AP Computer Science Principles Exam Review - Collaboration to Safe Computing

Flashcards to help study for the AP Computer Science Principles exam.

Computing Innovation

Includes a program as an integral part of its function and can be physical or nonphysical.

Effective Collaboration

Produces a computing innovation that reflects the diversity of talents and perspectives.

Diverse Perspectives

Helps avoid bias in the development of computing innovations.

Purpose of Computing Innovations

Solve problems or to pursue interests through creative expression.

Program

A collection of program statements that performs a specific task when run by a computer

Behavior of a Program

How a program functions during execution and how a user interacts with it.

Program Inputs

Data sent to a computer for processing by a program, coming in tactile, audio, visual, or text forms.

Event

Associated with an action and supplies input data to a program.

Event Driven Programming

Program statements are executed when triggered rather than through sequential flow.

Program Outputs

Any data sent from a program to a device

Development Process

Ordered and intentional or exploratory in nature

Common Phases of Program Development

Investigating and reflecting, designing, prototyping, and testing.

Iterative Development Process

Requires refinement and revision based on feedback, testing, or reflection.

Incremental Development Process

Breaks the problem into smaller pieces and ensures each piece works before adding it to the whole.

Investigation

Used for understanding and identifying the program constraints, as well as the concerns and interests of the people who will use the program.

Program Requirements

Describe how a program functions and may include a description of user interactions.

Program Specification

Defines the requirements for the program

Design Phase

Outlines how to accomplish a given program specification.

Program Documentation

Written description of the function of a code segment, event, procedure, or program, and how it was developed.

Comments

A form of program documentation written into the program to be read by people and do not affect how a program runs.

Logic Error

Mistake in the algorithm or program that causes it to behave incorrectly or unexpectedly.

Syntax Error

Mistake in the program where the rules of the programming language are not followed.

Runtime Error

Mistake in the program that occurs during the execution of a program.

Overflow Error

Error that occurs when a computer attempts to handle a number that is outside of the defined range of values.

Testing

Uses defined inputs to ensure that algorithm or program is producing expected outcomes.

Bit

Shorthand for binary digit and is either zero or one.

Byte

Eight bits

Abstraction

The process of reducing complexity by focusing on the main idea.

Analog Data

Has values that change smoothly rather than in discrete intervals

Sampling Technique

Measuring values of the analog signal at regular intervals

Data Compression

Can reduce the size or number of bits of transmitted or stored data.

Lossless Data Compression

Algorithms can usually reduce the number of bits stored or transmitted while guaranteeing complete reconstruction of the original data.

Lossy Data Compression

Algorithms can significantly reduce the number of bits stored or transmitted, but only allow reconstruction of approximation of the original data.

Information

Collection of facts and patterns extracted from data.

Metadata

Data about data.

Cleaning Data

Process that makes the data uniform without changing its meaning.

Variable

Abstraction inside a program that can hold a value.

List

Ordered sequence of elements.

Element

Individual value in a list that is assigned a unique index.

String

Ordered sequence of characters

Data Abstraction

Provides a separation between the abstract properties of a data type and the concrete details of its representation.

Algorithm

Finite set of instructions that accomplish a specific task.

Sequencing

Application of each step of an algorithm in the order in which the code statements are given.

String Concatenation

Joins together two or more strings, end to end to make a new string.

Substring

Part of an existing string.

Boolean Value

Either true or false

Selection

Determines which part of an algorithm are executed based on a condition being true or false.

Iteration

Repeating portion of an algorithm.

Linear Search (Sequential Search)

Check each element of a list in order until desired value is found of all elements in the list and they have been checked.

Binary Search

Starts at the middle of a sorted data set of numbers and eliminates half of the data, repeating until the desired value is found or all elements have been eliminated.

Procedure

Named group of programming instructions that may have parameters and return values.

Parameters

Input variables of a procedure.

Arguments

Specify the values of the parameters when a procedure is called.

Procedure Call

interrupts a sequential execution of statements, causing the program to execute the statements within the program before continuing.

Procedural Abstraction

Provides a name for a process and allows a process to be used only knowing what it does, not how it does it.

Modularity

The subdivision of a computer program into separate subprograms.

Software Library

Contains procedures that may be used in creating new programs.

Application Program Interfaces (APIs)

Specifications for how the procedure in a library behave and can be used.

Random values

Using random number generation in a program means each execution may produce a different result.

Simulations

Abstractions of more complex objects or phenomena for a specific purpose.

Program

General description of a task that can or cannot be solved algorithmically.

Decision Problem

Problem with a yes or no answer.

Optimization Problem

Problem with the goal of finding the best solution among many possible solutions.

Efficiency

Estimation of the amount of computational resources used by an algorithm.

Heuristic

Approach to a problem that produces a solution that is not guaranteed to be optimal.

Decidable Problem

Decision problem for which an algorithm can be written to produce a correct output for all inputs.

Undecidable Problem

One for which no algorithm can be constructed that is always capable for providing a correct yes or no answer.

Computing Device

Physical artifact that can run a program.

Computing System

Group of computing devices and programs working together for a common purpose.

Computer Network

Group of interconnected computing devices capable of sending or receiving data.

Routing

Process of finding a path from sender to the receiver.

Bandwidth

Maximum amount of data that can be sent in a fixed amount of time.

Internet

Computer network consisting of interconnected networks that use standardized, open, nonproprietary communication protocols.

Protocol

Agreed upon set of rules that specify the behavior of a program

Scalability

Capacity for the system to change in size and scale to meet new demands.

Redundancy

Inclusion of extra components that can be used to mitigate failure of a system if other components fail.

Sequential Computing

Computational model in which operations are performed in order one at a time.

Parallel Computing

Computational model where the program is broken into multiple smaller sequential computing operations, some of which are performed simultaneously.

Distributed Computing

Computational model in which multiple devices are used to run a program.

Digital Divide

Refers to differing access to computing devices and the Internet based on socioeconomic, geographic, or demographic characteristics.

Citizen Science

Scientific research conducted in whole or part by distributed individuals, many of whom may not be scientists who contribute relevant data to research using their own computing devices.

Crowdsourcing

Practice of of obtaining input or information from a large number of people via the Internet.

Creative Commons

Public copyright license that enables the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work.

Open Source

Programs that are made freely available and may be redistributed and modified.

Open Access

Online resource output free of any and all restriction on access and free of many restrictions on use, such as copyright or license restrictions.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

Information about an individual that identifies, links, relates, and describes them.

Computing Virus

Malicious program that can copy itself and gain access to a computer in an unauthorized way.

Malware

Software intended to damage a computing system or to take partial control over its operation.

Phishing

Technique that attempts to trick a user into providing personal information

Key Logging

Use of a program to record every keystroke made by a computer user in order to gain fraudulent access to passwords and other confidential information.

Rogue Access Point

Wireless access point that gives unauthorized access to secure networks.