Lecture 2: Look out! it's the future
2.1. List four major stages in the development of modern Information
Technology and say what is likely to be the next one.
2.2. What is Moore's Law and what effect is it likely to have on average processor
speed over 10-15 years?
2.3. Name three reasons why new technological products are
being taken up faster and faster
2.4. What does not obey Moore's law? What effect is this likely to have
on the nature of products we buy?
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Lecture 3: Back to fundamentals
How many distinct possible values can be represented in a byte?
3.1. The character 'o' is represented in a computer by the hexadecimal number
6f16. What hexadecimal number is likely to represent 'p' ?
3.2. A 20 Gb disk is backed up to 250 Mb ZIP disks.
- How many ZIP disks might be needed?
- In the light of (1.) would you choose to back up the disk this way and if not
what might be a better alternative?
3.3. You are provided with two brand-new (empty) 250 Mb ZIP disks, one with 2.5Mb of
free space left on it, one with 25Mb left on it and a couple of 80 Gb tapes
(with suitable software and hardware)
Making best use of the media you have, how would you store the following:
- An 8-page essay
- An on-line copy of the Edinburgh telephone directory
- A 3 minute album track recorded as MP3
- Backup of the hard disk of a medium-sized desktop PC bought in 2000/2001
- Backup of a full CD-ROM
3.4. What problem might a mail system encounter sending the following phrase
and how would it deal with it?
"We'll meet Françoise outside the cinema at 7:45. Tickets are £5.00"
3.5. Two lines in a mail header read:
Content-Type: image/gif
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
- What is the mail sender doing here?
- What is likely to follow these lines?
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Lecture 4: Inside the box
4.1. A friend has a PC which was specified as a business system and is used for
spreadsheets, word processing and some Web browsing. The machine is a couple
of years old and she reports that
it "seems very slow at times". She is talking about saving for a replacement.
a) Purely on the basis of advances in processor speed approximately what
fraction of the speed of a current model would you expect from a 2-year-old machine?
b) What other factors might be contributing to the machine's poor performance?
c) Your friend reports that her son is wanting to use the machine for game
playing and is finding it impossibly slow. What upgrade might improve matters
for him?
4.2. Name four things you might expect to find plugged into a computer
mother board.
4.3. 'Part B' question: What are the principal points you need to consider when
specifying and buying a PC?
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Lecture 5: Beyond the box
5.1. Describe the principal characteristics of a mainframe computer
5.2. Describe the principal characteristics of a server
5.4. Compare and contrast the principal aspects of a laptop versus a desktop PC
5.5. What design constraints need to be considered by manufacturers of PDAs ?
5.6. A friend is about to purchase an upmarket digital camera capable of taking
pictures at a resolution of up to 2400 * 1800 pixels. The intended purpose is
for taking photographs for their web page. Why might this not be the best use
of their money? Your friend goes on to say that the web page is entitled
'Vanishing Edinburgh'. Would this change your advice in any way?
5.7. It is possible to use a terrible phone line and still be understood yet
sound is probably the main limiting factor in videoconferencing applications.
Explain this apparent contradiction.
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Lecture 6: Standalone Applications and Presentation Graphics
6.1. Identify the main characteristics of a good application
6.2. 'Part B' question: Modern computer applications offer the user many
opportunities and without them many large problems would be insoluble. Describe
some of the ways in which applications are applied in the world of work and
and some of the dangers.
6.3. What aspects of a complex but well-designed application would make it
easy to learn?
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Lecture 7: Text editing and Word processing
7.1. MS Word (and the Lotus equivalent) are rich in functionality. Why then
are the much smaller Notepad and Wordpad applications provided as
standard on Windows?
7.2. What special features would you expect to find in an application
advertised as a Word Processor?
7.3. Identify the main features of a Word processor that relate to document
style
7.4. Fixed pitch fonts such as Courier are not particularly attractive.
Why are they useful?
7.5. Identify the stages in producing a piece of creative technical
writing. Why might use of a word processor actually be a disadvantage?
(Reworded, this could be a part 'B' question)
7.6. What is a FOG index and how might it aid creative writing?
7.7. Identify the principal differences between a text editor,
word processor and a high-end professional desktop publishing
package
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Lecture 8: The Operating System
8.1. What is a likely symptom of thrashing? How might it be fixed?
8.2. Describe one way in which a rogue program can completely hang a PC.
8.3. Identify some of the functions of a scheduler
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Lecture 9: Spreadsheets etc.
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1.00 |
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1.50 |
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2.00 |
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2.00 |
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3.00 |
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4.00 |
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4.00 |
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6.00 |
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9.1. In the spreadsheet above, the formula "=A1*D1" was entered in cell B1 and dragged
downwards. In column f(B) write in the formulae that would be generated and
write the calculated values into cells B2:B4
Similarly, the formula "=A1*D$1" was entered in C1 and dragged down. In column
f(C) write in the formulae generated and write the calculated values into C1:C3.
