
the pseudo-code booklet to refer to in the exam. You don’t have to use the Edexcel pseudo-code in any of your
answers. Any version is acceptable providing it is unambiguous and easy to follow.

Understanding the questions

You should familiarise yourself with the scenario that appears at the start of the paper. It sets the context for
the whole paper. Further information is given at the start of each question. Read this carefully. In some cases,
you won’t be able to answer the question without referring to it.

All the questions are compulsory. They are split into a number of parts, some more straightforward than others.

Here are some of the command words you might encounter in this paper.

Amend. Making changes. For example, amending an algorithm so that it performs differently or in order to
correct an error.

Assess. Judging or deciding the value, or appropriateness, of something. For example, assessing the
appropriateness of a particular data structure.

Complete, fill in. Filling in gaps. For example, completing a flowchart or a table.

Construct, draw. Creating something. For example, constructing a flowchart, an expression or a validation test.

Write. For example, a line of pseudo-code or an algorithm.

Longer answers in this paper are likely to involve creating an algorithm expressed either in pseudo-code or as
a flowchart.

Exam tip Exam tip

Calculators aren’t allowed in this exam. If you’re Look at the number of marks allocated to the
no good at mental arithmetic, then you can at question for an indication of how many separate
least show how the answer would be worked out. points you need to give.

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 Preparing for your exam

Sample answers with comments

Here are sample answers to Paper 2 style questions.

1 The Riverside is a large, out-of-town shopping mall with shops, restaurants and leisure facilities.
(a) The rent that retailers pay depends on the area of their unit (in square metres) and the
number of years they have been there.

The rental charge is £100 per square metre, with a discount of 1 per cent for each year
of occupancy. Construct a general expression showing the rent that a retailer will
have to pay. (2 marks)

rent = unitSize * (100 – years)

(b) The Riverside wants to limit the discount it gives to no more than 10 per cent.
Write an algorithm expressed in pseudo-code to calculate the rent for each retailer,
taking into account the maximum discount. (2 marks)

IF years >= 10 THEN

rent = unitSize * 90
ELSE
rent = unitSize * (100 – years)
IFEND

2 The Riverside produces visitor statistics. Data about the number of people who visit the shopping
mall each day is collected and analysed.
Complete the table to show an input, process and output. (2 marks)

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Number of visitors on each day Calculate overall total number of Sum of visitor numbers for the
for one year visitors in a year year
Number of visitors on each day Calculate overall total number Month with the highest number
for one year of visitors in each month. Sort of visitors
month totals to find month with
the highest number of visitors

3 The number of security and medical staff required each day depends on how many visitors
are expected.

The pseudo-code for a subprogram that calculates the number of security and medical staff
required is shown.

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 Preparing for your exam

1 PROCEDURE staff_required
2
3 SET days TO [80000, 30000, 30000, 50000, 55000, 60000, 100000]
4 SET useAgain TO ‘no’
5 WHILE useAgain = ‘yes’ DO
6 SEND ‘Enter day number (Sunday = 0)’ TO DISPLAY
7 RECEIVE dayNumber FROM (INTEGER) KEYBOARD
8 SET visitors TO days[dayNumber]
10 SET security TO visitors DIV 1000
11 SET medical TO visitors DIV 20000
12
13 SEND ‘Do you want to enter another day (yes or no)?’ TO DISPLAY
14 RECEIVE useAgain FROM (STRING) KEYBOARD
15 END WHILE
16 END staff_required

(a) There is a logic error in the algorithm.

Identify the error and explain how it can be corrected. (2 marks)
The variable useAgain is initialised to ‘no’ before the start of the while loop, so the loop never executes.
The error can be corrected by amending the statement in line 4.
(b) Explain why the operator DIV is used in lines 10 and 11 rather than the divide (/)
operator. (2 marks)
Only whole people are needed.
(c) Complete line 12 so that a sentence is displayed on the monitor stating:
‘The number of security staff required is *** and the number of medical staff is ***.’
(2 marks)
SEND ‘The number of security staff required is' + security + 'and the number of medical staff is'
+ medical TO DISPLAY
(d) Using the algorithm, calculate the numbers of security and medical staff needed on
a Thursday. (2 marks)
Number of security staff needed: 55
Number of medical staff needed: 2
(e) Explain the benefits of using subprograms when writing algorithms. (3 marks)
Makes main program clearer and easier to understand and shorter. No repeated blocks of code – can
be reused from anywhere in the program – easier to test – can be reused in other programs.

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 Preparing for your exam
4 The Riverside issues customers with a loyalty card, which they can use to get a discount in any of the shops.
The discount varies according to how much they have already spent in the current year. If they have spent
between £250 and £500 the discount is 5 per cent. If they have spent £500 or more it is 10 per cent.
Complete the flowchart (6 marks)
to show how the discount Start
is calculated.

Loyalty NO
loyalty card End
card?

YES
Input
thisSale

Is NO
thisYear toPay = thisSale End
>= 250?

YES

Is NO toPay = thisSale – 5%
thisYear thisYear = thisYear End
>= 500? + thisSale

YES

toPay = thisSale – 10%

thisYear = thisYear
+ thisSale

End

5 Riverside tries to keep the temperature constant at 20°C and the humidity at 50 per cent by opening
air vents if it is too warm or too humid and closing them and using heaters when it is too cold.
Temperature and humidity sensors are located at various positions within the shopping mall. The
external temperature is also monitored.
The air vents are operated by electric motors, which rotate a bar clockwise to open them and
anticlockwise to close them.
If the temperature falls below 20°C the air vents are closed and the heaters are switched on. If the
external temperature is 26°C or above and the air vents are open, then the air vents are closed and
the air conditioning units are switched on.
(a) Complete the table to give the inputs and outputs of this system. (6 marks)
Inputs Outputs
Internal temperature Air vent motors
Humidity Heaters
External temperature Air conditioning unit
(b) Write an algorithm to control the temperature and humidity. Use pseudo-code. (9 marks)
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 Preparing for your exam
SET heatersOn TO False #initialises variables
SET airVentsOpen TO False
SET airConOn TO False
SET riversideOpen TO True
WHILE riversideOpen = True DO #loops while shopping mall is open
RECEIVE intTemp FROM (REAL) SENSOR
RECEIVE humidity FROM (REAL) SENSOR
RECEIVE extTemp FROM (REAL) SENSOR
IF intTemp > 20 OR humidity > 50 THEN
IF heatersOn = True THEN
SEND ‘switch off signal’ TO HEATERS
SET heatersOn TO False
END IF
SEND ‘clockwise signal’ TO AVMOTORS #opens air vents
SET airVentsOpen TO True
END IF
IF intTemperature < 20 THEN
IF airVentsOpen = TRUE THEN
SEND ‘anticlockwise signal’ TO AVMOTORS #closes air vents
SET airVentsOpen to False
END IF
SEND ‘switch on signal’ TO HEATERS
SET heatersOn TO True
END IF
IF extTemp >= 26 AND airVentsOpen = True THEN
SEND ‘anticlockwise signal’ TO AVMOTORS #closes air vents
SET airVentsOpen to False
SEND ‘switch on signal’ TO AIRCON
SET airConOn TO True
END IF
SET riversideOpen TO check_if_open()
END WHILE

Verdict
1(a) Order of precedence is key here. The student has used brackets so that the subtraction is done before
the multiplication. Remember BIDMAS! This answer was awarded two marks.
1(b) In this question there was one mark for getting the condition in the IF statement correct - ‘years > 10’
would also have been correct. The second mark was for correctly calculating the rent in both cases.
2 One mark is awarded for each empty cell correctly filled in with the correct information.
The candidate has given a full description of the process needed to identify the month with the highest
number of visitors.
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 Preparing for your exam

3(a) The student has clearly identified the error and has indicated how it can be fixed but they
haven’t spelled it out. They should have given the correct code, i.e. SET useAgain TO ‘yes’.

