CS Paper 1 Review

Flashcards for key concepts and vocabulary from CS Paper 1 to aid in exam preparation.

Denary

A base 10 number system consisting of digits 0 through 9.

Binary

A base 2 number system consisting of digits 0 and 1, used by computers to process data.

Hexadecimal

A base 16 number system including digits 0-9 and letters A-F, used for a more human-readable representation of binary.

Overflow Error

An error that occurs when the computed value exceeds the maximum representable value in the register.

Logical Shift

A binary shift operation that moves bits left or right, multiplying or dividing the number by two.

Two’s Complement

A method for representing negative binary numbers by inverting the bits of the positive number and adding one.

ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a character encoding standard using 7-bits or 8-bits for extended ASCII to represent characters.

UNICODE

A character encoding standard that uses 16 bits to represent a wide range of characters from multiple languages.

Sample Rate

The number of samples taken per second in sound recording.

Sample Resolution

The number of bits used for each sample in sound recording, affecting accuracy and file size.

Color Depth

The number of bits used to represent the color of a pixel in an image, impacting the number of possible colors.

Lossy Compression

A data compression method that permanently removes some data, reducing the file size at the expense of quality.

Lossless Compression

A data compression method that allows the original data to be perfectly reconstructed from the compressed data.

Parity Check

A simple error detection method that adds an extra bit to indicate if the number of 1s in a binary string is even or odd.

Checksum

A method of error detection that involves calculating a small-sized datum from a block of digital data to verify integrity.

Echo Check

An error detection method where the receiver sends back the received data to ensure it matches the original.

IP Address

A unique identification number assigned to each device on a network for data routing.

MAC Address

A unique identifier assigned to a network interface card for communication within a network.

Symmetric Encryption

An encryption method where the same key is used for both encryption and decryption.

Asymmetric Encryption

An encryption method that uses a pair of keys (public and private) for encryption and decryption.

FDE Cycle

Fetch-Decode-Execute cycle, the basic operational process of a CPU.

RAM

Random Access Memory; volatile memory used for temporarily storing data being processed.

ROM

Read Only Memory; non-volatile memory used for permanently storing instructions.

Cloud Storage

Remote storage accessed over the internet, allowing data to be stored offsite.

DDoS Attack

Distributed Denial of Service attack that overwhelms a server with excessive traffic.

Firewall

A security system that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic based on security rules.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

A branch of computer science that simulates intelligent behavior in computers.

Machine Learning

A subset of AI that enables machines to learn from data and improve over time without being explicitly programmed.