SAIOR MALIK COMPUTER SCIENCE GAME

computer science game

EASY - Why is computing considered a “CREATIVE PROCESS”?

Computing is considered a creative process because there are many routes and plans to solve the same problem. Designers have to make these design choices and there is no single correct solution. It is very broad and spread out.

EASY - Can the impact of computing just be positive or negative?

• - Always Positive

• - Always Negative

• - Can be both positive and negative

Computing can be both beneficial and harmful. The impact mostly depends on how technology is used. It has the benefit of connecting people and harmful ones like privacy being invaded.

MEDIUM - What best describes ‘DIGITAL DIVIDE’?

• - The gap between programming languages

• - The unequal access of computing technology and the internet among different groups of people

• - The difference between digital and analog signals

• - The separation of front-end and back-end development

The digital divide refers to the unequal access of technology and internet access between groups of people

MEDIUM - What is crowdsourcing and what is its context in computing?

Crowdsourcing is when the internet collects inputs, ideas, and work from a large number of people. This is like Wikipedia which has many volunteers writing and editing articles

HARD - A company collects user data to improve its own recommendation algorithm. Is this a potential computing harm or benefit?

• - Only a benefit

• - Only a harm

• - It can be both

It can be both a harm and benefit. They get better experiences, risk having privacy violations, data breaches, and manipulation

HARD - What scenario BEST illustrates a ‘bias’ introduced by a computing artifact?

• - A calculator that rounds decimals

• - A hiring algorithm trained on historical data that favors one demographic over another

• - A website that loads slowly on older devices

• - A program that requires a really strong password

Algorithmic bias occurs when a system reflects or amplifies societal prejudices, mainly due to training data that contains historical inequalities

EASY - What exactly is metadata and how is it different from actual data in a file?

Metadata is data about data. A photo’s metadata includes when it was taken and the exact location it was taken. This shows the data is the image itself.

EASY - Does compression a file with a lossless method preserve all of its original data?

• - Yes

• - No

Lossless compression reduces file size without losing any data. The file can be perfectly reconstructed. Lossy compression however discards data.

EASY - Which of these is the BEST example of ‘DATA ABSTRACTION’?

• - Storing a file as raw binary on a certain hard drive

• - Showing a student’s info as a record with name, grades, schedules, and ID?

• - Converting text to morse code

• - Encrypting a password

Data abstraction really means organizing data into a certain structured format that hides low-level details and exposes meaningful fields

What is the difference between ‘extracting information’ from data and the raw data itself? Why does this specific difference really matter?

Raw data is just recorded facts. Extracted information is a meaningful insight that is derived from analyzing that data. The specific different matters because data alone can’t tell a plot

MEDIUM - Can a single data point, like a temperature reading, be used to draw a reliable conclusion about an entire population?

• - Yes

• - No

Valid conclusions about a population need a large and representative sample. One data is an anecdote and not evidence.

HARD - A researcher finds a strong correlation between ice cream sales and drowning rates. What is the best accurate interpretation of this?

• - Ice cream causes drowning

• - Drowning causes ice cream sales

• - Correlation doesn’t imply causation

• - The data is wrong

Correlation means 2 variables together but that one doesn’t cause the other. Another variable can be at play here.

HARD - How does ‘cleaning’ a dataset before analysis can affect the results of that specific analysis?

Data cleaning removes different outliers, errors, and duplicates. If it is done poorly, it can lead to biased or inaccurate conclusions. This makes cleaning both essential and potentially dangerous

EASY - What is an ‘algorithm’ in computer science?

An algorithm is a set of instructions that aim to solve a problem or accomplish a task. It has to have a starting point and a stopping condition.

EASY - Which of these is considered a ‘SEQUENCE’ in programming?

• - An if-else statement that checks a specific condition

• - A loop that aims to repeat until a condition is wrong/false

• - 3 short lines of code that runs one after another

• - A function that calls itself

Sequence means instructions that execute in order with no branching or repetition

EASY - Can two different algorithms solve the same problem correctly?

• - Yes

• - No

Multiple algorithms can produce the same correct output. They can be different in computing speed, memory use, or the easiness the read, but correctness isn’t dependent on a specific approach

MEDIUM - What is the difference between a ‘bug’ or an ‘error’ in a given program?

An error is a problem in a code. A bug is a type of logical flaw where the code runs but produces the wrong type of results.

MEDIUM - What does it mean for an algorithm to be ‘EFFICIENT’?

Efficiency is about time and resource use. An efficient algorithm has to scale well and takes a lot longer as the input gets bigger.

MEDIUM - Is it possible to write an algorithm that solves every single possible problem?

• - Yes

• - No

Some problems ARE unsolvable by some algorithms

HARD - What is ‘abstraction’ in programming, and why is it on of the most powerful tools that a programmer has?

Abstraction hides implementation details behind a simplified interface. It reduces complexity, enables reuse, and lets programmers think at a higher level.