3(b) This explanation is far too vague. The candidate probably knew that the DIV operator returns
the total number of times that one number divides into another without a remainder but should
have spelled it out to be sure of getting two marks.

3(c) One mark for using the append operator (ampersand) and one mark for using the correct
variables in the output statement.

3(d) Both calculations are correct.

3(e) The student has jotted down a list of separate benefits without any justification. A better
answer would have been:

The use of subprograms makes code clearer and easier to understand (1) because the main
program is shorter and doesn’t contain any repeated blocks of code (1) and because by putting a
name to a block of code it is easier to see at a glance what it does. (1)

4 The student has done a great job of completing the flowchart. Three marks are awarded
for functionality. In other words, a solution that works. The other three marks are for
correct notation.

5 There’s a lot of text at the start of this question, but don’t be tempted to skip it. Read
it carefully and underline key words, these are references to values that need to be stored
and processed.

5(a) The student achieved all six available marks for this question.

5(b) The student has written very clear, readable code and has earned all nine marks - three for
the functionality of the algorithm, three for the accuracy of the pseudo-code and three for the
efficiency of the solution.

This is a well thought-out response that includes keeping track of whether the heaters and air con
units are on or off and whether the air vents are open or closed.

A few more explanatory comments would have been helpful, including an explanation of the
subprogram check_if_open.

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 Preparing for your exam
Non-examined assessment – the project
The non-examined assessment component is worth 20 per cent of your GCSE Computer Science qualification.
It is a project set by Edexcel that involves analysing a problem and then developing a computer program in a
high-level language to solve it. You will have 20 hours to work on the project in the final year of your course.

You must complete the project under controlled conditions. This means that you are not allowed to seek help
from anyone else and must only work on the project when supervised by your teacher. Use of the internet is
not permitted. But you are allowed access to a clean copy of the pseudo-code booklet, a syntax guide for the
programming language you are using and a flowchart stencil.

There are four stages to the project: analysis, design, implementation, and testing, refining and evaluation.

At the end of the project you must submit the program you have written, along with a report showing the
development process and including an evaluation.

Your work will be assessed by your teacher and moderated by Edexcel.

Sample project with comments

Here is a sample project that will give you an idea of what to expect.

How well are we doing?

A train company runs rail services between Buxton and Manchester. It collects data about each of the services it
runs. The starting point, day and departure time of each service, along with the number of passengers carried
and the delay (in minutes) are recorded and stored in a text file. All the data for a week for services starting
from Buxton is stored in one text file. A second file holds the data for services starting from Manchester.
An extract from a file is shown below.
Services from Buxton – week beginning 30 November 2015

Day Time Passengers Delay (mins)

Monday 05.59 150 0
Monday 06.18 350 0
Monday 06.48 525 2
Monday 07.19 814 0
Monday 07.44 902 4
Monday 08.21 870 5
Monday 09.21 522 11

Tuesday 05.59 158 1

Tuesday 06.18 409 0
Tuesday 06.48 590 0
Tuesday 07.19 832 2

Train company managers want to use the data that is collected each week to find out the average number
of passengers per day, the average service delay time and the average number of passengers travelling on a
particular service, e.g. the 06.48 train.

Your task is to analyse this problem and design, implement, test and evaluate a solution.

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 Preparing for your exam
Stage 1 Analysis (6 marks) Exam tip
Begin by summarising the problem and listing
Requirements each of the requirements.

The program must:

• Ask the user which data file they want to use, i.e. which week and which station starting point.
• Read in the service data from a text file.
• Offer users a menu of options to choose from.
• Calculate and output the average number of passengers per day.
• Calculate and output the average service delay.
• Calculate and output the average number of passengers for a particular service.

Sub-problems
Decompose the problem into a set of sub-problems. Briefly describe each sub-problem. Write a short
explanation of why you have decomposed the problem in this way.
I have decomposed the problem into a set of sub-problems that cover all of the specified requirements.
Data import: The data from the text file must be read in and stored in an appropriate data
structure. In the course of a year 104 text files will be created. The user will need to specify which
one they want to use. Currently there is no requirement to compare data for different weeks.
Menu: The program must provide the user with three menu choices –
(1) calculate daily average passenger numbers,
(2) calculate average delay, and
(3) calculate average passenger numbers for a specified service.
It must also give the user the option of exiting the program. User input must be validated so that
inappropriate data entry does not cause the program to crash.
Average number of passengers: The program must compute the average number of passengers per day.
To do this it needs to calculate the number of passengers who travelled each day and divide by the
number of services on that day. The results should be displayed as a table with two columns – Day
and Average number of passengers.
Average delay: The program must calculate the average service delay. To do this it needs to compute
the total amount of time taken up by delays in a given week and divide by the total number of
services in that week.
Service average: The program must prompt the user to select a particular service and compute the
average number of passengers who travelled on that service in the given week.
Each of the three menu options requires an average to be calculated. I plan to write a subprogram that
returns the average of a set of values that is passed to it. This will avoid code duplication and maximise
the efficiency of the solution.
I have broken the problem down in this way so that each sub-problem focuses on a specific
requirement. For example, the sub-problem ‘Average number of passengers’ deals with the
requirement to calculate and display the average number of passengers per day.
When I move on to design my solution I will write a subprogram to solve each sub-problem.
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 Preparing for your exam
Stage 2 Design (18 marks)
The algorithm (12 marks) Exam tip
Now it is time to design your solution. You can use pseudo-code or
Logic errors can easily creep in during the
a flowchart or a combination of both to express your algorithm.
design stage and will cost you dearly if you
Aim to design a subprogram to solve each of the sub-problems don’t spot them.
you identified in the analysis stage. Make sure you show how the To get full marks for your design you
subprograms link together. must make sure that there are no
Study the data in the text file carefully and devise a suitable data errors in the logic. You also have to use
structure to accommodate it. appropriate programming constructs
in your algorithm and fully decompose
Don’t forget to select meaningful identifier names for variables,
the solution into subprograms. Not
data structures and subprograms.
forgetting of course that your design
Here is part of the algorithm for the service analysis program. must meet all the requirements!
READ service_data151130.txt Records

PROCEDURE Menu()
BEGIN PROCEDURE
SEND ‘Please select one of the following options:’ TO DISPLAY
SEND ‘1: Calculate average number of passengers’ TO DISPLAY
SEND ‘2: Calculate average delay:’ TO DISPLAY
SEND ‘3: Calculate the total number of passenger within a time period:’ TO
DISPLAY
SEND ‘4: Exit’
RECEIVE Choice FROM (Integer) KEYBOARD
IF Choice >= 1 AND Choice <=4 THEN
IF Choice = 1 THEN
avgPassengers()
END IF
IF Choice = 2 THEN
avgDelay()
END IF
IF Choice = 3 THEN
avgService()
END IF
IF Choice = 4 THEN
exitProgram
ELSE
SEND “Please select a valid option” TO DISPLAY
Menu()
END IF
END PROCEDURE
…
Activity 1
Complete the design for the service analysis program.