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Lecture 10: Spreadsheets and decision support
10.1.
a) What do you understand by the term "decision support system"?
b) In what particular way(s) does a spreadsheet assist the business process?
c) Name one other computer application that might be described as a decision
support system.
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Lecture 11: Files and data
11.1. Companies using PCs for sensitive work often prefer to destroy their
ageing PCs rather than put them onto the 2nd-hand market. Why might this be?
11.2. What is disk fragmentation and how might it adversely affect the
performance of a PC?
11.3. A web page carries a practically full-screen image of 800 * 500 pixels with
24 bits per pixel.
a) How much data does this image represent?
b) A domestic modem can transmit of the order of 4 kilobytes / second. How
long would it take to download the amount of data you calculated in a) ?
c) Web pages with full-screen images are common and download over modems
perfectly satisfactorily. How do you explain this apparent contradiction?
11.4. What image formats (GIF, JPG, TIFF, BMP etc.) might you select to store:
a) a diagram for display on a web page?
b) A scanned image of an oil painting for inclusion in a book?
c) A scanned image of the same oil painting for inclusion in a web page?
d) Holiday snaps for a home web page?
11.5. Describe the main weakness of single-key encryption systems and one
drawback of dual-key systems.
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Lecture 12: Applications of Computer Graphics
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Lecture 13: Databases and GIS
13.1. A Ford car dealer is checking the parts stock held between two branches.
His database gives him the following information:
Edinburgh branch
| Catalogue no. |
Manufacturer's part no. |
stock checked |
No. in stock |
| F101 |
Zetec/30021101/5/A800 |
26/10/00 |
12 |
| F102 |
Zetec/30201101/5/A800 |
27/11/00 |
8 |
| K403 |
Zetec/30021101/6/A800 |
27/11/00 |
4 |
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Glasgow branch
| Catalogue no. |
Manufacturer's part no. |
stock checked |
No. in stock |
| F101 |
Zetec/30021101/5/A800 |
24/07/00 |
1 |
| K304 |
Zetec/30201101/5/C800 |
26/09/00 |
2 |
| K305 |
Ford2.7/30021101/6/A800 |
26/09/00 |
6 |
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Parts directory
| Manufacturer's part no. |
Description |
Inventory value/£ |
Re-order quantity |
| Ford2.7/30021101/6/A800 |
Carburettor butterfly valve |
6.30 |
1 |
| Zetec/30201101/5/C800 |
injector retaining bolt |
0.25 |
4 |
| Zetec/30021101/5/A800 |
nut for injector retaining bolt |
0.25 |
4 |
| Zetec/30201101/5/A800 |
injector |
12.25 |
4 |
| Zetec/30021101/6/A800 |
injector manifold retainer |
2.25 |
10 |
Catalogue No. is the primary key.
a) List the catalogue numbers of the intersection of the two relations.
b) List the catalogue numbers of the Union of the two relations
c) Which column headings and primary key values would appear in an inner join of
"Edinburgh branch" and "Parts Directory" ?
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Lecture 14a: Databases / 14b: File storage and media
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Lecture 15: Human factors
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Lecture 16: Collaborative computing
16.1. What are the principal characteristics of electronic mail in comparison to
other means of communication such as telephone, post/fax or mobile-phone text
messaging?
16.2. What is a smiley and why would it be used?
16.3. The project team of an engineering firm in Essex elects use a video
conferencing circuit to discuss engineering drawings with its clients in Germany.
There are five members of each team and they use purpose-built video
conferencing studios for the call.
Each end of the call has a monitor equivalent in quality to an 800*600 PC
monitor,
a steerable video camera, microphone and speakers. What benefits and difficulties
do you think the teams will encounter compared to meeting face to face?
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Lecture 18: Managing Machines
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Lecture 19: The World-Wide Web
19.1. Explain one way in which Cascading Style Sheets can dramatically reduce
the time required to maintain large collections of related web pages.
19.2. The next major step in the development of thew Web is likely to be the
transmission of meaning as opposed to information. Give an example of where
the automatic exchange of meaning could transform an aspect of business or
employment.
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Lecture 21: Web site Function, Style and Content
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Lecture 22: Web page Creation
22.1. What features of HTML have led to its success as the principal standard
for document exchange over the World-Wide Web?
A Comms question
List three important functions of a communications protocol. [3 marks]
A programming question
Discuss key differences and similarities between a cookery recipe
and a computer program. [4 marks]
Part 'B' algorithms question
A description of the operation of three sorting algorithms followed
by a discussion of how performance considerations could influence
choosing between two for a particular task is one possible style of
question. There would be 5 marks for each of the 4 parts. Diagrams
and examples would be as acceptable as text only descriptions.
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