Computer Science 9608

Topical Past Papers

2.3.1 Programming Basics

Oct/NOV 2009. P11

10. (b) Explain why I and T are unsuitable as variable names and say how they can be improved. [2]

May/June 2011. P23

3. Kris has written a program that will work out the wages for her staff. The main steps for each employee are: to
work out the hours worked, work out the total earnings, work out tax and finally print out how much will be taken
home.

(e) (i) Explain how it is possible to use the same variable name for different variables in different modules. [2]

(ii) Explain how this can help when modules are programmed separately. [3]

Oct/Nov 2011. P21

2 Nathan is designing a software solution for stock control in a mobile phone shop. He has a colleague, called Andre,
who will help him write the program. Nathan decides to modularise the solution.

(a) Nathan will write the ShopSales module and Andre will write the OnlineSales module.
Nathan will use the identifier Sale for a sale in the shop, and Andre will use the identifier Sale for an online
order.
Explain how they can both use the same identifier and not cause a problem when the program is run. [2]
(b) Both programmers need to choose other identifiers that they will use.
(i) Explain why there are some words that cannot be used as identifiers. [1]
(ii) State three other rules of a high-level programming language that restrict the choice of
identifiers.
Language [3]
(iii) Give an example of an invalid identifier. [1]

Oct/NOV 2012.P21

1 Soni works for a software house which has been asked to design software for a cycle hire company, Super Bikes.

Soni decides on the main tasks:

 collecting the information about new bikes

 entering details of repairs
 entering details of hirer
 entering details of payment

(d) Each subtask is coded as a program module.

Explain how it is possible to use the same variable name for different variables in different modules. [2]

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2 (b) (ii) Describe what is meant by a reserved word. [2]

May/June 2013. P21/22

3 Meena needs to be aware of her average grade and declares a variable AvMark, which she decides will be a
global variable.

(a) State where in the program a global variable is declared. [1]

(b) Using only global variables is poor programming practice.

Give a possible problem that could result from this. [1]

(c) Good programming practice uses local variables.

What is the scope of a local variable? [1]

May/June 2013. P23

3 Meena needs to be aware of her average mark and declares a variable with identifier MyAvMark which she
decides will be a global variable.

(a) State where in the program a global variable will be declared. [1]

(b) Using only global variables is poor programming practice.

Give a possible problem that could result from this. [1]

Oct/Nov 2013.P21

2 (a) Juan has little programming experience, but has to write code for this program. He has written the following
pseudocode statements.

For each statement describe what is wrong and write a correct version.

(i) IF Index > 5000 OR < 0 THEN OUTPUT "Error" [2]

(ii) NumberOfCopies[Index] + 1 ← NumberOfCopies[Index] [2]
(iii) NumberOfCopies[Index] ← "three" [2]

Oct/Nov 2013.P22

1 (c) (i) Jemma is using the variable Percentage in one module and a different variable called Percentage in
another module.

Explain the feature of a high-level programming language that avoids any possible conflict. [2]

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2.3.1 Programming Basics

Oct/Nov 2013.P23

1 The Science Department has a problem keeping track of its equipment. Ashvin has been asked to design and
program a solution as his Computing Project.

(a) Ashvin has little programming experience, but has to write code for this program. He starts by writing some
pseudocode.
For each statement, describe what is wrong and write a correct version.
(i) NoOfBalances + 1 ← NoOfBalances [2]
(ii) IF NoOfPipettes > NoOfBeakers OR < NoOfBottles THEN OUTPUT “Check
the numbers” [2]

4 Ashvin is also learning about recursion. He writes the pseudocode for a recursive function.

1 FUNCTION Calc(X)

2 DECLARE Temp

3 IF X > 0

4 THEN

5 Temp ← X + Calc(X – 2)

6 ELSE

7 Temp ← 0

8 ENDIF

9 RETURN Temp

10 ENDFUNCTION

(a) What is the scope of the variable Temp? [1]

(b) State the line number which shows that this function is recursive. [1]

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2.3.1 Programming Basics

Oct/Nov 2014. P21

4 Ahmed combines white tiles with tiles of one other colour to make a pattern. He draws a design. Here is one
example:

Ahmed wants a program to calculate how many tiles he needs of each colour.

(a) Ali stores the design in a 2-dimensional array, FloorDesign. The length and width of the room will be no
more than 35 tiles each.

(i) Suggest a value Ali should use to represent the white and coloured tiles. [1]

Oct/Nov 2014.P22

3 A game is played by two players. Player A uses white tokens ( ). Player B uses black tokens ( ). The players
take turns dropping tokens into a vertical grid. The tokens fall straight down and occupy the next available space in
the chosen column. The aim of the game is to connect four of one’s own colour tokens. This must be done in a
vertical, horizontal or diagonal line.