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 Preparing for your exam
Test strategy and initial test plan (6 marks)
As part of the design stage you must devise a strategy for testing your finished program. Your aim is to ensure
that the program works and meets all the requirements.

Exam tip
Don’t fall into the trap of only testing that your program works when valid data is entered. You should
use normal, boundary and erroneous test data to ensure that your program runs correctly in all
circumstances. Don’t forget you’ll need to test that the subprograms interact as intended.
Try to make your test plan as comprehensive as possible. It might help to ‘walk through’ your solution mentally,
jotting down anything that needs testing as you go along. Pose ‘what if’ questions as key points.
It’s not sufficient to have a strategy in your head. You need to summarise what your tactics are and explain
why you think this approach will work.

Here is a partially completed test plan.

Test Purpose of Test data Expected result Actual Action needed/

no the test Result comments
1 To ensure 1 avgPassengers
that only valid subprogram called
menu choices 2 avgDelay subprogram
are accepted called
3 avgService subprogram
called
4 exitProgram
subprogram called
0, ‘a’, 99 Invalid choice message
displayed and user
asked to re-enter their
choice
2 To ensure that The test file
the average service_data151130.
number of txt
passengers
per day is
correctly
calculated
… … … … … …

Activity 2
Copy and complete the test plan. Ensure the tests cover all
aspects of the planned program.

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 Preparing for your exam
Stage 3 Implementation (24 marks)
If you’ve made a good job of the design, implementation should be easy.

Activity 3 Exam tip

Implement the solution you designed in the Your aim is to produce a fully functioning, error-
high-level programming language you are free solution that addresses all the requirements
studying. Add comments to your program so of the problem. Your program should be fully
that it’s easy for other people to understand how decomposed into subprograms and the code
it works. should be clear and easy to understand.

Stage 4 Testing, refining and Exam tip

evaluation (12 marks) Make testing an integral part of the development
process and don't leave it to the end. It's important to
Time to put your test strategy into action and run the log any tests, outcomes and fixes that you carry out.
tests. Don’t be afraid to add extra rows to the table if If you come across any errors whilst testing
you think of other tests you need to do. remember to test again once you’ve finished
correcting them, just to make sure that you haven’t
Activity 4 introduced any new ones.
Carry out your planned test strategy, filling in the For full marks it’s not enough simply to carry out
remaining columns of the test plan as you do so. the tests, you need to record the outcome in your
test plan.
The final step is to evaluate your solution against
If you do identify any errors you must show that
each of the requirements that you identified in the
you corrected the program to overcome them.
analysis stage of the project.

Activity 5 Exam tip

Write an evaluation of your solution. Critically Write a critical evaluation of how the program code
assess how successfully it meets the specified meets the requirements of the task, rather than
requirements. just a commentary.

The report
You will need to gather evidence of the work you have done during the project and submit it as a report. This is
what should be included.
Stage 1 – Analysis • A brief summary of the problem
• A list of the requirements of the problem
• A list of the sub-problems you have identified, together with a brief description of
each one
• A short explanation of your rationale for breaking down the problem in the way you have
Stage 2 – Design • Your algorithms
• A brief description of your test strategy
• Your initial test plan with the first four columns filled in
Stage 3 – • A copy of your program code
Implementation • A couple of screenshots showing debugging in action
Stage 4 – Testing, • The completed test plan with all six columns filled in and extra lines added if required
refining and • The evaluation of your program
evaluation
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 Glossary
Abstraction: the process of removing or hiding unnecessary Bandwidth: the amount of data that can be carried on a
detail so that only the important points remain. network in a given period of time.
Access control: this determines which users have access Binary: information represented by only two values (e.g. a
to which data, and what they are allowed to do with it. voltage or no voltage, on or off).
Algorithm: a precise method for solving a problem. It There are no communication errors or misunderstandings
consists of a sequence of step-by-step instructions. because there are no small differences.
Analogue: using signals or information represented Binary digit or bit: the smallest unit of data that is
by a quantity (e.g. an electric voltage or current) that is represented in a computer. It has a single binary value,
continuously variable. Changes in the information being either 1 or 0.
represented are indicated by changes in voltage. Binary prefix: multiplies a unit by powers of 2.
This method requires very accurate sending and receiving Binary shift: an operation done on all the bits of a binary
mechanisms. value in which they are moved by a specific number of
Application software: software that performs a task that places to either the left or right.
would otherwise be done by hand, perhaps with pen Bit depth: the number of bits used to encode the
and paper. information from each sample. Increasing the number
Arithmetic/logic unit (ALU): the part of the CPU that of bits used increases the amount of detail contained in
performs calculations and logic operations. each sample.
Arithmetic operator: an operator that performs a Boolean: something that can take only the values True or
calculation on two numbers. False; named after English mathematician George Boole.
Arithmetic shift: used for signed binary numbers. When Brute force: an algorithm design that does not include
performing a right shift the bits at the left are replaced by any techniques to improve performance, but instead relies
copies of the most significant bit. on sheer computing power to try all possibilities until the
Array: an organised collection of related values that share solution to a problem is found.
a single identifier. Built-in functions: functions that are provided in
Ascending order: this is arranging items from smallest to most high-level programming languages to perform
largest (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or a, b, c, d, e, f). common tasks.
Assembly language: a low-level language written using Bus: a group of connections between devices in
mnemonics. a computer.
Assignment statement: the SET…TO command is used to Bus width: the number of wires that make up a bus –
initialise variables in pseudo-code, for example: this determines the range of binary numbers that can
SET anotherGo TO 0 be transmitted.
SET correct TO False Byte: the basic combination of bits used to represent an
Attribute: an item of data stored about an entity. item of information. A byte typically consists of 8 bits.
Audit trail: a record of activities that have taken place on Cache: memory used to make up for the difference in
a computer system. This record is generated automatically speed between two internal components.
and will record what has happened and who or what made Carbon footprint: the amount of carbon dioxide an
the change. individual or organisation produces as a result of the
Authentication: the process of proving to a computer energy they consume.
system who you are (e.g. using a username and password). Central processing unit (CPU): hardware device that
Back-up: a copy of files in another location so that they carries out the processing in a computer.
are still available if the original copy is damaged or lost. Character set: the defined list of characters recognised by
Backing up is the process of making a back-up copy. a computer’s hardware and software.

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 Glossary

Checksum: an error detection technique. A mathematical Concatenation: the linking together of two or more items
formula is applied to the data and the resulting numerical of information.
value is transmitted with the data. The recipient computer Concurrent: processes that run apparently at the same
applies the same formula to the received data and time are described as being concurrent.
then compares the checksum sent with the data to the
Constant: a ‘container’ that holds a value that never
calculated checksum. If the checksums don’t match the
changes. Like variables, constants have unique identifiers.
data is likely to have been corrupted and the recipient
computer requests the data again. Construct: a component from which something is built.
Letters and numbers (i.e. a to z and 0 to 9) are the constructs
Client–server network: a network that has at least one
we use to build our language and convey meaning. Bricks
server to provide services to the client computers.
and cement are the basic constructs of a building.
Clock: an electronic device inside a CPU that ‘ticks’ at
regular intervals and is used to synchronise the actions of Control unit: the part of the CPU that organises the
the other parts of the CPU. actions of the other parts of the CPU.

