Degree Exam 31 May 2002

Degree Exam 31 May 2002 - Post-Mortem

Well, part of it anyway. This covers questions 1, 2 and B2.

1 a
In everyday life and base-10 counting systems, 1000 is a 'round' number - 10 * 10 * 10, and a convenient multiplier. In I.T. with base-2 counting in memory, disk sizes etc., powers of 2 are 'round' numbers - 2,4,8,16 ... etc. 2-to-the-power 10 is 1024, conveniently close to 1000 for most purposes so it is used as a 'K'

You did this section pretty well; some indication that you realised it was to do with base 2 counting generally got you 1; going on to say 2^10 = 1024 and so on got you the rest.

1 b
Processor speeds double every 18 months or so. 2005/6 is three years on or two lots of 18 months and thus two doublings. 2 * 2 * 2 GHz = 8 GHz. If you showed you understood the principle you generally got the marks. Some of you need to brush up on how powers of numbers behave though!

1 c

60Gb - 60 Gigabytes indicates the disk capacity.
7200 rpm - revolutions per minute indicate the rotation speed and are thus some indication of the disk's performance.
3.5" - 3.5 inches (about 9 cm) is the disk disk diameter.
IDE is the interface type (as opposed to SCSI etc.)

Many of you omitted to explain "IDE".

1 d
A revision control system is a management application for documents that are under development. You check them in and out like valuables in a safe and can keep track of alterations and can rewind if changes mess up the system. This was mentioned and was in the notes but you didn't do this section particularly well.

1 e
Layering in software is where a large application or operating system is organised such that 'low' levels handle primitive operations and 'higher' levels call lower levels in turn with the lowest levels controlling the hardware directly and the user interface being highest of all. This is different from layering of data

2 a
Providing a systematic user interface for input and validation of data, Maintaining data integrity, allowing simultaneous access from many users, providing facilities whereby queries can be built up and executed, providing facilities for formatted output, maintaining links between pieces of data.

2 b
A mathematical model of the scene, a 'wire-frame' model, hidden line deletion, perspective, simple shading, lighting, texture-maps etc. Straight out of Gordon's lecture.

2 c
Matched to purpose, helps the novice, unobtrusively supports the expert, tolerant of experimentation, consistent, reliable ...

3 a
3 b
3 c

B 2 (Health Check)
Good first steps (not all these were in course); the first set should have no visible effect on the systems:

Talk to people there and see if there are any specific problems
Catalogue machines and major items of software (+ versions)
See how much free space is on disks and suggest a spring-clean if disks are getting full
Run Windows "find" looking for files over (say) 5 Mb. It's amazing how easy it is to create a monster file in an odd place without realising it's there
Run scandisk and defrag to be sure disk is in a good state
Check on backup strategy; take some kind of backup
Update anti-virus software and run it
Possibly housekeep the Registry with something like Norton Utilities. Norton is a useful suite of programs that includes a 'PC doctor' program. If a machine has had a lot of software added and uninstalled, all sorts of redundant links and references can be left lying around. Usually these are harmless but are the first thing to tidy up if the PC owner reports odd vague un-repeatable problems when running applications.
If and only if the firm reports problems or limitations with its devices, go to the manufacturer's web site and see if there are newer drivers. Read any explanation there and if it looks as if an upgrade might help, perform the upgrade. Be prepared for the eventuality that you make things worse (e.g. you end up with two copies of the device)

Note: You were all really gung-ho about defragmentation. What I said must have had real impact that day. It's a useful thing to do once in a while and can perk up a machine that hasn't been touched for a long time but it's not a universal cure-all and unless the disk is pretty full won't have much visible effect. Use in moderation!

The next steps are good housekeeping but you need to be sure the company understands what you suggest and agree

Enquire about use and upgrade plans
If upgrades seem a way off, consider more RAM as a precursor to upgrading software components.
Upgrade items such as Internet Explorer; check for system patches and upgrades; apply them; ditto MS-Office. 3-yr old versions of these programs will have difficlty with some web sites (IE) or some modern received documents (Office).
If disks are filling, either suggest an archive policy (may need to get a CD-writer) or cost out a modern disk or two (note: not all old systems can see all of a modern big disk)
See if the ISDN connection is the best option; maybe broadband/DSL solutions are now available
See how networking is set up and whether there is as much connectivity as possible/desirable
Think about a firewall if you have an always-on conenction

Things you probably don't want to do

major surgery on the PCs. Upgrade the processor/motherboard and you'll need new RAM; get that and you may find that the disk is too small or the graphics card is too restrictive (then you'll find the monitor can't go to high enough resolution) or if it's Win95 that it can't drive USB etc. etc. If you need a new machine get a new machine. Exceptions to this are RAM and probably disk.