Not Physical Examples: Social Media, Applications, Editing Software, & Video Games
Collaboration:
Integral to CS because it allows for diverse ideas that cater towards different people.
Pair programming: Two people share a computer and take turns coding.
Errors:
Logic Errors: Unexpected behavior in program’s output.
Syntax Errors: The code does not work properly because it is typed or written incorrectly.
Run-Time Errors: Error occurs while code runs.
Overflow Errors: The numbers are too big for the computer.
Development Processes:
Iterative development process: Develop working prototypes of a program and go back through the cycle to redevelop the program.
Incremental development process: Break a problem into small parts and then reassemble the solution when each part is fixed.
Waterfall development model: A step-by-step process where each step flows into another.
Data (17–22%)
Data: A collection of numbers and facts from different sources.
Bits: Binary digits that computers store data in.
Computers read machine code, which is usually in the binary system.
You must convert numbers between bases quickly for the MCQs.
8bits=1byte
Hexadecimal is used for RGB color codes & it uses numbers & letters to represent values.
ASCII code converts text to binary format.
Abstraction: Reduces complexity by only focusing on the most important parts & hiding the irrelevant parts from the user.
Analog data: Measured continuously & changes smoothly.
Digital data: Measured digitally and leaves out extra data by simplifying the data collected (form of abstraction).
Data compression is dependent on:
The method used
The amount of repeated info in the data
Lossless compression: Less compression & better file quality.
Lossy compression: More compression & worse file quality.
Metadata: Data about data.
Data mining: Examining very large data sets to find information.
Transforming data: Editing or modifying data.
Algorithms & Programming (30–35%)
Pseudocode: Will be used a lot on the MCQ section of the AP Exam, make sure to review the AP CSP exam sheet and fully understand all of the pseudocode.
AP pseudocode has an index that starts are 1.
Loops traverse through lists/arrays/strings.
Data types: integers, strings, lists, and booleans.
List (array): An ordered sequence of elements.
Strings: An ordered list of characters.
Substrings are part of a string.
String concatenation occurs when two strings or more are connected w/ a “+”.
An algorithm has instructions that accomplish a task or solve a problem.
All algorithms are created using sequencing, selection, and iteration.
Sequencing: means that all of the code is executed in the order they are written in.
Expression: A statement that only returns one value. (Evaluated with PEMDAS)
Selection statements are processed through if statements that all have conditions that need to be met for the selection to run.
Else statements are attached to if statements which specify what happens if a condition is not met.
MOD( gives you the remainder of 2 #’s.
Nested conditional statements have conditional statements inside of conditional statements.
Procedures are programming instructions that are also called methods or functions.
Parameters: Input variables of a procedure.
Arguments: A call with defined values + attributes.
Logical operators: NOT, AND and OR
An element is an individual value in a list & all elements have an index.
Computer Systems & Networks (11–15%)
Sequential computing: Traditional programming where each program is processed at a time.
Parallel computing: When a program is broken into smaller operations and processed at the same time using multiple processors.
Distributed computing: Multiple devices communicate together to run a program.
Sequential solution: Takes as long as the # of all steps in a program.
Parallel computing solution: Faster w less # of cores.
Fault tolerant: Something can still function even w/ a partial malfunction.
Redundancy: Duplication of things.
Internet: Interconnection and networks.
A computer network is when multiple computing devices communicate with each other.
Data on the internet is split into data packets.
Routing: The process of finding the best path to deliver information.
Impact of Computing (21–26%)
Digital divide: Gaps between those who have access to the internet and those who do not.
The things that affect this are demographics, socioeconomic status, and geographic location.
Intellectual property: The work that people consider “theirs”.
Copyright: The person who created something determines who uses their creation.
Creative Commons: Copyright license for creators to give others the ability to use their work.
Open-sourcing: Work is freely shared, distributed, and modified.
Open access: Research available to the public w/ out restrictions.
Malware: Malicious software that takes control of a system.
Phishing: Tricks ppl into giving their personal information away.
Encryption: Encoding data to prevent others from accessing it.
Symmetric key encryption: One key for both encrypting & decrypting.
Public key encryption: Public key to encrypt & private key to decrypt.
MCQ Tips
120 minutes (2 hrs) | 70 multiple choice questions | 70% of AP Exam Score
Pace yourself! You have around 1.7 minutes for each question so make sure to keep track of the time.
If you are confused on a question, skip and come back later. If you cannot understand a question within 5-10 seconds of reading it, try to answer other questions first.
If necessary, guess. CollegeBoard does not have a guessing penalty (points are only rewarded if earned, not taken away if answered incorrectly.
Read the AP CSP reference sheet ahead of time for easy use on the AP Exam.
Find and use practice questions! Practice makes perfect!
Create Task Tips
12+ hours in class work time | 30% of AP Exam Score | DUE: May 20th, 2021 @ 11:59 PM EDT
Work ahead of time! Try to avoid submitting your Create Task late to avoid technical errors.
Before submitting, review the scoring guidelines on the CollegeBoard website to make sure you have fulfilled the requirements for each row on the rubric.
To make sure your Create Task is completed properly, view the sample responses on the College Board Website and cross reference and compare your work to the samples.
Any examples or samples you see, write down to make sure you do not accidentally plagiarize. A Create Task that is flagged for plagiarism will receive a score of 0.
Be confident in your work! You have gone through this class for an entire year & are prepared!