Fundamentals of Computer Systems
Representation of Data
Define a computer system: Input, Process, Output and Storage
Describe the importance of computer systems in the modern
world: Communication, Education, Retail, etc.
Explain the need for reliability in computer systems: Testing and
development
Explain the need for adherence to standards: proprietary, de-facto
and open standards.
Legal and Ethical Issues: Computer Misuse Act, Data Protection Act,
Copyright Design and Patents Act
Units: Bit, Nibble, Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terabyte
Numbers: Binary, Denary, Hexadecimal
Character: Character sets, ASCII, Unicode
Images: Pixels, Metadata, colour depth, resolution
Sound: Sampling and Storing, Sampling intervals
Databases
Computing Hardware
Database: A persistent, organised store of data
Database components: entities, tables, forms, queries, reports.
Logical Operators: equal to (=), less than (<), greater than (>), less
than or equal to (<=), greater than or equal to (>=), not (!=)
Data Validation
The Central Processing Unit (CPU): Purpose and Function
Binary Logic: AND, OR, NOT
RAM and ROM
Input and Output Devices
Secondary Storage
Unit A451:
Computer Systems
and Programming
Software
Programming
Functions of an Operating System: User
Interface, memory management, peripheral
management, multi-tasking and security.
Computer security software: Anti-Virus,
Spyware Protection, Firewalls
Disk Organisation: Formatting, File Transfer,
Defragmentation
System Maintenance: System Information
and Diagnosis, clean-up tools, automatic
updating
Types of Software: Custom written, off the
shelf, open-source, proprietary
Algorithms: Understand Algorithms & Pseudocode
Programming Languages: High-level and machine
code, finding errors in code.
Flow Control: Sequence, Selection, Iteration
Handling Data: Variables and Constants, Data
Types (integer, real, bool, string)
Testing: Syntax Errors and Logic Errors, testing
computer programs.
Networking and Internet
NETWORKS:
Advantages of networking versus Stand-alone computers
Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN)
Networking Hardware: Hubs, Switches, Wireless Access
Points.
Types of Network: Client-Server, Peer-to-Peer
Network Topologies: Ring, Bus, Star
Terms: IP addressing, MAC addressing, packet and
protocols.
Network Security: User access levels, passwords, encryption
Network policies: Acceptable use, disaster recover, failover,
back up, archiving.
INTERNET:
Hardware: Modems, Routers.
IP Addressing and DNS
Hypertext Markup Language
Common files: JPG, GIF, PDF, MP3, MPEG
Lossy v Lossless Compression