Cloud storage: secondary storage, often belonging to Creative Commons: an organisation that allows people to
a third party, that is accessed via a network, usually the set copyright terms for their intellectual property. One use
internet, and so is not in the same physical place as the of a Creative Commons licence is to allow people to copy
machine’s RAM/ROM. Files stored ‘in the cloud’ can be material as long as it is not used commercially.
accessed from anywhere via an internet connection. Cyberattack: any kind of malicious attack on a network-
Code vulnerability: a computer program (the code) that connected device.
has been written in such a way that it creates a security Data structure: an organised collection of related
issue that may be taken advantage of to gain access to the elements. Arrays and records are two common data
computer system or data within it. structures used in programming.
Colour depth: the number of bits used to encode the Data type: specifies what kind of data it can hold. Common
colour of each pixel. data types are integer, real, Boolean and character. The
Communication media: the means by which data is data type of a value determines the operations that can be
transmitted between devices on a network. Coaxial performed upon it.
cable, fibre-optic cable and microwaves are all forms of Database: an organised store of data.
communication media.
Decimal prefix: multiplies a unit by powers of 10.
Compiler: a translator that converts high-level language
Decomposition: breaking a problem down into smaller,
source code into object code, often machine code. The
more manageable parts, which are then easier to solve.
source code is translated all at once and saved to be
executed later. Definite iteration: this is used when the number of
Compound key: a key that consists of two or more fields iterations, or turns of the loop, is known in advance. It can
used to identify a record uniquely. be set to as many turns as you want. This sort of loop is
said to be count controlled.
Compression: changing the format of a data file so that
the size of the file becomes smaller. Defragmenter: a utility that moves file clusters on a
disk so they are closer to each other in order to speed up
Computational thinking: the thought processes involved
disk access.
in formulating problems and their solutions so that the
solutions are represented in a form that can be effectively Denial of service (DoS): an attack on a network that
carried out by a computer. attempts to prevent legitimate users from accessing
its services.
Computing technology: an all-encompassing term
referring to the hardware, software and infrastructure that Descending order: this is arranging items from largest to
underpin current and emerging computer systems. smallest (e.g. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 or f, e, d, c, b, a).

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 Glossary
Digital: information represented by certain fixed values Flowchart: a graphical representation of an algorithm.
(e.g. high, medium or low). Any signal between these values Each step in the algorithm is represented by a symbol.
would be meaningless and not used. Symbols are linked together with arrows showing the order
Sending and receiving mechanisms do not have to be as in which steps are executed.
accurate as for analogue communication. Foreign key: a field in one table that uniquely identifies
Digital divide: the gap between people who are records in another table (i.e. it is a primary key in
technology-empowered and those who are technology- another table).
excluded. Function: a function is a subprogram that performs a
Digital inclusion: ensuring that everyone has affordable specific task and can be used at any point in the program.
access to computing technology and the necessary skills to High-level programming languages have a number of
take advantage of it. useful built-in functions. You can also create your own or
use functions available in online libraries.
Divide and conquer: an algorithm design that works
by dividing a problem into smaller and smaller sub- Global variable: a variable that can be accessed from
problems, until they are easy to solve. The solutions anywhere in the program, including inside subprograms.
to these are then combined to give a solution to the Hacking: the act of gaining unauthorised access to a
complete problem. computer system and the data it contains.
e-waste: any form of discarded electronic equipment, Heuristic: a type of algorithm capable of finding a solution
including computing technology. to a problem quickly and easily, by using a combination of
Eavesdrop: having unauthorised sight of data being sent trial and error and educated guesswork to cut corners and
from one computer to another over a network. eliminate less likely alternatives.
Encryption: the process of encoding a message into Hexadecimal: a base-16 number system. There are 16
a form that only the intended recipient can decode, or digits and the place values increase in powers of 16.
decrypt, and read. The message is encoded using an High-level programming language: a programming
agreed method or algorithm. This is called the key. The language that resembles natural human language.
encrypted message is called a cipher. HyperText Markup Language (HTML): essentially a text
Entity: something that is recognised as being capable of document that contains any text to be displayed along
an independent existence, is uniquely identified and about with:
which data is stored. • details of how the text should be formatted (e.g. font size,
It is usually a physical object (e.g. a car, a person or a book), colour etc.);
but it can be a concept (e.g. a customer transaction where • details of any hyperlinks and where they link to using
details of the items that were purchased are stored). a URL;
Ethics: a set of moral principles that govern a person’s • details of any objects such as pictures or videos that
behaviour. should be shown within the web page when it is
Execution: the process by which a computer carries out displayed.
the instructions of a computer program. Identifier: a unique name given to a variable or a constant.
Fetch-decode-execute cycle: sequence of steps carried Using descriptive names for variables makes code much
out repeatedly by a CPU. easier to read.
Field: an individual element in a record. Identity theft: the stealing of another person’s personal
File: all of the records in a table or a group of linked tables. details, such as their bank account number, sort code or
passport number, for the purpose of making purchases
Firewall: a utility that controls program access to the
and running up debts in their name.
network, both incoming and outgoing.

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 Glossary

IF…THEN…ELSE statement: the IF…THEN…ELSE Logic circuit: an electronic circuit that has inputs and
statement allows a choice to be made between two outputs that follow one of the Boolean operators.
alternatives based on whether or not a condition is met Logic error: an error in an algorithm that results in
(e.g. IF it is cold THEN wear a jumper ELSE wear a T-shirt). incorrect or unexpected behaviour.
Indefinite iteration: this is used when the number of Logical operator: a Boolean operator using AND, OR
iterations is not known before the loop is started. The and NOT.
iterations stop when a specified condition is met. This sort
Lossless compression: compressing a file in such a way
of loop is said to be condition controlled.
that it can be decompressed without any loss of data.
Infinite loop: a loop that is never-ending since the
Lossy compression: compression where some of the data
condition required to terminate the loop is never reached.
is removed; the original file cannot be restored when the
Initialisation: the process of assigning an initial value to lossy file is decompressed.
a variable.
Low-level programming language: a programming
Input: to enter data into a computer. language that is closely related to the CPU’s machine code.
Instruction set: the list of all possible commands a Machine code: the binary codes representing each of the
particular CPU knows how to carry out. instructions in the instruction set.
Integer: a whole number (e.g. 3, 6, 9). Magnetic storage: secondary storage that works by
Integrated Development Environment (IDE): a package magnetising parts of a substance as north and south poles
that helps programmers to develop program code. It has a to represent binary 1s and 0s.
number of useful tools, including a source code editor and Main memory/random-access memory (ROM): a
a debugger. One of the most useful features of an IDE is temporary store for data and instructions (programs).
the debugger. One of its tasks is to flag up syntax errors in
Malware: short for ‘malicious software’. It is used as a
the code and issue helpful error messages.
generic term for any kind of software that is designed to
Intellectual property (IP): a creation of the human mind disrupt the use of a computer system.
that is unique and has a commercial value.
Median: the middle number when the numbers are put
Internet: a worldwide system of interconnected networks in ascending or descending order (e.g. if there are 13
that enables information to be exchanged and shared. numbers, then the 7th number is the median). If there
Internet Service Provider (ISP): an organisation that are an even number of items in an ascending list, choose
provides its customers with a connection to the internet. the item to the right of the middle (e.g. if there are 10
Interpreter: a translator that converts high-level numbers, then choose the 6th as the median).
language source code into object code, often machine Memory address: a number that uniquely identifies a
code. The source code is translated and executed one line (memory) storage location.
at a time. Mnemonic: a short, simple, acronym that represents each
Iteration: a construct that means the repetition of a of the instructions in a CPU’s instruction set, e.g. LDR (load
process. An action is repeated until there is a desired register), STR (store) and CMP (compare).
outcome or a condition is met. It is often referred to as Modular testing: testing each block of code as it is
a loop. completed to ensure the code works as expected.
Local area network (LAN): a network that covers a Monte Carlo methods: carrying out a statistical analysis
relatively small geographical area, often a single site. of a number of random samples in order to obtain
Local variable: a variable that is accessed only from within approximate solutions to a problem. The larger the number
the subprogram in which it is created. of samples used, the more accurate the result is likely to be.
Location-based services: services that enable people to Most significant bit (MSB): the bit with the highest value
access and share real-time location information online. in a multiple-bit binary number.

