A-level Computing/AQA/Print version/Unit 1

A-level Computing A-level Computing/Print version __TOC__ __NOEDITSECTION__ A-level Computing is an A-level course run for students in the UK Note: current version of this book can be found at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/A-level_Computing/AQA Authors Authors Book Overview Unit 1 - Summary Problem solving Introduction to principles of computation Stages of problem solving Top-down design and Step-wise refinement Stages of problem solving Structure charts Decision tables Finite state machines Algorithm design Trace tables Pseudo code Searching and sorting Fundamentals of programming Introduction Variables Comments Inputs and outputs Arithmetic operators Built-in data types Constant definitions Selection Iteration Built-in functions One-dimensional arrays Functions and procedures Global and local variables Two-dimensional arrays User-defined data types File handling Validation The role of variables Fundamentals of structured programming Modulo arithmetic Logical bitwise operators Set operators Fundamentals of data representation Bit patterns in a computer Denary, Binary and Hexadecimal number systems Binary arithmetic Binary fractions Two's complement Status register Information coding schemes ASCII Unicode Error checking and correction Parity bits Hamming code Gray coding Images Bitmaps Vectors Comparison between vector and bitmaps Sounds Analogue and digital Sampled sound Sound compression Nyquist-theorem Sound synthesis Streaming audio System development life cycle The cycle Analysis Design Implementation Testing Evaluation Skeleton code Footnotes