Cambridge International AS & A Level

* 1 9 4 9 4 4 2 0 6 4 *

COMPUTER SCIENCE 9618

Paper 1 Theory Fundamentals 1 hour 30 minutes

You must answer on the question paper.

No additional materials are needed.

INSTRUCTIONS
● Answer all questions.
● Use a black or dark blue pen.
● Write your name, centre number and candidate number in the boxes at the top of the page.
● Write your answer to each question in the space provided.
● Do not use an erasable pen or correction fluid.
● Do not write on any bar codes.
● You may use an HB pencil for any diagrams, graphs or rough working.
● Calculators must not be used in this paper.

INFORMATION
● The total mark for this paper is 75.
● The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].
● No marks will be awarded for using brand names of software packages or hardware.

This document has 16 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

DC (CE/FC) 221502
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1 (a) Draw one line from each binary value to its equivalent (same) value on the right.

Binary value
1 kibibyte

8 bits

1 gigabyte

8000 bits

1 byte

1000 kilobytes

1 kilobyte

1024 mebibytes

1 gibibyte

8192 bits

1 megabyte

1 mebibyte

[5]

(b) (i) Perform the following binary addition. Show your working.

10101010
+ 00110111

[2]

(ii) State how an overflow can occur when adding two binary integers.

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(c) Convert the hexadecimal value F0 into denary.

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2 Xanthe wants to maintain the integrity and security of data stored on her computer.

(a) Explain the difference between data security and data integrity.

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(b) Xanthe uses both data validation and data verification when entering data on her computer.

(i) Describe how data validation helps to protect the integrity of the data. Give an example
in your answer.

Description ........................................................................................................................

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Example ............................................................................................................................
[2]

(ii) Describe how data verification helps to protect the integrity of the data. Give an example
in your answer.

Description ........................................................................................................................

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Example ............................................................................................................................
[2]

(c) Two malware threats are spyware and viruses.

Give two similarities and one difference between spyware and a virus.

Similarity 1 ................................................................................................................................

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Similarity 2 ................................................................................................................................

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Difference .................................................................................................................................

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[3]

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3 A logic circuit is shown:

A
B X

(a) Write the logic expression for the logic circuit.

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(b) Complete the truth table for the given logic circuit.

Working space
A B C X

0 0 0

0 0 1

0 1 0

0 1 1

1 0 0

1 0 1

1 1 0

1 1 1

[2]

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(c) Identify one logic gate not used in the given logic circuit. Draw the symbol for the logic gate
and complete its truth table.

Logic gate: ………………………………

Symbol:

Truth table:

A B Output

0 0

0 1

1 0

1 1
[3]

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4 Francis is starting his first job as a software developer for a multinational company.

(a) Francis has been advised to join a professional ethical body.

Describe the benefits to Francis of joining a professional ethical body.

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(b) Francis is shown the software he will be working on. He is unfamiliar with the Integrated
Development Environment (IDE) he is required to use.

(i) Describe the ways in which Francis can act ethically in this situation.

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(ii) Mention the various ways by which Francis can make the system secure.

1 ........................................................................................................................................

2 ........................................................................................................................................

3 ........................................................................................................................................
[3]

(c) Francis is part of a team writing a program. He finds an error in part of the program that
has already been tested. He decides not to tell anyone because he is worried about the
consequences.

Explain the reasons why Francis acted unethically in this situation.

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 5 The following table shows part of the instruction set for a processor. The processor has one
general purpose register, the Accumulator (ACC), and an Index Register (IX).

Instruction
Explanation
Opcode Operand
LDM #n Immediate addressing. Load the number n to ACC
LDD <address> Direct addressing. Load the contents of the location at the given address to
ACC
STO <address> Store the contents of ACC at the given address
INC <register> Add 1 to the contents of the register (ACC or IX)
CMP <address> Compare the contents of ACC with the contents of <address>
JPN <address> Following a compare instruction, jump to <address> if the compare was False
JMP <address> Jump to the given address
IN Key in a character and store its ASCII value in ACC
OUT Output to the screen the character whose ASCII value is stored in ACC
END Return control to the operating system
XOR #n Bitwise XOR operation of the contents of ACC with the operand
XOR <address> Bitwise XOR operation of the contents of ACC with the contents of <address>
AND #n Bitwise AND operation of the contents of ACC with the operand
AND <address> Bitwise AND operation of the contents of ACC with the contents of <address>
OR #n Bitwise OR operation of the contents of ACC with the operand
OR <address> Bitwise OR operation of the contents of ACC with the contents of <address>
LSL #n Bits in ACC are shifted logically n places to the left. Zeros are introduced on
the right hand end
LSR #n Bits in ACC are shifted logically n places to the right. Zeros are introduced on
the left hand end
<address> can be an absolute or symbolic address
# denotes a denary number, e.g. #123
B denotes a binary number, e.g. B01001101