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 Glossary
Nested IF statement: a nested IF statement consists of Paging: the algorithm the OS uses to move programs
one or more IF statements placed inside each other. A from RAM to disk and back again when needed once main
nested IF is used where there are more than two possible memory is full.
courses of action. Parameters: values that are passed into a subprogram
Nested loop: a loop that runs inside another loop. The when it is called.
inner one executes all of its instructions for each turn of
Patent: an exclusive right granted to an inventor to make,
the outer loop.
use and sell an invention for a fixed period of time.
Network: an arrangement of computers and other devices
Peer-to-peer network: a network that doesn’t have any
connected together to share resources and data.
centralised servers. Each computer in the network can act
Network security: activities designed to protect a as client and server.
network and its data from threats such as viruses, hacker
Personal data: information that is personal and unique to
attacks, denial of service attacks, data interception and
an individual.
theft, and equipment failure.
Network topology: describes how the devices on a Phishing: attempting to get confidential information by
network are connected together. sending a user a message that appears to come from a
trustworthy person or organisation.
Neural networks: processing information in a similar way
to human brains and learning and adapting over time. This Physical security: controlling access to critical parts of a
makes them useful tools for solving pattern recognition network using physical methods (such as locked doors)
problems, such as facial recognition, medical diagnosis rather than software.
and quality control, which computers are normally not Pixel: short for ‘picture element’, the smallest single point
very good at. of colour in a graphic image.
Non-volatile: memory that is not lost when the power is Primary key: a unique identifier for each record in the
turned off. table. It is usually a field that is guaranteed to hold unique
Object code: the translated source code. Often this will be information for each record.
machine code, but might also be an intermediate code, Privacy: the right to be left alone and free from unwanted
which has to be further translated before it can be executed. scrutiny and intrusion.
Open-source software: software that is free to obtain,
Procedure: a subprogram containing a set of statements
edit and redistribute.
that are executed when the procedure is called. Unlike
Operating system: software designed for particular a function, a procedure does not return a value to the
hardware and which manages other programs’ access to main program.
the hardware.
Process: to change the meaning or format of some data.
Operator precedence: the order in which you apply the
Professionalism: the skill and competence expected of a
operators (including logical operators) in a mathematical
person in a professional setting.
equation.
Optical storage: secondary storage that works using Proprietary software: software that belongs to an
differences in light reflection from a material. individual or a company. Its licence specifies that users
are not allowed to modify the source code and places
Output: to display or output data that has been processed
restrictions on its use.
(or has been stored).
Protocol: a set of rules that govern how communications
Packet: a small quantity of data being sent through a
on a network should be formatted and what data they
network. The packet is labelled with the sender’s address
should include.
(source), the recipient’s address (destination), how many
packets are being transmitted and the position of this Pseudo-code: a structured, code-like language that can be
packet in the complete message. used to describe an algorithm.
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 Random number: a number within a given range of Secondary storage: any kind of permanent storage to
numbers that is generated in such a way that each which the contents of ROM/RAM are copied (usually a hard
number in the range has an equal chance of occurring. disk, optical or solid-state device).
There are many devices for generating random numbers. Selection: a construct that allows a choice to be made
A die is used in games to get a random number from 1 between different alternatives.
to 6. Computer programming languages have a function Sequence: an ordered set of instructions.
for generating random numbers across variable ranges. In
Shoulder surfing: gaining access to information by
the Edexcel pseudo-code there is a useful built-in
watching someone enter it into a computer system.
RANDOM command.
Simulation: a representation of a real-world process
RANDOM(upperLimit)
or system.
For example, number = RANDOM(6) would generate a
Social engineering: any kind of attack on a computer
random number from the numbers 1 to 6.
system or network that exploits how people behave and
Read-only memory (ROM): memory that cannot be
respond to certain situations.
altered and is not lost when the power is turned off.
Software: the set of programs run by a computer system.
Reading: when the CPU retrieves the data stored at a
given address. Solid-state storage: secondary storage that works by
storing charge (electrons).
Record: a data structure that stores a set of related values
of different data types. Source code: the text of the program that a programmer
writes.
Recursion: a process that is repeated. For example, a
document can be checked and edited, checked and edited Spyware: software, possibly a virus, that is designed to
and so on until it is perfect. be installed secretly on a computer and record private
information as the user enters it.
Register: a storage location inside the CPU used to hold
an instruction, an address or other single item of data. String: a sequence of characters. They can be letters,
numbers, symbols, punctuation marks or spaces.
Relational database: a database that allows data
elements in one table to be related to any piece of String traversal: using a loop to cycle through each
data in another table as long as both tables contain a character in a string.
common element. Subprogram: a self-contained module of code that
Relational operator: an operator that compares two performs a specific task. It can be ‘called’ by the main
values. program when it is needed.
Resolution: the number of pixels per inch when the image Surveillance technology: CCTV, drones, number plate
is displayed (for example, on a monitor or on paper). recognition, bugging and tracking devices used to
Router: a piece of networking hardware used to forward monitor and record people’s activities, often without their
packets of data from one network to another. knowledge.

Runtime error: an error that occurs while the program Syntax error: an error that occurs when a rule of the
is running – the operation the computer is asked to do is programming language is broken.
impossible to execute. Table: a collection of cells organised in rows and columns
Sampling: taking measurements of the sound wave at used to store data in a structured and organised manner.
regular but distinct intervals of time (e.g. 44,100 samples Text file: a sequence of lines, each of which consists of
per second). a sequence of characters.
Scheduling: the algorithm that the OS uses to allow each Trace table: a technique used to identify any logic errors
running process to use the CPU. in algorithms. Each column represents a variable or output
Scope: the region of code within which a variable is visible. and each row a value of that variable.

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 Glossary
Translator: a program that converts source code into Variable: a ‘container’ used to store data. The data stored
machine code. in a variable is referred to as a value. The value stored in a
Traversal: travel across or through something. An array variable is not fixed. The same variable can store different
can be traversed by moving from the first to the last values during the course of a program and each time a
element in order to examine the data stored at each program is run.
index position. Virtualisation: any process that hides the true physical
Truth table: a table showing all possible combinations nature of a computing resource, making it look different,
of the inputs and outputs of an operator. usually to simplify the way it is accessed.
Two-dimensional array: a matrix of rows and columns Virus: software that is designed to make and distribute
resembling a table. Two indices are used, one to copies of itself, usually for a malicious purpose.
reference the rows and the other the columns. All the Volatile: memory that is erased when the power is
elements of a two-dimensional array share the same turned off.
data type. von Neumann architecture: computer system design in
Type coercion: the process of converting the value which the program is stored in memory with the data.
stored in a variable from one data type to another. Web server: powerful computer systems that store web
Unambiguous: this means that the instructions pages and any multimedia that the pages might contain.
cannot be misunderstood. Simply saying ‘turn’ would ‘What if?’ question: running a computer model with a
be ambiguous because you could turn left or right. All given set of inputs to see what the model produces as an
instructions given to a computer must be unambiguous output or prediction.
or it won’t know what to do. Whistle-blower: someone who draws attention to the
Unpatched software: software that hasn’t had the activities of an organisation or person believed to be
latest security updates applied to it, making it vulnerable acting illegally or unethically.
to attack. Wide area network (WAN): a network that covers a large
USB: Universal Serial Bus sockets found on most modern geographical area. It connects together two or more LANs
computer systems. and is usually under collective ownership. The largest
User interface: the way the user interacts with the wide area network is the internet.
operating system Wireless local area network (WLAN): a local area
Utility software: software that does a useful job for the network in which connected devices use high frequency
user that is not essential to the operating system and radio waves to communicate.
not the reason for using a computer in the first place. Writing: when the CPU sends data to memory to be
Validation: to check that the data entered by a user or stored at a given address.
from a file meets specified requirements.

