CSS Computer Science Fundamentals of Computing & Programming Flashcards

24 sample cards from the Fundamentals of Computing & Programming deck

Sampled from the end of the deck, so these are different cards from the ones shown on the syllabus page.

1. What are the four main categories of productivity (application) software?

   Word processors, spreadsheets, presentation software, and database management systems (e.g., MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access).

2. Distinguish system software from application software.

   System software manages and operates the hardware (e.g., operating systems, device drivers, utilities); application software performs specific user tasks (e.g., word processors, browsers).

3. What is the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web?

   The Internet is the global network of interconnected computers and infrastructure; the WWW is a service running on the Internet consisting of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via HTTP.

4. Define a protocol and name the protocol pair foundational to the Internet.

   A protocol is a set of rules governing data communication; the foundational suite is TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol).

5. What does a URL contain and what does HTTP stand for?

   A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) contains the protocol, domain name, and resource path of a web resource; HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol.

6. List the five computing disciplines defined by the IEEE/ACM Computing Curricula.

   Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, and Software Engineering.

7. How does Computer Science differ from Information Technology as computing disciplines?

   Computer Science focuses on theory, algorithms, and the design of computing systems and software; Information Technology focuses on selecting, deploying, integrating, and maintaining technology to meet organizational needs.

8. What does an algorithm mean, and name two ways to represent one.

   An algorithm is a finite, ordered, step-by-step procedure to solve a problem; it can be represented using flowcharts or pseudocode.

9. List the basic steps of the problem-solving/program development cycle.

   Define/analyze the problem, design the solution (algorithm), code/implement, test and debug, and maintain/document.

10. Name the four basic flowchart symbols and their meanings.

    Oval = start/end (terminal), Parallelogram = input/output, Rectangle = process, Diamond = decision.

11. What is the difference between a compiler and an interpreter?

    A compiler translates the entire source program into machine code at once before execution; an interpreter translates and executes the program line by line at runtime.

12. Differentiate syntax errors, logic errors, and runtime errors.

    Syntax errors violate the language's grammar (caught at compile time); logic errors produce wrong results despite valid syntax; runtime errors occur during execution (e.g., division by zero).

13. What is the difference between a variable and a constant?

    A variable is a named storage location whose value can change during execution; a constant is a named value that remains fixed throughout the program.

14. Distinguish primitive data types from derived/user-defined data types in C/C++.

    Primitive (built-in) types include int, char, float, double, bool; derived/user-defined types include arrays, pointers, structures, unions, and classes built from primitives.

15. What is the difference between cin/cout and the stream insertion (<<) and extraction (>>) operators in C++?

    cin is the standard input stream and cout the standard output stream; >> is the extraction operator (reads from input into a variable) and << is the insertion operator (sends data to output).

16. Name the three categories of control structures in structured programming.

    Sequence, Selection (decision: if, if-else, switch), and Iteration (loops: for, while, do-while).

17. What is the key difference between a while loop and a do-while loop?

    A while loop checks the condition before executing (may run zero times); a do-while loop executes the body first and then checks the condition (always runs at least once).

18. Differentiate break and continue statements in a loop.

    break terminates the loop entirely and transfers control past it; continue skips the rest of the current iteration and proceeds to the next iteration.

19. What is the difference between call by value and call by reference in functions?

    Call by value passes a copy of the argument, so changes inside the function do not affect the original; call by reference passes the actual variable's address/alias, so changes affect the original.

20. What is the difference between a function's parameters and arguments?

    Parameters are the variables listed in the function's definition (formal parameters); arguments are the actual values passed to the function when it is called (actual parameters).

21. How is an array indexed in C/C++, and what is the index of the first element?

    Arrays are zero-indexed, so the first element is at index 0 and the last element of an n-sized array is at index n-1.

22. How is a string represented in C, and what marks its end?

    A C string is a one-dimensional array of characters terminated by the null character '\0', which marks the end of the string.

23. What is a pointer, and which operators are used to declare and dereference it?

    A pointer is a variable that stores the memory address of another variable; the asterisk (*) declares and dereferences the pointer, and the ampersand (&) yields the address of a variable.

24. What is dynamic memory allocation, and which operators/functions perform it in C++ and C?

    Dynamic memory allocation reserves memory at runtime from the heap; in C++ the new and delete operators are used, and in C the functions malloc()/calloc() allocate and free() releases memory.

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