Computer Science A Level Induction lesson

Objectives To explain the course outline To try some example programming excercises To answer any other questions you may have

The Major Topics in Year 12 Problem Solving Algorithms Data structures Programming Data representation Machine level architecture Computer systems The Internet Consequences and uses of computers Paper 1 Paper 2 Problem solving – principles of computation, stages in problem solving, state machines, algorithms, data structures such as ques lists graphs and trees Programming – will use python overall makes up about 30% of the course Data representation binary and hexadecimal numbers characters, graphics and sound Machine level architecture logic gates, Boolean algebra, computer architecture (processors memory etc) The fetch execute cycle. Computer systems – hardware devices classification of software The internet – the structure of the internet web page construction cascading stylesheets Consequences and uses of computers – computers and the law, ethics emerging technologies

So what will you learn? The course covers the principles of how computers and networks actually work and how to write computer programs. There is a fair amount of theory in this but much of it can be illustrated by computer programs.

What is not included We do not learn how to use computer application software such as Microsoft Excel or Adobe Dream weaver. We do not learn how to fix or physically assemble computer hardware e.g. replace Hard Disk Drive. although we do learn in theory how hardware works and which hardware is appropriate to use for a given task

Programming During the course the principle programming language used will be Python 3 Other languages such as SQL will be used where appropriate

Programming exercise An important part of the paper 1 exam is taking a pre existing skeleton code and modifying it in line with given instructions. In order to practice this skill we spend a lot of time coding and modifying existing code. In this lesson we will be looking at a skeleton code from a previous exam and making modifications which will make it ore fit for purpose You will need to look carefully at the code to work out how to change it, then put a screenshot of edited code and a screen shot of the output into the electronic answer document after every version

Starter – Examining the program You will need to down load the skeleton program, the text file MyPhrases, the Questions and Electronic Answer document from P:\Computing\Year 12\Induction lesson to a folder in your documents. Load Idle or create a PyCharm project and examine the skeleton code. Take 5 minutes to examine the code. What does each function do? Are there any functions that are not being used

Main Open the questions document and try to solve the programming problems Paste your solutions into the electronic answer document as instructed Additional points Is further validation possible? Try to make use of the function HasLetterBeenUsed(Letter) to prevent the same letter being used twice Modify the code to limit the number of guesses the user has to get the correct answer.

Plenary What went well? What will we need to work on next year?

Transition work To complete this course effectively, you will need to download and install a programming environment on a home computer. If this will present any problems please let me know. The transition work is set in the document imaginatively entitled ‘computer science transition work’ This will also be placed on Show my Homework