CP2 Computing June 2003

1.	A holiday company attracts customers by sending personally addressed emails to members of the public. These emails contain details of holidays for sale.
(i)	Describe one facility of an email package that would enable this type of communication.	[1]
	One message can be sent to a large number of email users.
(ii)	Describe two benefits to the company of using email for this purpose rather than conventional post.	[2]
	it saves money - cost of paper, printing, postage etc it gets the information to its customers much faster
(iii)	Give two concerns that some people may have about the increasing use of this type of email.	[2]
	too much 'spam' - unwanted email advertising - even some from unwanted sites eg pornographic advertisements. viruses may be attached to incoming emails.
(iv)	The email addresses were purchased from another holiday company. How could a member of the public ensure that their details are not passed from one company to another?	[1]
	a person may request that his email address is not passed on.
(v)	Data privacy has to be considered when the company stores the customer's information. Briefly explain the term data privacy.	[1]
	Data should not be seen by unauthorised people - especially if it is personal data.

2.	A company enters customers' complaints into its computer system using a speech recognition system.
(i)	Describe two benefits for the company of using speech input rather than keyboard input.	[2]
	data can be entered by people with low IT skills. there should be no problems with spelling as the system should automatically spell words correctly.
(ii)	Describe two situations where keyboard input would still be required.	[2]
	some words may not be recognised by the system eg a person's name. some words may need to be corrected eg words that sound the same (to, too and two)

3.	A supermarket has stores throughout the country and uses both local area networks and a wide area network.
(i)	Explain the difference between a local area network and a wide area network.	[1]
	a local area network is connected through cables and is usually on the same site. A wide area network is on different sites connected through the telephone system.
(ii)	Briefly describe how the supermarket may sensibly make use of a local area network and give an example of data that would be carried on this network.	[2]
	all its tills (POS terminals) would be connected through a LAN to a central file server. bar codes of items purchased would be sent to the file server and prices and descriptions sent back to the tills.
(iii)	Briefly describe how the supermarket may sensibly make use of a wide area network and give an example of data that would be carried on this network.	[2]
	the central file server would need to be connected through a WAN to the company's main computer and other suppliers. when items need to be re-ordered the data can be sent over the WAN

4(a)	Explain one function of the operating system when managing input and output.	[1]
	the operating system makes sure the data goes to the right place - input data gets stored in the right place in memory and output data goes to the right peripheral.
(b)	For each of the following situations state a suitable mode of operation for the operating system. In each case give one reason why it is most suitable.
(i)	Selling individual seat tickets for a play at a theatre.	[2]
	real-time (transaction) processing data needs to be updated immediately so the same seat does not get booked twice.
(ii)	Running the monthly payroll application for every employee in a company.	[2]
	batch processing. it can all be run together with no human intervention. There is no urgency.

5(a)	State two benefits of using a database system to store large amounts of data.	[2]
	there will be no data redundancy - using up storage space by storing the same data twice in different places. there will be no data inconsistencies. Data stored in different places not exactly the same.
(b)	Describe two reasons why data duplication is undesirable in a database.	[2]
	there may be inconsistency of data. Two copies of the same data may be slightly different. if data is changed, then more than one copy of the data needs to be altered.

6(a)	Serial access and sequential access files are widely used in computing.
(i)	Describe the difference in the organisation of such files.	[2]
	serial access files - the records are stored in the order in which they are created. sequential access files - records are stored in sorted order of a key field.
(ii)	Describe how a record is added to
	I. a serial access file,	[1]
	a new record is added onto the end of the file.
	II. a sequential access file.	[2]
	a new record needs to be inserted' into the right place in order of the key field.
(b)	Give one example of the use of a serial access file and one example of the use of a sequential access file. In each case explain why it is the most suitable way of organising the file.	[4]
	a transaction file is a serial file. new transactions are added onto the end of the file as they are created. a master file is a sequential access file. the records are sorted so it is much faster for the computer to find and access a particular record.
(c)	State one attribute that a file may have.	[1]
	a file may be 'read-only' or 'read-write'

7.	Parallel processing often allows large calculations to be performed more quickly. Explain in detail why this is the case.	[2]
	a task is divided into smaller tasks and allocated to a number of different processors. each processor works on their task at the same time and the results are collated at the end.

8.	A software company produces 'computer based learning' software for primary schools. One product helps the pupils with their spelling. The pupils are shown objects on the screen and then they are asked to type in the name of the object. The program then checks if the name of the object has been spelt correctly.
(i)	Give one reason why the teacher may welcome the use of this software and one reason why the pupil might welcome its use.	[2]
	pupils can work on their spelling without the teacher's attention, while the teacher can attend to a pupil having difficulty. pupils can progress at their own speed without being held back by slow pupils.
(ii)	Describe one possible problem that may arise in the classroom as a result of using this software.	[1]
	pupils with little IT ability being unable to use the program and becoming bored.
(iii)	Describe one useful feature that may be provided by this software.	[1]
	the use of colour and sound may make it more interesting for pupils to use so they are more attentive.

9(a)	Explain what is meant by the term address-bus.	[1]
	a parallel path down which addresses are transmitted.
(b)	Using an example in each case, explain the difference between analogue and digital data.	[2]
	analogue measurement can take any value within a range of numbers eg temperature digital measurement has distinct values eg the number of users logged on to a website.
(c)	Give an example of the type of communication that would be exchanged during handshaking between a computer and a printer.	[2]
	a computer sends a signal to the printer asking 'are you ready to receive data?'; the printer returns a signal saying 'Yes I am ready to receive', then the computer sends the data to the printer.

10.	Staff at a bank have access to both the Internet and their own company Intranet.
(i)	What is the difference between the Internet and an Intranet?	[1]
	the Internet is a world-wide network and can be used anywhere in the world connected to a telephone network; an Intranet is only accessible within a particular site eg the bank.
(ii)	Giving an example, explain what type of information might be found on the bank Intranet but not on the Internet.	[2]
	Information which is only of interest to the staff of the bank, or which should not be made available to others outside the bank. eg. staff email addresses or messages from the manager to all members of the bank staff.

11.	In the following question, additional credit (up to 3 marks) will be given if your answer demonstrates skill in written communication. A major newspaper organisation has offices in London that are open twenty-four hours a day. Reporters travel to remote parts of the world to gather news. During the last ten years the reporters have been provided with portable satellite systems and laptop computers that allow the reporters to access the Internet and email. Prior to the introduction of this technology news stories were sent to London using the post, fax or telephone. Describe the benefits for the reporters of having email and Internet access. Explain how the newspaper and the general public benefit from the reporters using this technology. Describe any drawbacks of using this technology.	[8 + 3]
	When a reporter has a story which needs to be sent to the London offices, he does not need to find a telephone or a post office (these may not be readily available in some remote parts of the world). He can use a laptop and satellite system anywhere. The reporter may also be able to send messages to the offices and receive a fast response. He will also be able to send pictures or moving videos as attachments to emails. With a link to the Internet he can keep track of developing stories which may be related to his own work. The newspaper will benefit by being in contact with all its reporters and can quickly give them instructions or direct them to different places where stories may be developing. The public will benefit by being able to read about the stories very shortly after they have happened instead of waiting a few days. The drawback of using this technology is that the equipment has to be moved around with the reporter and this can be somewhat cumbersome. The batteries will need to be kept topped up and in working order.