Paper 1 As Revision

Flashcards for Paper 1 (A-level Computer Science)

What are the benefits of Binary-Coded Decimal (BCD)?

More straightforward to convert between BCD and denary, less complex to encode and decode for programmers, easier for digital equipment to use, can represent monetary values exactly.

What applications utilize BCD?

Electronic displays like calculators and digital clocks, storage of date and time in the BIOS of a PC.

What is ASCII Representation?

A character encoding standard where each character has a unique code that is used to represent characters in a word.

What is the main difference between ASCII and Unicode?

Unicode can represent multiple languages and a wider range of characters than ASCII, which is limited to 7 bits.

What defines a bitmap graphic?

A bitmap graphic is made up of pixels, each of a single colour, and is stored as a sequence of binary numbers.

What is image resolution?

The total number of pixels in an image, calculated as the number of pixels wide multiplied by the number of pixels high.

What is the effect of increasing the sampling rate in sound representation?

Sound is recorded more often, reducing quantization errors and improving accuracy, but increases file size.

What is lossy compression?

A compression method where some original data is lost and cannot be reconstructed; often used to reduce file size significantly.

What is a LAN?

A Local Area Network that allows communication and sharing of resources between devices within a small geographical area.

What does a client-server model entail?

It involves a setup where clients request resources or services from a central server that processes those requests and returns results.

What is the purpose of cloud computing?

To access files or services on a remote server, allowing users to utilize software or storage over the internet.

What is the difference between Public and Private cloud?

Public cloud services are available to anyone over the internet, while private cloud services are restricted to specific users within an organization's internal network.

What is the role of an IP address?

It serves as a unique identifier for a device on a network to facilitate communication between different devices.

What is the purpose of two-factor authentication?

To enhance security by requiring two different forms of verification before granting access to a system or service.

What is the difference between dynamic and static IP addresses?

Dynamic IP addresses are temporarily assigned and change each time a device connects to a network, while static IP addresses remain constant.

What are validation and verification in data processing?

Validation checks whether data is reasonable, while verification checks if the data matches the original.

What is the primary purpose of an operating system?

To provide a user interface and manage hardware and software resources on a computer.

What is the function of cache memory?

To store frequently used instructions and data for fast access by the CPU, reducing the time needed to fetch data from RAM.

What does SQL stand for and its purpose?

Structured Query Language, used for managing and manipulating databases.

What is normalization in databases?

The process of organizing data to minimize redundancy and ensure data integrity.

Why is data integrity important in databases?

It ensures consistency and accuracy of data and prevents errors in data retrieval.