Here is one example after Player A has had 2 turns and Player B has had 1 turn:

Nathan wants to write a program to allow two users to play the game on the computer.

The program will display a simplified version of the above grid which is redrawn after every turn.

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(a) Before any tokens have been dropped into the grid, all grid cells are empty.

(i) Suggest values Nathan should use to represent:

Empty cell ..........................................................................................................................

White token .......................................................................................................................

Black token ......................................................................................................................... [2]

(iii) Write the statement to assign the value for a black token to the cell shown in the diagram. [2]

May/June 2015.P21/P22

3 A board game is designed for two players, O and X.

At the beginning, all cells of a 3 x 3 grid are empty.

The players take turns in placing their marker in an empty cell of the grid; player O always starts.

The game ends when one player completes a row, column or diagonal or the grid is full.

Here is one example after three turns:

Ali wants to write a program to play the game.

(a) The array Grid is to be used to represent the contents of the grid.

Rows and columns are to be numbered from 1 to 3.

(i) To take their turn, the player inputs a row number and a column number to place their marker in an
empty cell.
Write the values player X has input to place their marker, ‘X’, in the above diagram:
Row ...................................................................................................................................
Column ......................................................................................................................... [1]
(ii) State the value Ali could use to represent an empty cell. [1]

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(c) (c) Ali uses the top-down design approach for his overall program solution.

His design is as follows:

01 GameEnd ← FALSE

02 CurrentPlayer ← 'O'

03 CALL DisplayGrid()

04

05 REPEAT

06 CALL PlayerTakesTurn(CurrentPlayer)

07 CALL DisplayGrid()

08 IF HasPlayerWon() = TRUE

09 THEN

10 GameEnd ← TRUE

11 OUTPUT "Player", CurrentPlayer, "has won"

12 ELSE

13 IF GridFull() = TRUE

14 THEN

15 GameEnd ← TRUE

16 OUTPUT "Draw"

17 ELSE

18 CALL SwapPlayer(CurrentPlayer)

19 ENDIF

20 ENDIF

21 UNTIL GameEnd = TRUE

(v) Complete the identifier table below.

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[5]

May/June 2015.P23

2 Ali has designed a board game.

The board consists of numbered squares.

Slides and ladders connect some of the squares.

An example layout of a board is:

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The object of the game is for a player to move from the bottom square (Square 01) to the top square (Square 30).

A roll of a 6-sided die determines how many squares the player moves.

The table below shows example moves. These use the board layout above, with the player currently on Square 04.

Ali plans to write a program to test different board designs. Each board design will have different numbers, positions
and lengths for the slides and ladders.

The program is to test each board design to check that it is possible to complete the game in a reasonable number of
moves.

For each board design, the program will simulate playing the game 1000 times and report the average number of
moves.

(a) Ali starts the high level design of his program using pseudocode.

01 CALL InitialiseArray() // blank board

02 CALL InputBoardDesign() // add slides and ladders data

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03 TotalMoves ← …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

04 FOR Game ← ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

05 // play next game and update TotalMoves

06 TotalMoves ← TotalMoves + NumberOfMovesInThisGame()

07 …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

08 AverageMovesPerGame ← …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

09 OUTPUT AverageMovesPerGame

(a) (v) List the variable identifiers used in the pseudocode. [2]

(d) (i) A high-level programming language has a built-in function that generates a random number. The function is
defined as follows:

Ali’s program is to use this random number generator to simulate the rolling of a die. Complete the statement to
assign a number between 1 and 6 to NumberRolled.

NumberRolled ← ............................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................... [1]

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2.3.1 Programming Basics

Computer Science (9608)
May/June 2015.P21/P22

1 A marathon runner records their time for a race in hours, minutes and seconds.

An algorithm is shown below in structured English.

INPUT race time as hours, minutes and seconds

CALCULATE race time in seconds

STORE race time in seconds

OUTPUT race time in seconds

(a) The identifier table needs to show the variables required to write a program for this algorithm. Complete the
table.

[3]

(b) Before the program is written, the design is amended.

The new design includes input of the runner’s current personal best marathon time (in seconds).

The output will now also show one of the following messages:

• “Personal best time is unchanged”

• “New personal best time”
• “Equals personal best time”
(i) Show the additional variable needed for the new design.

[1]

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2.3.1 Programming Basics

5 A company creates two new websites, Site X and Site Y, for selling bicycles.

Various programs are to be written to process the sales data.

These programs will use data about daily sales made from Site X (using variable SalesX) and Site Y (using variable
SalesY).

