Multiple Choice Place Your Answers on the Answer Sheet Provided

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Multiple Choice – Place your answers on the answer sheet provided.

2003 HSC

1. At which stage in the software development cycle would the design of the user interface be first considered?

(A) Defining and understanding

(B) Implementation

(D) Maintenance

2. Applicants for a job vacancy were asked to show their ability to:

• define the scope of systems development projects;

• monitor and control the development and cost of systems;

• ensure that all project group activities are coordinated with other project groups, operations and other user areas;

• produce accurate and timely project status reports.

What is the most likely position that was being advertised?

(A) Analyst/Programmer

(B) Customer Support Analyst

(D) Web Developer

3. Consider the following fragment of pseudocode.

PRINT “Have you ever been refused credit?”

READ answer

IF answer = “yes” THEN

provide_credit = FALSE

ENDIF

Which of the following is the BEST data type for the variable provide_credit?

(A) Boolean

(B) Date

(D) Integer

4. A school installed hardware and software in order to process students’ attendance data. The attendance system was tested using the data from one class and it appeared to work as expected. On the first day of actual use the system ran too slowly to be acceptable.

What type of testing would have foreseen this problem?

(A) Black box

(B) Mixed transaction types

(D) Volume data

5. One approach to systems development uses well-defined phases with set tasks anddeliverables from each phase. What is this approach called?

(A) End-user development

(B) Phased approach

(D) Structured approach

6. Which are the two most important roles in determining the requirements for a newsystem?

(A) Programmer and systems analyst

(B) Project manager and systems analyst

(D) User and systems analyst

7. Napster was a peer-to-peer file sharing system that allowed computer users to download music (MP3) files. It was closed down after a court ruling in the USA.

Which of the following BEST summarises the reason for the closure of Napster?

(A) It had engaged in illegal outsourcing.

(B) It had engaged in copyright infringement.

(D) Peer-to-peer networking breached the Software Developers’ Code of Conduct.

8. Consider the following fragment of pseudocode.

Index = 1

Highest = Array[Index]

WHILE Index < = ArraySize

IF Array[Index] > Highest then

Highest = Array[Index]

ENDIF

Increment Index

ENDWHILE

What is the purpose of this algorithm?

(A) To find the largest number in an array

(B) To find the position of the largest number in an array

(D) To sort an array of integers in descending order

9. An advantage of using an interpreter to translate source code is that

(A) it uses less space in RAM.

(B) the source code is protected.

(D) the machine code can be used by any CPU.

10. Consider the following algorithm.

BEGIN

READ first_number, second_number

REPEAT

total = first_number + second_number

first_number = second_number

second_number = total

UNTIL total > 8

PRINT second_number

END

If first_number = 1 and second_number = 2, what is the first value of second_number

printed by the program?

(A) 5

(B) 8

(D) 21

11. Which of the following is a major problem with prototyping?

(A) Provision of feedback from users is simple.

(B) Development time is increased unnecessarily.

(D) The project team may be committed to a solution before there is a thorough

understanding of the problem.

12. In which activity of the software development cycle should the impact of a new software system on the working conditions of the employees of an organisation be addressed?

(A) Preparing a feasibility study

(B) Testing for a mix of transactions

(D) Ensuring that coding matches benchmarks

13. In a Victorian Supreme Court case an Australian citizen sought damages against anAmerican company for publishing defamatory comments over the Internet. The court found that, while the publication of the defamatory comments was not made in Australia, a person may sue in the country where defamation occurs.

Of what is this an example?

(A) Decompilation being used to identify the source of the defamation

(B) Legal implications of the implementation of technology

(D) Social implications of the implementation of technology

2004 HSC

14. Why does a project manager use a Gantt chart?

(A) To assist in writing the computer code

(B) To help with maintenance of the system

(D) To help in maintaining the software when it is written

15. What type of documentation would an inexperienced user be most likely to access?

(A) On-line

(B) Project

(D) User specification

16. Consider the following fragment of pseudocode.

BEGIN

n = 0

FOR n = 1 TO 3

print n

NEXT n

print n

END

What would be the output from this pseudocode?

(A) 1, 2, 3

(B) 0, 1, 2, 3

(D) 0, 1, 2, 3, 3

17. A team of software developers created a new library system that consists of a number of modules. Each module was fully tested using real data, and operated as expected. The new system was installed in the library. At the end of the day it failed to operate correctly when attempting to produce a summary report.

Which of the following was not fully tested?

(A) Response times

(B) Large file sizes

(D) The interface between the modules

18. Newer CASE tools have been developed that will automatically generate code for aproject from design specifications.

What will change as a result of this emerging technology?

(A) The compilation process

(B) The way code is interpreted

(D) The role of the software developer

19. A given CPU is able to carry out the following instructions:

load rx ab Load register rx with the hexadecimal value ab

store rx my Store the contents of register rx in memory location my

add rxry Add the contents of register rx and ry and place results in register ry

stop Stop execution

The following lines of code are executed:

load r1 2D

load r2 11

add r1 r2

store r1 m1

stop

What is the hexadecimal value of the contents of m1 after execution?

