129761-2015-syllabus

Syllabus content
2.2 Data representation
Candidates should be able to:
2.2.1 Data types
• select appropriate data types for a problem solution
• use in practical programming the data types that are common to procedural high-level languages:
integer, real, char, string, Boolean, date (pseudocode will use the following data types:
INTEGER, REAL, CHAR, STRING, BOOLEAN, DATE, ARRAY, FILE)
• show understanding of how character and string data are represented by software including the
ASCII and Unicode character sets
2.2.2 Arrays
• use the technical terms associated with arrays including upper and lower bound
• select a suitable data structure (1D or 2D array) to use for a given task
• use pseudocode for 1D and 2D arrays (pseudocode will use square brackets to contain the array
subscript, for example a 1D array as A[1:n] and a 2D array as C[1:m, 1:n])
• write program code using 1D and 2D arrays
• write algorithms/program code to process array data including:
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2.2.3 Files
sorting using a bubble sort
searching using a linear search
• show understanding of why files are needed
• use pseudocode for file handling:
OPENFILE FOR READ/WRITE/APPEND // Open file (understand the
difference between various file modes)
READFILE , // Read a line of text from the file
WRITEFILE , // Write a line of text to the file
CLOSEFILE
// Close file
EOF() // function to test for the end of the file
• write program code for simple file handling of a text file, consisting of several lines of text
26 Cambridge International AS and A Level Computer Science 9608. Syllabus for examination in 2015.