AP COMPUTER SCIENCE PRINCIPLES EXAM
Overflow - Answers- error that results when the number of bits is not enough to hold the
number, like a car's odometer "rolling over"
Round-off - Answers- 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 - Answers- 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 - Answers- 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
Not reasonable time - Answers- Usually exponential in the number of steps, like
doubling every time your input grows by one
Heuristic - Answers- using a "rule" to guide an algorithm, like always walking toward the
north star if you were stuck in a forest
Undecidable - Answers- 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 - Answers- Going one by one vs starting in the middle and going left/right
like looking for a word in the dictionary
Binary Search - Answers- requires the list to be sorted in order and then cutting the list
in half
APIs - Answers- Application Programming Interface
Citizen Science - Answers- 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 - Answers- Using distributed calculations and/or storage for big data
or a web application
Crowdsourcing - Answers- 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 - Answers- 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 - Answers- A policy that allows people to have read access to things, e.g.,
libraries or online data
Moore's Law - Answers- The # of transistors on a chip doubles every two years
Peer-to-peer Networks - Answers- 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
Digital Divide - Answers- The idea that some communities / populations have less
access to computing than others
Metadata - Answers- data about data, like a camera storing the location, aperture,
shutter speed, etc. for a digital photo
Sequencing - Answers- code flows line by line, one after another, like a recipe
Selection - Answers- a boolean condition to determine which of two algorithmic paths
are taken, aka if-then
Iteration - Answers- using a looping control structure, like while, for, foreach, repeat,
repeat-until, etc.
Reasonable Time - Answers- polynomial in the number of steps an algorithm takes in
the worst case based on the input size
ISP - Answers- Internet Service Provider
How does internet communication arrive at its destination? - Answers- Speech on the
Internet goes from the source to an ISP, into the cloud, out of the cloud to another ISP,
and to its destination
How can the government control speech on the Internet? - Answers- 1) It can try to
control the speaker or the speaker's ISP, by criminalizing certain kinds of speech. But
that won't work if the speaker isn't in the same country as the listener.
2)It can try to control the listener, by prohibiting possession of certain kinds of materials.
In the U.S., possession of copyrighted software without an appropriate license is illegal,
as is possession of other copyrighted material with the intent to profit from redistributing
it.
3) The government can try to control the intermediaries.
How can Internet posters evaded being convicted for defamation/slander on the Web? -
Answers- The posters could evade responsibility as long as they remained anonymous,
as they easily could on the Internet.
Overflow - Answers- error that results when the number of bits is not enough to hold the
number, like a car's odometer "rolling over"
Round-off - Answers- 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 - Answers- 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 - Answers- 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
Not reasonable time - Answers- Usually exponential in the number of steps, like
doubling every time your input grows by one
Heuristic - Answers- using a "rule" to guide an algorithm, like always walking toward the
north star if you were stuck in a forest
Undecidable - Answers- 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 - Answers- Going one by one vs starting in the middle and going left/right
like looking for a word in the dictionary
Binary Search - Answers- requires the list to be sorted in order and then cutting the list
in half
APIs - Answers- Application Programming Interface
Citizen Science - Answers- 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 - Answers- Using distributed calculations and/or storage for big data
or a web application
Crowdsourcing - Answers- 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 - Answers- 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 - Answers- A policy that allows people to have read access to things, e.g.,
libraries or online data
Moore's Law - Answers- The # of transistors on a chip doubles every two years
Peer-to-peer Networks - Answers- 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
Digital Divide - Answers- The idea that some communities / populations have less
access to computing than others
Metadata - Answers- data about data, like a camera storing the location, aperture,
shutter speed, etc. for a digital photo
Sequencing - Answers- code flows line by line, one after another, like a recipe
Selection - Answers- a boolean condition to determine which of two algorithmic paths
are taken, aka if-then
Iteration - Answers- using a looping control structure, like while, for, foreach, repeat,
repeat-until, etc.
Reasonable Time - Answers- polynomial in the number of steps an algorithm takes in
the worst case based on the input size
ISP - Answers- Internet Service Provider
How does internet communication arrive at its destination? - Answers- Speech on the
Internet goes from the source to an ISP, into the cloud, out of the cloud to another ISP,
and to its destination
How can the government control speech on the Internet? - Answers- 1) It can try to
control the speaker or the speaker's ISP, by criminalizing certain kinds of speech. But
that won't work if the speaker isn't in the same country as the listener.
2)It can try to control the listener, by prohibiting possession of certain kinds of materials.
In the U.S., possession of copyrighted software without an appropriate license is illegal,
as is possession of other copyrighted material with the intent to profit from redistributing
it.
3) The government can try to control the intermediaries.
How can Internet posters evaded being convicted for defamation/slander on the Web? -
Answers- The posters could evade responsibility as long as they remained anonymous,
as they easily could on the Internet.