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 Index
Page numbers in bold indicate where definitions of key terms can be found

abstraction 40, 41–3, 163, 164–5 assembly language 167, 167–8

access control 189, 191, 191–2 assignment statement 50, 50
accumulator 147 asymmetric encryption 125
ad blockers 216 attributes 131, 131
address bus 148 audio files
algorithms 2 compression of 123
checking the output of 21–2 recording sound 112–15
coding of 43 audit trail 199, 199
creating 8–19 authentication 162, 162, 174, 191
criteria for success 2 availability, and network security 189–90
example of 2
expressing 3–7 back-ups 164, 164
identifying errors in 24–7 bandwidth 182, 182–3
and programs 3, 46–53 Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) 145
purpose of 20–1 basic tools 163
searching 34–8 BIDMAS 25
sorting 29–34 big data 215
working with 20–8 binary 92, 92–105
ALU (arithmetic/logic unit) 147, 147 and ASCII code 106–7
American Standard Code for Information Interchange and representation of bitmap images 109–11
(ASCII) 106–9 and representation of sound 112–15
analogue 92 and representation of text 106–9
analogue recording 113, 114 binary addition 96–7
analogue-to-digital recorder (ADR) 113 binary, and signed integers 97–100
analysing a string 107–8 binary arithmetic 96–104
AND operator 17, 155–6 binary digits 93, 93
anti-spyware software 164 binary prefix 117, 117, 118
anti-virus software 164 binary search 36, 38
API (application programming interface) 161, 163 binary shifts 101, 101–3
append operator 18 binary system 93–5
application programming interface (API) 161, 163 binary to denary conversion 94
application software 160, 160 binary to hexadecimal conversion 104
architecture 144 BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) 145
arithmetic/logic unit (ALU) 147, 147 bit depth 114, 114, 115
arithmetic operators 5, 5 bitmap images
arithmetic shifts 102, 102–3 compression of 119–20, 122–3
array indexes 30 encoding the pixel information 110–11
arrays 29, 29–30, 62–5 file sizes 111
ascending order 30, 31, 36 representation of 109–11
ASCII code 106–9 size and resolution 109–10
assembler 167–8 bits 93, 93
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 Index
bits per second (bps) 182 colour depth 111, 111
Boolean (data type) 49 comments (for algorithm/program clarity) 12, 55
Boolean operators 16–17, 156, 156 commercial analysis tools 200
boundary data 71, 88 communication and the internet
bps (bits per second) 182 internet and World Wide Web 202–5
British Computer Society (BCS) 221 network security 188–201
brute force 34 networks 172–88
bubble sort 30–2, 34 communication media 180, 180–1
buffers 146 compilers 169, 169
built-in functions 80, 80 compound keys 135, 135
bus 144, 144, 145, 148 compression of data/files 118–23, 119
bus network topology 175–6 as file management tool 164
bus width 148, 148 lossless compression 119, 119–22
bytes 94, 117 lossy compression 119, 122–3
computational thinking 40
cache memory 146, 146–7 Computer Misuse Act (1990) 216–17
Caesar cipher 107, 126–9 computer models (simulations) 43, 165
carbon footprint 209, 209 computer networks 172–80
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection computer scientists, and professionalism 221
(CSMA/CD) 176 computers
CDs 149–50 hardware 143–54
central processing unit (CPU) 144, 144, 145 input-process-output model 140–2
and cache memory 146 logic 155–9
and fetch-code-execute cycle 147–8 programming languages 167–70
low-level programming language 167–8 software 160–6
and scheduling 161 computing and the environment
character (data type) 49, 58 disposal of computers 210–11
character set 106, 106–7 manufacturing process 207–9
checksums 185 preserving the environment 211–12
circuit boards 145 usage and energy 209–10
client-server networks 174, 174 computing technology (definition) 207, 207
climate change 211 concatenation 18
clock (and CPU) 147, 147 of strings 59
cloud storage 151–2, 152 concurrent 162, 162
and security 193–4 confidentiality of data 189, 190
code of conduct (computer scientists) 221 conservation, use of computers for 211
code readability 54–7 constants 6, 6
and evaluation of programs 89 constructs 8, 8
code reviews 198–9 control bus 148
code vulnerabilities 198, 198 control unit 147, 147, 148
coding an algorithm 43 cookies 215

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 Index

cookie cleaners 216 data types 48–50, 49

copyright 223 databases 130
Creative Commons 224 creating 131–5
Copyright and Designs and Patents Act 1988 223 structured 133–7
correctness, and network security 189 decimal prefix 117, 117–18
CPU (central processing unit) 144, 144, 145 decomposition 40, 40
and cache memory 146 definite iteration (or loop) 13, 14–16, 52
and fetch-code-execute cycle 147–8 defragmenter 164, 164
low-level programming language 167–8 denary addition 96
and scheduling 161 denary system 93–5
Creative Commons 224 addition 96
CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision conversion to binary 94–5
Detection) 176 two’s complement 98–9
current instruction 147 denary to binary conversion 94–5
cyber-security 198–200, 216–17 denial of service (DoS) attacks 190, 190
cyberattacks 196, 196–201 descending order 30
cyber-security 198–200, 216–17 digital 92, 92
digital audio file sizes 115
data digital divide 218, 218
binary 92–105 digital inclusion 218, 218–20
compression of 118–23 digital recording 113–14
databases 130–8 digital-to-analogue converter 114
encryption of 125–9 disaster warnings, and use of computers 211
personal 213, 213–17 disposal of computing technology 210
representation of 106–16 divide and conquer method 34, 34, 36
storage of 117–18 Domain Name Service (DNS) 204
and text files 72–5 DoS (denial of service) attacks 190, 190
data bus 148 drivers 163
data centres 209 DVDs 149–50
data compression 118–23 dynamic arrays 63
data confidentiality 189, 190
data inconsistency 133 e-waste 207, 207, 210
Data Protection Act 1998 214 early warning systems 165, 211
data redundancy 132–3 earthquake prediction 165
data representation eavesdropping 181, 181, 197
bitmap images 109–11 Eclipse (IDE) 86
sound 112–15 electrical secondary storage 150–1
text 106–9 email protocols 184
data storage 117–18 emails, and phishing 196
data structures 62 embedded systems 153
arrays 62–5 encryption 107
records 65–6 Caesar cipher 107, 126–9