(A) 2D

(B) 3E

(D) 62

20. Which name is given to the process of obtaining source code from object code?

(A) Backward engineering

(B) Compilation

(D) Reverse engineering

21. If a small team of developers was employed to solve a computer problem in a restricted amount of time, which software development approach would NOT be suitable?

(A) Structured

(B) Prototyping

(D) A combination of rapid application development and prototyping

22. It is difficult to determine who is responsible for an error in a computerised system.

While front-line service personnel or incompetent users are the first to be blamed, the problem is more likely to be poor user interface, lack of training or errors in the software.

Of what is this an example?

(A) Legal implications of computing

(B) Ethical implications of computing

(D) Environmental implications of computing

2005 HSC

23. A software development project involves ongoing communication and combined

decision making between the software developer and the client.

Which of the following would best describe the approach used during software

development?

(A) Client empowerment approach

(B) Data flow approach

(D) Structured approach

24. A software development project for a small company is being outsourced. The project has a restricted budget.

Which of the following software development approaches would be the best to use in this situation?

(A) End user development

(B) Phased development

(D) Structured development

25. The term quality assurance is used in relation to the development of software.

Which of the following best describes quality assurance?

(A) Ensuring the user can access the data

(B) Ensuring the software is of high quality

(D) Ensuring the user can access the source code

2006 HSC

Question 26

After detailed investigations, a university has determined that many students enrolled in its software development courses are engaged in plagiarism. The students are either:

•using existing code, without appropriately acknowledging the source;

•copying other students’ code; or

•paying an online service to produce code.

(i) Define intellectual property. (1)

(ii) Describe the relationship between plagiarism and intellectual property. (2)

In an attempt to solve its plagiarism issue, the university has decided to implement a software solution. The software scans files submitted by students, looking for identical patterns in all submitted work. It compares:

•intrinsic documentation;

•comments; and

•the order of control structures used in the solutions.

(iii) Explain how these factors could be used to identify possible cases of plagiarism. (1)

(iv) Discuss limitations of this software solution, and propose improvements. (2)

2005 HSC

Question 27

The installation of a new software solution uses the phased method ofimplementation.

(i) Define the term phased method of implementation.(1)

(ii) Discuss reasons for using the phased method of implementation.

Illustrate your reasons using realistic examples.(2)

2004 HSC

Question 28

(a) A commercial organisation is considering the structured approach to the

development of a system.

(i) Define the structured approach to software development.(1)

(ii) List the advantages and disadvantages of the structured approach and

analyse ONE advantage and ONE disadvantage from your list.(3)

(iii) Describe the rights and responsibilities of a commercial software

developer that would need to be considered when making the choice to

use the structured approach.(2)

(b) A veterinary practice that employs two veterinary surgeons, an assistant nurse

and an office manager has contracted a programmer to develop a software

solution for the management of its accounts and client files. Currently the

practice has no software system. The programmer has decided to use a

prototyping approach in the development of the solution.

(i) Define the prototyping approach to software development(1).

(ii) When the software solution is complete, the programmer wishes to sell

the program to other veterinary practices.

Outline the issues involved. (2)

(iii) Describe the involvement of the staff at the veterinary practice in the

software development process.(2)

2006

Question 29

(a)(i) Convert the decimal integer 23 to an 8 bit binary number and state its two’s complement. (1)

(ii) Explain how two’s complement is used in binary division. (1)

(iii) Discuss different ways an 8 bit pattern, such as 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0, could be interpreted by a computer. (2)

(b) A security light system is controlled by three sensors. The sensors detect movement, causing the system to turn the security lights on. The three sensors are connected to the lights via the circuit drawn below.

(i) Evaluate the suitability of this circuit by constructing a truth table. (1)

(ii) Draw a circuit for the security light system which would turn the lights on when:

•Sensor A is on, AND (1)

•either Sensor B OR Sensor C is on. (1)

(c) A robotic manufacturing tool is used to design and create a CPU. The system allows the user to draw the basic outline of the circuit using a mouse. This information is then processed and sent to a robotic chip maker that traces the design onto a silicon chip using a single beam of laser light.

The system has the following control characters.

(Question continues on next page)

Note that when the system turns on it starts at x =0, y =0.

(i) Identify a device that is used to input data to the above system. (1)

(ii) Using the commands below, construct the design that would appear on the chip (2)

Loff

M(2,2)

Lon

Eline(3,4)

Eline(4,4)

Loff

M(2,2)

Lon

Mem

Loff

(iii) The locations x and y are each stored as a byte within the control characters.

When designing the system, the programmers need to consider:

•the speed of transmission of the data packets; and

•the total number of memory units that could be placed on the chip.

Explain the effect that the number of bits used to store x and y has on these two factors. (2)