Data for the first 28 days is shown below:

(e) The DISCOUNT_DATES text file is successfully created.

The company now wants a program to:

• key in a date entered by the user

• search the text file for this date
• if found, output one of the following messages:
o “No discount on this date”
o “This is a discount date”
• if not found, output “Date not found”

(i) Add to the identifier table to show the variables you need for this new program

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[3]

May/June 2015.P23

1 Horses are entered for a horse race. A horse may have to carry a penalty weight in addition to the rider. This
weight is added to the saddle. The penalty weight (if any) depends on the number of wins the horse has achieved in
previous races.

The penalty weight is calculated as follows:

A program is to be written from the following structured English design.

1 INPUT name of horse

2 INPUT number of previous wins

3 CALCULATE penalty weight

4 STORE penalty weight

5 OUTPUT name of horse, penalty weight

(a) Complete the identifier table showing the variables needed to code the program.

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[3]

5 A firm employs workers who assemble amplifiers. Each member of staff works an agreed number of hours each
day.

The firm records the number of completed amplifiers made by each employee each day.

Management monitor the performance of all its workers.

Production data was collected for 3 workers over 4 days.

A program is to be written to process the production data.

(c) An experienced programmer suggests that the pseudocode would be best implemented as a procedure
AnalyseProductionData.

Assume that both arrays, DailyHoursWorked and ProductionData, are available to the procedure from the
main program and they are of the appropriate size.

PROCEDURE AnalyseProductionData(NumDays : INTEGER, NumWorkers : INTEGER)

DECLARE …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

DECLARE …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

DECLARE …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

DECLARE …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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FOR WorkerNum ← 1 TO 3

WorkerTotal[WorkerNum] ← 0

ENDFOR

FOR WorkerNum ← 1 TO 3

FOR DayNum ← 1 TO 4

WorkerTotal[WorkerNum] ← WorkerTotal[WorkerNum] +

ProductionData[DayNum, WorkerNum]

ENDFOR

ENDFOR

FOR WorkerNum ← 1 TO 3

WorkerAverage ← WorkerTotal[WorkerNum]/ (4 * DailyHoursWorked [WorkerNum])

IF WorkerAverage < 2

THEN

OUTPUT "Investigate", WorkerNum

ENDIF

ENDFOR

ENDPROCEDURE

(i) Complete the declaration statements showing the local variables. [4]

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Oct/Nov 2015.P21/P23

1 Computer programs have to evaluate expressions.

Study the sequence of pseudocode statements.
Write down the value assigned to each variable.

(i) Perimeter …………………………………… [1]

(ii) Area ……………………………………….. [1]
(iii) Z …………………………………………………… [1]
(iv) A ………………………………………………………… [1]

6 A firm employs five staff who take part in a training programme. Each member of staff must
complete a set of twelve tasks which can be taken in any order. When a member of staff successfully completes a
task, this is recorded.
A program is to be produced to record the completion of tasks for the five members of staff.
To test the code, the programmer makes the program generate test data.
The program generates pairs of random numbers:
• the first, in the range, 1 to 5 to represent the member of staff
• the second, in the range, 1 to 12 to represent the task
Each pair of numbers simulates the completion of one task by one member of staff.
(a) Explain why the generation of 60 (5 staff x 12 tasks) pairs of random numbers will not simulate all tasks
completed by all staff. [2]
(b) Data is currently recorded manually as shown.

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The table shows that two members of staff have each successfully completed one task.
The program must use a suitable data structure to store, for all staff:
• tasks successfully completed
• tasks not yet successfully completed
The program will output the staff number and task number in the order in which tasks are
completed.

The program design in pseudocode is produced as follows:

01 DECLARE StaffNum : INTEGER
02 DECLARE TaskNum : INTEGER
03 DECLARE …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
04 DECLARE NewStaffTask : BOOLEAN
05
06 CALL InitialiseTaskGrid
07 Completed 0←
08 WHILE Completed <> 60
09 NewStaffTask ←
FALSE
10 WHILE NewStaffTask = FALSE
11 StaffNum ← RANDOM(1,5) //generates a random number

12 TaskNum ← RANDOM(1,12)
//in the given range
13 IF TaskGrid[StaffNum, TaskNum] = FALSE
14 THEN
15 TaskGrid[StaffNum, TaskNum] ← TRUE

16 NewStaffTask ←
TRUE
17 OUTPUT StaffNum, TaskNum
18 ENDIF
19 ENDWHILE
20 Completed ←Completed + 1
21 ENDWHILE
22 OUTPUT "Staff Task Count", Completed
23
24 // end of main program
25
26 PROCEDURE InitialiseTaskGrid()
27 DECLARE i : INTEGER
28 DECLARE j : INTEGER
29 FOR i ← 1 TO 5
30 FOR j ← 1 TO 12

