[ Page 35] [ Pages 4 & 5] • explain the term character set • describe with examples (for example ASCII and Unicode) the relationship between the number of bits per character in a character set and the number of characters which can be represented 9 * IMAGES [ Book Page 16] [ Pages 36 & 37] [ Pages 1-3] • explain the representation of an image as a series of pixels represented in binary • explain the need for metadata to be included in the file such as height, width and colour depth • discuss the effect of colour depth and resolution on the size of an image file 10 * SOUND [ Book Page 17] [ Page 38] [ Pages 1-4] • explain how can be sampled and stored in digital form • explain how sampling intervals and other considerations affect the size of a sound file and the quality of its playback 11 * INSTRUCTIONS [ Book Page 18] [ Page 39] [ 1-3] • explain how instructions are coded as bit patterns • explain how the computer distinguishes between instructions and data 12 THE CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (CPU) [ Book Pages 23 & 25] [ Pages 7-11,20] [ Pages 1-3] [ Page 5] • state the purpose of the CPU • describe the function of the CPU as fetching and executing instructions stored in memory • describe cache memory • explain how common characteristics of CPUs such as clock speed, cache size and number of cores affect their performance 13 MEMORY [ Book Pages 25-28] [ Pages 15-21] [ Pages 6-9] • describe the difference between RAM and ROM • explain the need for ROM in a computer system • describe the purpose of RAM in a computer system • explain how the amount of RAM in a personal computer affects the performance of the computer • explain the need for virtual memory • discuss how changes in memory technologies are leading to innovative computer designs
14 SECONDARY STORAGE [ Book Pages 28-31] [ Pages 21,25,26] [ Pages 6-7] • explain the need for secondary storage • describe common storage technologies such as optical, magnetic and solid state • describe flash memory • select suitable storage devices and storage for a given application and justify their choice using characteristics such as capacity, portability, durability and reliability 15 * INNOVATIVE COMPUTER DESIGN [ Book Page 32] [ Page 21] [ Page 6] • discuss how changes in memory technologies are leading to innovative computer designs 16 INPUT & OUTPUT DEVICES [ Book Pages 32- 37] [ Pages22- 24] [ Pages1-5,8] • understand the need for input and output devices • describe suitable input devices for a wide range of computer controlled situations • describe suitable output devices for a wide range of computer controlled situations • discuss input and output devices for users with specific needs 17 BINARY LOGIC [ Book Pages 38-40] [ Pages 12-14] [ Pages 1-3] • explain why data is represented in computer systems in binary form • understand and produce simple logic diagrams using the operations NOT, AND and OR • produce a truth table from a given logic diagram 18 OPERATING SYSTEMS [ Book Pages 46-50] [ Page 27] [ Pages 1-7] • explain the need for the following functions of an operating system: user interface, memory management, peripheral management, multitasking and security 19 UTILITY SOFTWARE [ Book Pages 51-55] [ Page 28] [ Page 7] • describe the purpose and use of common utility programs for computer security (antivirus, spyware protection and firewalls), disk organisation (formatting, file transfer, and defragmentation), and
25 * WIDE AREA NETWORKS (WAN) [ Book Page 82] [ Page 50] [ Page 2] • describe the differences between a local area network and a wide area network such as the internet 26 * HOW DEVICES COMMUNICATE ON A NETWORK [ Book Pages 83-84] [ Page 51] [ Pages 4,6] • explain the terms IP addressing, MAC addressing, packet and protocols 27 THE INTERNET [ Book Pages 85-87] [ Pages 54-55] [ 1-2, 5-7] • describe the nature of the internet as a worldwide collection of computer networks • explain the need for IP addressing of resources on the internet and how this can be facilitated by the role of DNS servers 28 * Connecting to the Internet [ Book Pages 87-88] [ Page 54] [ Pages 3-4] • describe the hardware needed to connect to the internet including modems, routers etc 29 CREATING WEB PAGES IN HTML [ Book Pages-89-91] [ Page-56] [ Page-8] • explain the importance of HTML and its derivatives as a standard for the creation of web pages 30 SECURITY [ Book Pages 91-95] [ Pages 52-53] [ Pages 1-3] • explain the need for security measures in networks, such as user access levels, suitable passwords and encryption techniques • describe and justify network policies such as acceptable use, disaster recovery, failover, backup, archiving 31 FILE TYPES AND FILE COMPRESSION [ Book Pages 95-98] [ Page 57] [ Page 8] [ Pages 1,4] [ Pages 6-7] • explain the importance of compressing files that are transmitted via the internet • describe the differences between lossy and lossless compression • describe common file standards associated with the internet such as JPG, GIF, PDF, MP3, MPEG 32 ALGORITHMS [ Book Pages 105-108] [ Page 58] [ Pages 1-6] • understand algorithms (written in pseudocode or flow diagram), explain what they do, and correct or complete them • produce algorithms in pseudocode or flow diagrams to solve problems
33 CONTROL FLOW IN IMPERATIVE LANGUAGES [ Book Pages 108-111] [ Pages 61-63] [ Pages 1-7] • understand and use sequence in an algorithm • understand and use selection in an algorithm (IF and CASE statements) • understand and use iteration in an algorithm (FOR, WHILE and REPEAT loops) 34 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES [ Book Pages 112-114] [ Page 59] [ Pages 1-3] [ Pages 1-2] • explain the difference between high level code and machine code • explain the need for translators to convert high level code to machine code • describe the characteristics of an assembler, a compiler and an interpreter 35 HANDLING DATA IN ALGORITHMS + Operations on common data types + Arrays [ Book Pages 115-120] [ Pages 64-67] [ Pages 1-5] [ Page 2] • define the terms variable and constant as used in an imperative language • use variables and constants • describe the data types integer, real, Boolean, character and string • select and justify appropriate data types for a given program • perform common operations on numeric and Boolean data • use onedimensional arrays 36 ERRORS [ Book Pages 120-121] [ Page 68] [ Pages 5-6] • describe syntax errors and logic errors which may occur while developing a program • understand and identify syntax and logic errors 37 TESTING [ Book Pages 122-123] [ Page 69] [ 5-10] • select and justify test data for a program, stating the expected outcome of each test 38 IDE TOOLS [ Book 124-126] [ Page 60] [ Pages 4,6] • describe common tools and facilities available in an integrated development environment(IDE): editors, error diagnostics, runtime environment, translators, * Denotes a smaller topic