Cambridge International Examinations

Cambridge International Advanced Subsidiary and Advanced Level

* 2 7 2 0 5 0 4 7 1 6 *

COMPUTER SCIENCE 9608/22

Paper 2 Fundamental Problem-solving and Programming Skills October/November 2018
2 hours
Candidates answer on the Question Paper.
No Additional Materials are required.
No calculators allowed.

READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

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DO NOT WRITE IN ANY BARCODES.

Answer all questions.

No marks will be awarded for using brand names of software packages or hardware.

At the end of the examination, fasten all your work securely together.
The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.

The maximum number of marks is 75.

This document consists of 16 printed pages.

DC (NH/CT) 150983/3
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Question 1 begins on the next page.

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1 (a) The following table contains statements written in pseudocode.

Show the type of programming construct each statement represents.

Put a tick (3) in the appropriate column for each statement.

Repetition
Statement Selection Assignment
(Iteration)
Index Index + 5
FOR Count 1 TO 100
TempValue[Index] ReadValue(SensorID)
IF Index < 30
UNTIL DayNumber > 7
OTHERWISE OUTPUT "ERROR"
[6]

(b) (i) The following table contains statements written in pseudocode.

Give the most appropriate data type for the variable used in each statement.

Statement Data type

Revision 'B'
MaxValue 13.3
ArrayFull TRUE
Activity "Design"
NumberOfEdits 270
[5]

(ii) The following table contains statements written in pseudocode.

Complete the table by evaluating each expression using the values from part (b)(i).
If any expression is invalid, write “ERROR” in the Evaluates to column.

For the built-in functions list, refer to the Appendix on page 16.

Expression Evaluates to
MID(Activity, 3, 4) & "ature"
INT(MaxValue * 2)
ArrayFull AND NumberOfEdits < 300
ASC(Revision + 1)
Activity = "Testing" OR Revision = 'A'
[5]

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2 Shop customers have a discount card with a unique card number. Customers collect points each
time they buy items. The number of points they collect depends on:

• the total amount they spend

• the number of points already collected.

The function CalcPoints() takes the card number and the total amount spent as parameters. It
returns the number of new points collected. A flowchart for the function is shown.

The function uses the following variables and functions.

Identifier Data type Description

CardNum STRING A numeric string representing the unique card number
OldPoints INTEGER The number of points already collected
NewPoints INTEGER The number of new points collected
Total REAL The amount spent
Takes the card number as a parameter and returns the
GetPoints() FUNCTION
number of points already collected
INT() FUNCTION Refer to the Appendix on page 16

START

Is YES
Total > 100 ?

OldPoints
NO GetPoints(CardNum)

Is NO
OldPoints > 2000 ?

YES

NewPoints INT(Total * 1.2)

NewPoints 0 NewPoints INT(Total * 1.1)

RETURN NewPoints

END

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(a) (i) Write pseudocode for the CalcPoints() function.

Your solution should follow the flowchart as closely as possible.

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(ii) The value of the total amount spent is calculated by an Electronic Point Of Sale (EPOS)
system. This system does not have the prices of all items. For these items, a valid total
amount has to be entered manually.

A function, GetTotal(), prompts the user to input this value.

If the user enters a valid value greater than 0 and less than 10 000, the function returns
the value. The function prompts the user to re-enter the value each time the user enters
an invalid value.

Write pseudocode to complete the GetTotal() function.

FUNCTION GetTotal() RETURNS REAL

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[5]

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(b) The function CalcPoints() is written in a high-level language. It has been checked and it
does not contain any syntax or logic errors.

(i) Name and describe one other type of error that the high-level language code could
contain.

Name .................................................................................................................................

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

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[2]

(ii) The function CalcPoints() is tested using white-box testing.

State two different values of Total that could be used to test different paths through the
algorithm. Justify your choices.

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Justification .......................................................................................................................

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[4]

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3 (a) Programming is sometimes referred to as a transferable skill.

You are asked to work on a program written in a language you are not familiar with.

Explain how transferable skills would help you work on the program.

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(b) Stepwise refinement is often used in the development of an algorithm.

Describe stepwise refinement.

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(c) A program needs to search through 1000 elements of an unsorted array to find a given value.

The program will output:

• either the position in the array of the value

• or the message “Not Found”

Outline the steps the program needs to follow.

Do not write pseudocode or program code.

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Question 4 begins on the next page.