31 TaskGrid[i, j] ← FALSE
32 ENDFOR
33 ENDFOR
34 ENDPROCEDURE
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Study the pseudocode and answer the questions below.
Give the line number for:
(i) The declaration of a BOOLEAN global variable. [1]
(ii) The declaration of a local variable. [1]
(iii) The incrementing of a variable used as a counter, but not to control a ‘count controlled’loop. [1]
(c) (iv) Give the global variable that needs to be declared at line 03. [2]
Oct/Nov 2015.P22
1 Computer programs have to evaluate expressions.
Study the sequence of pseudocode statements.
Give the value assigned to each variable.
The statement may generate an error. If so, write ERROR.
The & operator is used to concatenate strings.

(i) Answer .............................................................................................................................. [1]

(ii) Answer .............................................................................................................................. [1]
(iii) IsValid ........................................................................................................................... [1]
(iv) IsValid ........................................................................................................................... [1]
(v) Answer .............................................................................................................................. [1]

4 The standard pack of playing cards has four suits – called Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades.
Each card has a value shown by its number or a name: 1 (Ace), 2, 3, … 10, 11 (Jack), 12 (Queen),13 (King). The pack of
cards has one combination for each suit and value.
A program is to be written which simulates a magician dealing all 52 cards from the card pack.
The program generates pairs of random numbers:
• the first, in the range 1 to 4, to represent the suit
• the second, in the range 1 to 13, to represent the card value
(a) Explain why the generation of 52 (4 suits x 13 card values) pairs of random numbers will not simulate the dealing
of the complete pack. [2]
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(b) A representation of dealing out the cards is shown below:

The table shows two cards have been dealt so far; the 3 of Hearts and the Jack of Clubs.
When each card is dealt, the appropriate cell changes from F to T.
The program will output the suit and the card value in the order in which the cards are dealt.

The program design in pseudocode is produced as follows:

01 DECLARE SuitNum : INTEGER
02 DECLARE CardValue : INTEGER
03 DECLARE DealCount : INTEGER
04 DECLARE NewCard : BOOLEAN
05 DECLARE CardPack …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
06
07 CALL InitialiseCardPack
08 DealCount 0 ←
09 WHILE DealCount <> 52
10 NewCard ←
FALSE
11 WHILE NewCard = FALSE
12 SuitNum ← RANDOM(1,4) // generates a random number

13 CardValue ←
RANDOM(1,13) // in the range given
14 IF CardPack[SuitNum, CardValue] = FALSE
15 THEN
16 CardPack[SuitNum, CardValue] ← TRUE

17 NewCard TRUE ←
18 OUTPUT SuitNum, CardValue
19 ENDIF
20 ENDWHILE
21 DealCount ←
DealCount + 1
22 ENDWHILE
23
24 // end of main program
25

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26 PROCEDURE InitialiseCardPack
27 DECLARE i : INTEGER
28 DECLARE j : INTEGER
29 FOR i ← 1 TO 4

30 FOR j ← 1 TO 13
31 CardPack[i, j] ← FALSE
32 ENDFOR
33 ENDFOR
34 ENDPROCEDURE

Study the pseudocode and answer the questions below:

Give the line number for:

(ii) The declaration of a local variable. [1]

(iii) The initialisation of a variable used as a counter, but not to control a ‘count controlled’loop. [1]
(f) Complete the declaration of the global variable at line 05.
05 DECLARE CardPack .................................................................................................... [1]
5 A program is to process a set of integers.
The integers are stored in an array, Num. The first N elements are to be processed.
The pseudocode for this program is shown below:
FOR i ← 1 TO (N - 1)
j ← 1
REPEAT
IF Num[j] > Num[j + 1]
THEN
Temp ← Num[j]
Num[j] ← Num[j + 1]
Num[j + 1] ← Temp
ENDIF
j ← j + 1
UNTIL j = (N – i + 1)
ENDFOR
(b) Complete the identifier table documenting the use of each of the variables.

[5]

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6 Some pseudocode statements follow which use the following built-in functions:

(b) A program is to be written as follows:

• the user enters a string
• the program will form a new string with all <Space> characters removed
• the new string is output
NewString ←
" "
INPUT InputString
j ← CHARACTERCOUNT(InputString)
FOR i ← 1 TO j

NextChar ←
ONECHAR(InputString, i)
IF NextChar <> " "
THEN
// the & character joins together two strings
NewString ← NewString & NextChar
ENDIF
ENDFOR
OUTPUT NewString
(i) Complete the identifier table below.

[4]

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