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 Index
encryption software 164 file sizes
modern methods of 125–9 bitmap images 111
and network security 189, 194, 195 digital audio 115
as privacy-enhancing tool 216 File Transfer Protocol (FTP) 187
energy efficiency files (database) 131
of computing technology 209 firewalls 164, 164, 192
uses of technology to enhance 211–12 firmware 145
energy usage flash drives 150–1
and manufacture of computing technology 208–9 and security 195
and running of computing technology 209 flight simulators 165
ENIAC 143 flowcharts 3, 3–4
entity 131, 131 FOR loops 15, 59, 62, 64
environmental issues foreign keys 134
disposal of computers 210–11 formatting strings 60
manufacturing process 207–9 FTP (File Transfer Protocol) 187
preserving the environment 211–12 functions 58, 77–8, 80, 80
usage and energy 209–10 creating 108–9
erroneous data 71, 88 and structured programming 128
error messages 86–7
ethernet 184 Garbage In, Garbage Out principle 68
ethical hacking 199 GB (gigabyte) 117, 118
ethics 213, 213 Gbps (gigabits per second) 182
evaluating programs 89–90 gigabits per second (Gbps) 182
exam preparations 226–39 gigabytes (GB) 117, 118
paper 1 (Principles of Computer Science) 226–8 global variables 78, 78
paper 2 (Application of Computational Thinking) 229–34 green computing 211
project 235–9
sample answers 227–8, 230–4 hacking 192, 192, 216–17
sample project 235–9 ethical hacking 199
exam questions, understanding 226, 229 hard disks 149
execution 46 hardware
cloud storage 151–2, 152
fat finger errors 68 embedded systems 153
fetch-decode-execute cycle 144, 144, 147–8 fetch-decode-execute cycle 144, 144, 147–8
fibre-optic cables 180–1 memory 144–7
fidelity 114 and operating systems 160, 160–3
fields 65, 65, 131, 131 secondary storage 149, 149–52
file conversion 164 stored programs 143–4
file management tools 164 hazardous materials
file servers 151–2 disposal of 210
file sharing 175 and manufacturing of computer technology 208–9
heuristic 165

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 Index

hexadecimal numbers 103, 103–4 how it works 202–3

high-level programming language 3, 46, 169 and World Wide Web 203–4
see also programming internet-based peer-to-peer networks 175
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) 204, 204 Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) 184
HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) 186 internet of things 153, 179, 181
HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) 125, 187 Internet Protocol (IP) 185, 187, 202
hypertext 203 Internet Service Provider (ISP) 202, 202–3
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) 204, 204 interpreters 169, 169
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) 186 IP (Internet Protocol) 185, 187, 202
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) 125, 187 ISP (Internet Service Provider) 202, 202–3
iteration (loops) 8, 8–9, 13–16, 52
IDE (Integrated Development Environment) 86, 86–7 definite 13, 14–16, 52
identifiers 5, 6 indefinite 13, 14, 16, 52
identity management services 216 nested loops 17–18
identity theft 214, 214
IDLE 86 JPEG compression 122–3
IF…THEN statements 9, 155
IF…THEN…ELSE statements 9–13, 51 KB (kilobyte) 117
image size and resolution 109–10 kbps (kilobits per second) 182
images kiB (kibibyte) 118
compression of 119–20, 122–3 kibibyte (kiB) 118
encoding the pixel information 110–11 kilobits per second (kbps) 182
file sizes 111 kilobyte (KB) 117
representation of 109–11
size and resolution 109–10 LAN (local area network) 173, 173, 184
IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) 184 latency of networks 183
indefinite iteration (or loop) 13, 14, 16, 52 left arithmetic shift 102
indentation (and program clarity) 48, 55 legal impact of computing technology 223–5
infinite loop 26, 26 length check 70
initialisation 50, 50 LENGTH function 30, 58
initiating a two-dimensional array 64 licensing 224
input 140, 140–2 linear search 34–5, 38
input (programming) 68–71 local area network (LAN) 173, 173, 184
input-process-output model 140–2 local variables 77, 77–9
instruction set 167, 167 location-based services 216, 216
integer (data type) 49 logic 155–9
integers 97 logic circuit 156, 156
signed 97–100 logic errors 21, 21–2, 25–7, 83–5
Integrated Development Environment (IDE) 86, 86–7 logic statements, writing 157
intellectual property 223, 223 logical operators 16, 16–17, 156
interactive maps 2 logical shifts 101, 101–2
internet 179 look-up check 70–1

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 Index
looping through an array 62 MP3 files 123
looping through a two-dimensional array 64 MSB (most significant bit) 97, 97–8
loops see iteration multi-tasking operation system 162
lossless compression 119, 119–22 multi-user operating system 162
lossy compression 119, 122–3
low-level programming language 167, 167–9 NAS (network-attached storage) 152, 194–5
nested IF statement 11, 11–12
machine code 167, 167–8 nested loops 17, 17–18
translation into 169 nested selection 11–12
magnetic storage 149, 149, 151 network-attached storage (NAS) 152, 194–5
main memory 144, 144 network data speeds 182–3
cache memory 146, 146–7 network policies 200–1
random-access memory (RAM) 144, 144–5, 146 network protocols 184–7
malware 193, 193, 197 network security 189
manufacturing computing technology 207–9 anti-spyware software 164
Mars Climate Orbiter 83 anti-virus software 164
MB (megabyte) 117 and cloud storage 193–4
Mbps (megabits per second) 182 contemporary storage and security 194–5
mebibyte (MiB) 118 cyberattacks 196–201
median 36, 36, 38 cyber-security 198–200, 216–17
megabits per second (Mbps) 182 firewalls 164, 164, 192
megabyte (MB) 117 importance of 189–90
memory 144–7 ways to secure a network 191–3
cache memory 146, 146–7 network topologies 175, 175–80
and fetch-decode-execute cycle 147–8 networks 172
main memory 144, 144 communication media 180–1
non-volatile 145, 145 and data speed 182–3
RAM (random-access memory) 144, 144–5, 146 network topologies 175, 175–80
ROM (read-only memory) 145, 145 neural 165
volatile 145, 145 protocols 181, 181, 183–7
memory address 144, 144, 148 purpose of 172
memory sticks 150–1, 195 secondary storage on 151–2, 194–5
memristor 151 security of 189–201
menus 71 types of 173–5, 183
merge sort 33–4 wired vs wireless 181
mesh network topology 179–80 nibbles 104, 117
MiB (mebibyte) 118 non-volatile memory 145, 145
mnemonic 168, 168 normal data 71, 88
modelling 164–5 normalisation 135
modular testing 199, 199 NOT operator 16–17, 156
Monte Carlo methods 165 number systems see binary; denary system
most significant bit (MSB) 97, 97–8