The current contents of main memory are shown:

Address Data
100 00001111
101 11110000
102 01010101
103 11111111
104 00000000

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Each row of the following table shows the current contents of ACC in binary and the instruction
that will be performed on those contents.

Complete the table by writing the new contents of the ACC after the execution of each
instruction.

Current contents of the ACC Instruction New contents of the ACC

11111111 OR 101

00000000 XOR #15

10101010 LSR #2

01010101 AND 104

[4]

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6 Bobby is recording a sound file for his school project.

(a) He repeats the recording of the sound several times, with a different sample rate each time.

(i) Describe the reasons why the sound is closer to the original when a higher sample rate
is used.

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(ii) Describe the reasons why the sound file size increases when a higher sample rate is
used.

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(b) Bobby wants to email the sound file to his school email address. He compresses the file
before sending the email.

(i) Explain the reasons why Bobby compresses the sound file.

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(ii) Bobby uses lossless compression.

Describe how lossless compression can compress the sound file.

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7 A school is setting up a network within one of its buildings.

(a) State whether the network will be a LAN (local area network) or a WAN (wide area network).
Justify your choice.

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(b) One classroom in the building has 30 computers. The computers need to be connected to the
network. Each computer has a network interface card (NIC).

Identify two possible devices that can be used to physically connect the 30 computers to the
rest of the network.

1 ................................................................................................................................................

2 ................................................................................................................................................
[2]

(c) The school has several laptops. Each laptop has a Wireless Network Interface Card (WNIC).

Describe the functions of a Wireless Network Interface Card.

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8 (a)(a) A program stores data about hospital patients.
1

Give a suitable identifier name for each of the data items.

Description of data item Suitable identifier name

The temperature of the patient
The temperature of the room
The patient identification number
The name of the nurse taking the measurement
[4]
[2]

(b) (i) Program variables have values as follows:

Variable Value
MyGreeting "Happy Birthday"
MyInitial 'C'
AgeInYears 27
Weight 60.5
Married TRUE
Children TRUE

Evaluate each expression in the following table.

If an expression is invalid, write ERROR.

For the built-in functions list, refer to the Appendix on page 15.

Expression Evaluates to
"Mon" & MID(MyGreeting, 10, 2)
AgeInYears + ASC(MyInitial)
INT(MyInitial)
MOD(Weight * 2, 10)
Married AND (NOT Children)
[5]

(ii) Programming languages support different data types.

Give an appropriate data type for each of these variables from part (b)(i).

Variable Data type

MyGreeting
MyInitial
AgeInYears
Weight
Married
[5]
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 6

9 In a chemical factory, a procedure, CheckSensor() is required to allow an operator to monitor

the temperature in different locations.

In the factory:

• the temperature is measured by 10 sensors, each at a different location

• each sensor has a unique ID (1 to 10).

The procedure CheckSensor() will compare the measured temperature against each of two
constant values, LowTemp and HighTemp. It will perform the following actions depending on the
result of the comparison.

Measured temperature Action

below LowTemp Output "Cold"
from LowTemp to HighTemp Output "Normal"
above HighTemp Call procedure Alarm()

A library function, GetTemp(), returns the temperature value from a given sensor.

The structured English representing the algorithm for the procedure CheckSensor() is as
follows:

1. Prompt for the input of a sensor ID.

2. Input a sensor ID.
3. If the sensor ID is invalid, repeat from step 1.
4. Call the GetTemp() function with the sensor ID as the parameter, to obtain the relevant
temperature.
5. Compare the temperature against the two constant values and take the appropriate action.

Draw a program flowchart on the next page to represent the algorithm for procedure
CheckSensor().

Variable declarations are not required in program flowcharts.

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[8][7]
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