problem 1:

a) A product barcode doesn’t contain product price. describe the steps that take place for the price to be obtained. Describe how, in a supermarket, the product price is obtained at the checkout when a product code is scanned.

b) A bank customer has two numbers related with his or her ATM card.

• Name such two numbers.
• describe the internal processes that grant authority for the machine to proceed with transactions by using this card.

c) describe the phases that an email message goes via from the moment the sender presses the SEND button until the time that the recipient reads the message AT A LATER DATE.

d) Name a specific configuration for a LAN and draw a labeled diagram.

e) Name two system programs and illustrate the purpose of each.

f) Illustrate four benefits of using a numeric code for a product instead of using its real name.

g) Describe what is meant by systems life cycle.

Name any three phases of this cycle. For each describe, in one sentence, its main purpose.

h) Name four tasks which a professional business programmer undertakes in his normal course of duty.

i) Spreadsheet programs give a large number of standard functions.

Define function. Name such a function and describe a particular illustration of its use.

j) The membership secretary of a club learns that his work is to be computerized. List four ways in which his work will be changed or enhanced. Your answer must refer specifically to this application.

problem 2: You wish to make a database holding details of all your family and friends so that you could use it to extract details like name, address, telephone number, birthday and relationship to you.

a) Describe how you would first make the structure for this database.

b) Define accurately the terms RECORD and FIELD, giving a single instance of each taken from this application.

c) In table format, list six items of data that would be required for this application, giving, for each, an illustration AND its data-type.

d) You wish to send a greetings card to chosen people listed in the file. Describe how you could print a list of all people, with their birth dates, who have birthdays in February.

e) Describe why date of birth, instead of age, is normally held in a database.

problem 3: Choose a currently available commercial word-processing package. Describe, IN GENERAL TERMS, how each of the given features is accomplished. Avoid answers like “press F4”.

a) The user chooses the spelling checker. describe all the options which are then open to the user. Describe and give two illustrations where the spelling checker cannot be able to detect an error.

b) describe carefully how a block of text can be moved from one part of a document and placed in the other position of the same document.

c) Define the terms SUBSCRIPT and SUPERSCRIPT. Give a specific illustration of the use for each.

Choose one of these and describe how it is implemented.

d) A word-processing document comprises some text that is underlined. This document is then saved onto disk.

The document is retrieved later. Describe how the WORD-PROCESSING PROGRAM itself is able to identify those words that have been underlined.

problem 4:

a) Differentiate clearly between the terms VALIDATION and VERIFICATION.

b) Describe why automatic validation is performed when data is FIRST entered into a computer.

c) Below is CORRECT data held in a college file for a specific student.

Name John Brown
Student number 12343
Date of birth 23/12/1983
Fees due 123.45

prepare down similar data for the other student however with an error in each item, which the COMPUTER would be able to detect as being INCORRECT. Make sure the errors are of different types. In each case, describe why the program would be able to detect the error.

d) Give two specific illustrations where a computer would NOT be able to detect an error, describing why in each case.

problem 5:

a) Differentiate between RAM and ROM.

b) Draw a diagram showing the fundamental configuration of a computer with input, output and storage facilities.

c) Define the term OMR and describe precisely why it is used in the marking of examination papers.

d) Choose two different kinds of printers.

For each, describe how data in memory is physically printed.