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 Index

object code 169, 169 privacy 213, 213–17

open-source software 224, 224–5 Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations
operating systems 160, 160–3 (2011) 215
operator precedence 158, 158 privacy-enhancing tools 216
operators problem solving process (algorithms) 40–4
AND operator 17, 155–6 procedures 77, 78
append operator 18 process 140, 141–2, 162, 162
arithmetic 5, 5 professionalism 221, 221–2
Boolean 16–17, 156, 156 program counter 147
logical 16, 16–17, 156 programming
NOT operator 16–17, 156 code development 46–53
OR operator 16–17, 156, 158 code readability 54–7
precedence 158, 158 data structures 62–7
relational 9, 9–12 evaluating programs 89–90
and truth tables 155–6 input and output 68–76
optical storage 149, 149–50 languages 167–70
OR operator 16–17, 156, 158 strings 58–61
output 140, 141–2 structured programming 128–9
overflow errors 97 subprograms 77–82
testing programs 83–9
packet switched network 186 programming languages 167–70
packets 186, 186, 202–3 project (non-examined assessment) 235–9
paging 161, 161 proprietary software 225, 255
PAN (personal area network) 183 protection from security weaknesses 198–201
parameters 78, 78 protocol stack/suite 185–6, 202
password managers 216 protocols 181, 181, 183–7, 202
passwords 191 pseudo-code 4, 4–5
and iterations 16
and security 216 quantum computers 151
patents 223, 223–4 qubits 151
peer-to-peer networks 174, 174–5
penetration testing (pen testing) 200 race track memory 151
personal area network (PAN) 183 RAM (random-access memory) 144, 144–5, 146
personal data 213, 213–17 random-access memory (RAM) 144, 144–5, 146
phishing 196, 196 random numbers 17
physical security (of networks) 192, 192–3 range checks 68–9, 89
pixels 109, 109–11 raw material extraction 207–8
policies, network and user 200–1 read-only memory (ROM) 145, 145
POP3 (Post Office Protocol, Version 3) 184 readability of code 54–7
Post Office Protocol, Version 3 (POP3) 184 reading 144, 144–5
presence check 70 reading data from a text file 72–3
primary key 132, 132, 134 real (data type) 49

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 Index
recording sound waves 113–14 simulation 24, 24, 43, 164–5
records (data) 65, 65–6, 131, 131–5 slicing (strings) 60
recursion 33, 33, 79 SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) 184
recycling (of computing technology) 210 social engineering 196, 196
registers 147, 147, 148 software 160
relational database 134, 134–5 licensing 224
relational operators 9, 9–12 malware 193, 193, 197
REPEAT…TIMES loop 14–15 open-source 224, 224–5
REPEAT…UNTIL loop 14 operating system 160–3
representation of bitmap images 109–11 proprietary 225, 225
representation of data 106–16 and protection from security weaknesses 198–9
representation of sound 112–15 simulation and modelling 164–5
representation of text 106–9 spyware 164, 164, 215
resolution 110, 110 unpatched 197, 197
Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive 209 utility software 160, 163–4
right arithmetic shift 103 and viruses 164, 164, 190
ring network topology 177 software design 198–9
RLE (run-length encoding) 119–21 solid-state storage 149, 149, 150–1
ROM (read-only memory) 145, 145 Sony 217
routers 202, 202–3 sorting algorithms 29, 30–4, 63
run-length encoding (RLE) 119–21 sound
runtime errors 85, 85 and compression of audio files 123
representation of 112–15
sample rate 114, 115 sound waves 112–14
sampling 113, 113–14 source code 167, 167, 169
sampling precision 114 speed of a network 182–3
SAN (storage-area network) 152 spyware 164, 164, 215
scheduling 161, 161, 162 star network topology 178
scope 78, 78 static arrays 63
searching algorithms 34–8, 63 storage
secondary storage 149, 149–52 cloud storage 151–2, 152
security see network security of data 117–18
security tools 164 secondary storage 149, 149–51
selection 8, 9–11, 51–2 and security 193–5
and iteration 13 storage area network (SAN) 152
semiconductors 208, 224 stored programs 143–4
sequences 2, 2, 51 string formatting 60
servers 152, 172, 173, 174 string indexing 58
SET…TO command 50, 50 string traversal 59, 59
shoulder surfing 196, 196–7 strings 58, 58–61
signed numbers 97–100 analysing 107–8
and arithmetic shifts 102–3 structured databases 133–7
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) 184 structured programming 128–9

254

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 Index

subprograms 43, 43, 77–82 user policies for networks 200–1

surveillance 215–16 utility software 160, 163–4
surveillance technology 215, 215
symmetric encryption 125 validating user input 69
syntax errors 48, 48, 84–5, 86, 87 validation
system administrator 192 of data 68, 68–71, 74
and network security 191
table relationships 135 validation rules, testing 71
tables 131, 131–5 variable initialisation 50
TB (terabyte) 117 variables 5, 5, 6, 48–50, 55
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) virtualisation 152, 152
185–6, 202 viruses 164, 164, 190
TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) 185 volatile memory 145, 145
technical weaknesses in networks 197 von Neumann architecture 144, 144
technology exclusion 218–19 von Neumann model 143–4, 144
terabyte (TB) 117 vulnerabilities, identifying 199–201
test data 71, 88 vulnerability scanners 200
test plans 87–9
testing programs 83–9 WAN (wide area network) 173, 173
text files 72, 72–5 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)
text representation 106–9 regulations 210
tools (utility software) 163–4 Waveform Audio (WAV) format 123
trace tables 21, 21–2, 83–4 weather forecasting 165
translators 167, 167, 169 web 203–5
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol web addresses 204
(TCP/TP) 185–6, 202 web browsers 203–4
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) 185 web servers 186, 186–7, 203–4
traversal 31, 31 what if? question 165, 165
truth tables 155, 155–6 WHILE…DO loop 14
two-dimensional arrays 64, 64–5 whistle-blowers 215, 215
two-factor authentication 191 whitespace 55
two’s complement 98–100, 102–3 Wi-Fi 181, 184
type coercion 50, 50 wide area network (WAN) 173, 173
type conversion 59 wired connectivity 179, 180–1
wireless connectivity 173, 181
unambiguous 2, 2 wireless local area network (WLAN) 173, 173
Uniform Resource Locator (URL) 204 WLAN (wireless local area network) 173, 173
unpatched software 197, 197 World Wide Web 203–4
unstructured data 137 writing (CPUs) 144, 144–5
URL (Uniform Resource Locator) 204 writing data to a text file 74
USB devices/flash drive 195, 195, 197
user input 68–71 ZigBee 181
user interface 162, 162

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 Edexcel GCSE (9-1) Computer Science

Edexcel GCSE (9-1) Computer Science

Series Editor: Ann Weidmann

Pearson’s resources are designed to be simple, inclusive and

Revise series
inspiring. This Student Book covers all three components
of your course and will support you in developing the skills REVISE EDEXCEL GCSE (9–1) REVISE EDEXCEL GCSE (9–1)

you need for your written exams as well as your practical Computer Computer
Science Science
assessments.
REVISION REVISION
Through an engaging introduction to the core principles, GUIDE WORKBOOK
you will develop skills in problem solving and computational
thinking. Fo
r the
r the
9–1 Fo

9–1
Other key features of the Student Book include:

n
iti o
exa ms

Inc

ed
de exa ms

lu
s fr e n e
e o n li

A LW AY S L E A R N I N G A LW AY S L E A R N I N G

• in-depth coverage of the core content you need for all ISBN: 9781292131207 ISBN: 9781292131191
components of your course
• a ‘Preparing for your exam’ section with tips and guidance
for achieving success in your written exams
• ‘Exam-style questions’ and ‘Exam tips’ throughout to give
you plenty of practice at answering the kind of questions
you might find in the exam
• ‘Checkpoint’ features to check your knowledge and
challenge your understanding
• ‘Worked example’ features to help you understand how to
carry out practical skills before you try an activity yourself.

Edexcel GCSE (9-1)

Computer Science
Series Editor: Ann Weidmann
www.pearsonschools.co.uk T 0845 630 33 33 Authors: Chris Charles Alex Hadwen-Bennett David Waller Jason Welch Shaun Whorton
myorders@pearson.com

A LW AY S L E A R N I N G

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