COMPUTER CONCEPTS MODULE 8
UPDATED ACTUAL QUESTIONS AND
CORRECT ANSWERS COMPLETE STUDY
GUIDE
●● Round-off
Answer: error that results when the number of bits is not enough to
represent the actual number, like 3 digits to represent π as 3.14
●● Lossy
Answer: Compressing data in a way that throws some data away and
makes it almost impossible to recover the original, great compression,
like JPEG images
●● Lossless
Answer: Compressing data in a way that preserves all data away and
allows full recovery of the original, good compression -- usually not as
good as lossy, like PNG images
●● Metadata
Answer: data about data, like a camera storing the location, aperture,
shutter speed, etc. for a digital photo
,●● Sequencing
Answer: code flows line by line, one after another, like a recipe
●● Selection
Answer: a boolean condition to determine which of two algorithmic
paths are taken, aka if-then
●● Iteration
Answer: using a looping control structure, like while, for, foreach,
repeat, repeat-until, etc.
●● Reasonable Time
Answer: polynomial in the number of steps an algorithm takes in the
worst case based on the input size
●● Not reasonable time
Answer: Usually exponential in the number of steps, like doubling every
time your input grows by one
●● Heuristic
Answer: using a "rule" to guide an algorithm, like always walking
toward the north star if you were stuck in a forest
,●● Undecidable
Answer: A problem that is so difficult, we can't ever create an algorithm
that would be able to answer yes or no for all inputs, like determining if
a user's program run on some input would always stop and not run
forever
●● Linear Search
Answer: Going one by one vs starting in the middle and going left/right
like looking for a word in the dictionary
●● Binary Search
Answer: requires the list to be sorted in order and then cutting the list in
half
●● APIs
Answer: Application Programming Interface
●● Citizen Science
Answer: Lots of people to help with a scientific project, like asking
everyone around the world to count the butterflies they see one day
●● Cloud Computing
Answer: Using distributed calculations and/or storage for big data or a
web application
, ●● Crowdsourcing
Answer: Asking lots of users online to help with something, like funding
a project, or running SETI@Home to help look for extraterrestrial
signals
●● Creative Commons
Answer: An alternative to copyright that allows people to declare how
they want their artistic creations to be shared, remixed, used in
noncommercial contexts, and how the policy should propagate with
remixed versions
●● Open Access
Answer: A policy that allows people to have read access to things, e.g.,
libraries or online data
●● Moore's Law
Answer: The # of transistors on a chip doubles every two years
●● Peer-to-peer Networks
Answer: A system where one user's computer connects through the
Internet to another user's computer without going through an
intermediary "centralized" computer to manage the connection
UPDATED ACTUAL QUESTIONS AND
CORRECT ANSWERS COMPLETE STUDY
GUIDE
●● Round-off
Answer: error that results when the number of bits is not enough to
represent the actual number, like 3 digits to represent π as 3.14
●● Lossy
Answer: Compressing data in a way that throws some data away and
makes it almost impossible to recover the original, great compression,
like JPEG images
●● Lossless
Answer: Compressing data in a way that preserves all data away and
allows full recovery of the original, good compression -- usually not as
good as lossy, like PNG images
●● Metadata
Answer: data about data, like a camera storing the location, aperture,
shutter speed, etc. for a digital photo
,●● Sequencing
Answer: code flows line by line, one after another, like a recipe
●● Selection
Answer: a boolean condition to determine which of two algorithmic
paths are taken, aka if-then
●● Iteration
Answer: using a looping control structure, like while, for, foreach,
repeat, repeat-until, etc.
●● Reasonable Time
Answer: polynomial in the number of steps an algorithm takes in the
worst case based on the input size
●● Not reasonable time
Answer: Usually exponential in the number of steps, like doubling every
time your input grows by one
●● Heuristic
Answer: using a "rule" to guide an algorithm, like always walking
toward the north star if you were stuck in a forest
,●● Undecidable
Answer: A problem that is so difficult, we can't ever create an algorithm
that would be able to answer yes or no for all inputs, like determining if
a user's program run on some input would always stop and not run
forever
●● Linear Search
Answer: Going one by one vs starting in the middle and going left/right
like looking for a word in the dictionary
●● Binary Search
Answer: requires the list to be sorted in order and then cutting the list in
half
●● APIs
Answer: Application Programming Interface
●● Citizen Science
Answer: Lots of people to help with a scientific project, like asking
everyone around the world to count the butterflies they see one day
●● Cloud Computing
Answer: Using distributed calculations and/or storage for big data or a
web application
, ●● Crowdsourcing
Answer: Asking lots of users online to help with something, like funding
a project, or running SETI@Home to help look for extraterrestrial
signals
●● Creative Commons
Answer: An alternative to copyright that allows people to declare how
they want their artistic creations to be shared, remixed, used in
noncommercial contexts, and how the policy should propagate with
remixed versions
●● Open Access
Answer: A policy that allows people to have read access to things, e.g.,
libraries or online data
●● Moore's Law
Answer: The # of transistors on a chip doubles every two years
●● Peer-to-peer Networks
Answer: A system where one user's computer connects through the
Internet to another user's computer without going through an
intermediary "centralized" computer to manage the connection