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4 Part of a program written in pseudocode is shown.

010 DECLARE NextArrayElement : INTEGER

100 FUNCTION ScanFile(SearchString: STRING) RETURNS INTEGER

101
102 DECLARE FileData : STRING
103 DECLARE FileLine : INTEGER
104
105 NextArrayElement 1
106 FileLine 1
107 FileData ReadFileLine("DataFile.txt", FileLine)
108
109 WHILE FileData <> ""
110 IF LEFT(FileData, 7) = SearchString
111 THEN
112 ResultArray[NextArrayElement] FileData
113 NextArrayElement NextArrayElement + 1
114 ENDIF
115 FileLine FileLine + 1
116 FileData ReadFileLine("DataFile.txt", FileLine)
117 ENDWHILE
118
119 CALL ScanCompleted()
120 RETURN FileLine
121
122 ENDFUNCTION

(a) (i) Examine the pseudocode. Complete the following table.

Answer

The identifier name of a local variable

The identifier name of a user-defined procedure
The identifier name of a user-defined function
The number of dimensions of ResultArray
The scope of FileData
[5]

(ii) Describe in detail the purpose of lines 109 to 117 in the ScanFile() function. Do not
use pseudocode in your answer.

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(b) The function ScanFile() is to be amended so that the first 7 characters of FileData are
not written to the array.

Write program code to implement this amended ScanFile() function.

Visual Basic and Pascal: You should include the declaration statements for variables.
Python: You should show a comment statement for each variable used with its data type.

Programming language ............................................................................................................

Program code

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(c) (i) State how structured programming languages support the implementation of sub-tasks.

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(ii) State a benefit of using sub-tasks.

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(d) ResultArray is a 1D array of type STRING. It contains 100 elements.

Write program code to declare ResultArray and set all elements to the value "NO DATA".

Programming language .............................................................................................................

Program code

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Question 5 begins on the next page.

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5 The procedure LineNumber() will:

• read data from a text file

• modify each line by adding a line number, and the string (": ")
• output each modified line.

For example, when the procedure reads MyFile.txt, the output is:

10: <First line of MyFile.txt>

15: <Second line of MyFile.txt>
20: <Third line of MyFile.txt>

350: <Last line of MyFile.txt>

The procedure takes three parameters:

Identifier Data type Description

FileName STRING The name of the text file
StartNumber INTEGER The first line number to be added
StepNumber INTEGER The line number increment

In this example, the procedure call would be:

CALL LineNumber("MyFile.txt", 10, 5)

After every 20 lines, the program outputs a message asking whether the user wants to continue.

The program ends when the user enters an 'N' or the end of file is reached.

Write pseudocode for the LineNumber() procedure.

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Appendix
Built-in functions (pseudocode)
Each function returns an error if the function call is not properly formed.

MID(ThisString : STRING, x : INTEGER, y : INTEGER) RETURNS STRING

returns a string of length y starting at position x from ThisString

Example: MID("ABCDEFGH", 2, 3) returns string "BCD"

LENGTH(ThisString : STRING) RETURNS INTEGER

returns the integer value representing the length of ThisString

Example: LENGTH("Happy Days") returns 10

LEFT(ThisString : STRING, x : INTEGER) RETURNS STRING

returns leftmost x characters from ThisString

Example: LEFT("ABCDEFGH", 3) returns string "ABC"

RIGHT(ThisString: STRING, x : INTEGER) RETURNS STRING

returns rightmost x characters from ThisString

Example: RIGHT("ABCDEFGH", 3) returns string "FGH"

NUM_TO_STRING(x : REAL) RETURNS STRING

returns a string representation of a numeric value.

Example: If x has the value 87.5 then NUM_TO_STRING(x) will return "87.5"
Note: This function will also work if x is of type integer.

INT(x : REAL) RETURNS INTEGER

returns the integer part of x

Example: INT(27.5415) returns 27

ASC(ThisChar : CHAR) RETURNS INTEGER

returns the ASCII value of character ThisChar

Example: ASC('A') returns 65

Operators (pseudocode)

Operator Description
Concatenates (joins) two strings
&
Example: "Summer" & " " & "Pudding" produces "Summer Pudding"
Performs a logical AND on two Boolean values
AND
Example: TRUE AND FALSE produces FALSE
Performs a logical OR on two Boolean values
OR
Example: TRUE OR FALSE produces TRUE

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