TPJC 2007 Computing Prelim Paper 9754/1 Page 1 of 4

1. The college which have a student management system wishes to develop a new student
management system. As a systems analyst you are required to make some
suggestions.

(a) What would be in your report to the management? [3]

(b) Explain how would you go about gathering information on your new system and the
purpose of each activity? [8]

(c) Before a new system is developed, the systems analyst prepares the system
specifications.

(i) Name 2 purposes of system specifications. [2]

(ii) Identify 2 problems which can arise from system specifications. [2]

(d) The management has decided to go ahead with the development of the new system.
In the course of development, the systems analyst, when documenting the system,
can use a number of different diagrammatic methods to support what is written.

Give three examples of diagrams that might be found in the technical documentation
and explain why they are included. [6]

2. (a) Explain the following aspects of an operating system:

(i) a multi-user and multi-tasking operating system

(ii) memory management

(iii) roles of a scheduler [6]

(b) Describe the functions of a buffer. [2]

3. (a) Explain the difference between a class and an object. [2]

(b) With the aid of a diagram, explain the meaning of

(i) inheritance,

(ii) polymorphism

in object-oriented programming. [4]

(c) Give two advantages of object-oriented programming. [2]

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4. A supermarket sells a large number of different items. Each item is labeled with a unique
bar-code number. The data relating to these stock items are stored on disk using an
index sequential file organization. The indexed file consists of two sub-files. The first
sub-file is the index and the second a sequential file. The index stores the bar-codes
number and the respective relative addresses of the records. To access a record directly,
the index is searched and the result of the search indicates whether the record exists
and hence accessible.

(a) Suggest two possible uses of such an index sequential file. In each case, give one
reason why it is an appropriate choice of file organization. [4]

(b) At least two methods may be used to search the index. Identify any two of these
methods. Describe, by way of an example, the more efficient method. State any
assumption that you might make. [6]

(c) The bar-code number is made up of 6 digits - the leading digit being non-zero and the
last digit a check digit.

(i) What is the aim of including a check digit in the bar-codes number? [1]

(ii) Suggest an algorithm that would generate a check digit for a given bar-codes
number. [6]

(d) The personnel records for those employees who work in the shop are stored in a
linked list in alphabetic order of surname.

(i) Using a diagram, show the list for the employees

Smith, Wu, Arma, Hon
(You should include reference to free space in your diagram)

(ii) Using a second diagram, show how Thor would be added to the list. [6]

5. (a) Describe an appropriate application for each of the following input/output devices. In
each case, explain why the application is appropriate.

(i) Portable data entry terminal

(ii) Magnetic Ink Character Reader (MICR)

(iii) Touch screen

(iv) Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) receiver [12]

(b) With respect to a computer, suggest three hardware changes that would increase the
speed of execution of programs. [3]
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6. (a) Using 8-bit bytes, explain the difference between

(i) an integer in two’s complement form,

(ii) an integer in sign-magnitude form. [4]

(b) In a particular computer system floating-point numbers are held in four 8-bit bytes.
The user has the option of storing numbers
 using two bytes of the mantissa and two bytes for the exponent
or
 using three bytes for the mantissa and one byte for the exponent.
Explain how these two methods differ with respect to

(i) accuracy,

(ii) range. [4]

(c) Using the two methods outlined in (b), write down for each method in binary, the

(i) least positive real number

(ii) most negative real number

(iii) least negative real number [6]

7. A prime number is any whole number (integer) which has only two factors, 1 and itself.
(That is the number is only divisible by 1 and itself, leaving no remainder.)

5 is a prime number because its only factors are 1 and 5.

10 is not a prime number because its factors are 1, 2, 5 and 10.

The exception to this rule is 1, which is not a prime number.

(a) A mathematician wishes to print out all the prime numbers up to 1000, and also print
the total number of prime numbers up to 1000. Write an algorithm which will allow the
mathematician to do this. [7]

(b) Explain how your algorithm will need to be changed if the mathematician wants to
print out the first 1000 prime numbers. [4]
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8. (a) The following diagrams show the syntax of a statement, a variable, a letter and an
operator in a particular language. Write the below syntax diagrams in Backus Naur
Form (BNF). [6]
Statement

Variable ← Variable Operator Variable ;

Variable

Letter

Letter

Letter
Operator
A
+
B
–
C
*
D
/
E

(b) The programmer uses the interpreter to develop his program and when the program
is finally completed and tested, the program is compiled. Give some reasons why you
think the program is developed in this way. [4]

(c) Describe the use of:

(i) linkers;
(ii) loaders
in producing an executable version of the program. [4]

(d) Describe the characteristic features of

(i) imperative programming languages,

(ii) declarative programming languages. [4]

(e) Suggest a problem that can be solved by use of a declarative programming language,
justifying your answer. [2]