Cambridge International Examinations

Cambridge International Advanced Subsidiary and Advanced Level

* 0 9 6 9 3 8 9 3 9 9 *

COMPUTER SCIENCE 9608/22

Paper 2 Fundamental Problem-solving and Programming Skills May/June 2018
2 hours
Candidates answer on the Question Paper.
No Additional Materials are required.
No calculators allowed.

READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

Write your Centre number, candidate number and name in the spaces at the top of this page.
Write in dark blue or black pen.
You may use an HB pencil for any diagrams, graphs or rough working.
Do not use staples, paper clips, glue or correction fluid.
DO NOT WRITE IN ANY BARCODES.

Answer all questions.

No marks will be awarded for using brand names of software packages or hardware.

At the end of the examination, fasten all your work securely together.
The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.

The maximum number of marks is 75.

This document consists of 16 printed pages.

DC (NF/JG) 146141/3
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1 (a) A farm has a number of greenhouses used to grow vegetables. Each greenhouse has a
different identification number. A program is needed to store temperature information for each
greenhouse throughout the day.

Give a suitable identifier name for each of the data items.

Description of data item Suitable identifier name

The temperature inside the greenhouse

The temperature outside the greenhouse

The greenhouse identification number

The time of the temperature measurements

[4]

(b) (i) Program variables have values as follows:

Variable Value
Mark 60
Subject "Computer Science"
Grade 'B'
CourseCompleted TRUE
AverageMark 49.5

Evaluate each expression in the following table.

If an expression is invalid, write ERROR.

For the built-in functions list, refer to the Appendix on page 16.

Expression Evaluates to
"Fas" & MID(Subject, 6, 3)

LEFT(Mark, 1)

10 + ASC(Grade)

MOD(AverageMark * 2, 3)

CourseCompleted AND (Mark >= 60)

[5]

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(ii) Programming languages support different data types.

Give an appropriate data type for each of these variables from part (b)(i).

Variable Data type

Mark

Subject

Grade

CourseCompleted

AverageMark
[5]

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2 The following is a function design in pseudocode.

Line numbers are given for reference only.

01 FUNCTION CountDigits(InString : STRING) RETURNS CHAR

02
03 DECLARE nc : CHAR
04 DECLARE c : INTEGER
05 DECLARE n : INTEGER
06
07
08 c 0
09 n LENGTH(InString) // get number of characters for loop
10
11 WHILE n > 0 // repeat until no more characters left
12
13 nc LEFT(InString,1)
14 n n - 1
15 InString RIGHT(InString,n) // remove first character
16
17 IF (nc < '0') OR (nc > '9')
18 THEN
19 // do nothing
20 ELSE
21 c c + 1
22 ENDIF
23
24 ENDWHILE
25
26 RETURN c
27
28 ENDFUNCTION

(a) (i) This pseudocode includes features that make it easier to read and understand.

State two such features.

Feature 1 ...........................................................................................................................

Feature 2 ...........................................................................................................................
[2]

(ii) State two additional features that should be used to make this pseudocode easier to
read and understand.

Feature 1 ...........................................................................................................................

Feature 2 ...........................................................................................................................
[2]

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(b) Study the function CountDigits(). Identify the features of the function in the following
table.

Feature Answer

A line number containing an example of an assignment statement

A line number containing the start of a ‘pre-condition’ loop

A line number containing the end of a ‘pre-condition’ loop

A line number containing the start of a selection statement

The number of parameters passed to the LEFT() function

The Boolean operator used

The number of times the function LEFT() is called from within
CountDigits() resulting from the call:
Result CountDigits("AB27C4")
The number of local variables
[8]

(c) (i) There is a mistake in the pseudocode that would produce a data type mismatch error if a
programmer were to write similar program code.

Describe this mistake and how it may be corrected.

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(ii) Lines 17 to 22 of the pseudocode could be written in a simplified form.

Re-write the lines in a simplified form.

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3 A chocolate factory produces bars of chocolate. A computer program controls the process.

The weight of each bar is stored in an array, BarWeight. The array contains 100 elements,
representing the weights of 100 bars that make up one shipping box.

A procedure, CheckWeight(), is required to:

1. examine each array element and count how many times the weight has exceeded MaxWeight
2. compare the count obtained with a limit value, Threshold. Call procedure ServiceCheck()
if the count exceeds the Threshold
3. output a message if the count does not exceed the Threshold. For example:
"ShippingBox OK – maximum weight exceeded 3 times."

Draw a program flowchart on the next page to represent the algorithm for the CheckWeight()
procedure.

Assume that:

• the array contains 100 valid weight values and the first element is BarWeight[1]
• MaxWeight, Threshold and BarWeight are global variables.

Variable declarations are not required in program flowcharts.

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[10]
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Question 4 begins on the next page.

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4 The structure chart shows part of the design of a program for an online shopping system.

Process basket

B
A E

C F
D
G

Discard basket Change item Checkout

(remove all items) quantity (pay and despatch)

(a) (i) Draw on the chart to show the following facts.

• Each of the modules at the lower level returns a Boolean parameter, X.

• Process basket will call only one of the modules shown at the lower level.
[2]

(ii) The parameters A to G shown on the chart will be used to pass the following information.

PaymentDetails
Quantity
BasketID
DeliveryAddress
ItemID

Complete the following table to show the parameter and the information it represents.

Parameter Information

G
[3]

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5 A golf club holds information about its members. When a member completes a round of golf, their
score is stored along with their membership number and the date of the round.

A program is to be written to store and process the score information. The information to be stored
is formed into a string as follows:

<MembershipNumber><Date><Score>

(a) The program designer considers storing the strings in either a 1D array, RoundScore or
as a separate variable for each round, for example, RoundScore01, RoundScore02,
RoundScore03 and so on.

Describe two advantages of storing the strings in a 1D array rather than as separate variables.

Advantage 1 .............................................................................................................................

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Advantage 2 .............................................................................................................................

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[2]

(b) A procedure, AddNewScores() is being developed. The procedure will be coded using
an Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

Name two features provided by an IDE that assist in the initial detection of errors in the
procedure.

Feature 1 ..................................................................................................................................

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Feature 2 ..................................................................................................................................

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[2]

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(c) The program needs a function, GetNumber(), to return a valid membership number. A valid
membership number is a four-digit numeric string between “1111” and “9999”.

The structured English representing the algorithm for this function is as follows:

1. Prompt and input a membership number.

2. Validate the membership number.
3. Repeat from step 1 if the membership number is invalid.
4. Return the valid membership number as a string.

An example of the function call in pseudocode is:

MembershipNumber GetNumber()

Write program code for the GetNumber() function.

Visual Basic and Pascal: You should include the declaration statements for variables.
Python: You should show a comment statement for each variable used with its data type.

Programming language ............................................................................................................

Program code

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(d) The program designer decides to store the strings from part (a) in a text file,
ScoreDetails.txt

Each string is formatted as follows:

<MembershipNumber><Date><Score>

• MembershipNumber is a four-digit numeric string between "1111" and "9999".

• Date is a six-digit numeric string in the format DDMMYY, for example "040716".
• Score is a two-digit numeric string in the range "50" to "99".

A procedure OutputLowestScore() is required to output the lowest score for an individual

member.

Assume that there is at least one string stored for each member.

The program needs a procedure, OutputLowestScore(), to process the ScoreDetails.txt

file and output the lowest score for an individual member.

1. Use the GetNumber() function to obtain a valid membership number.

2. Search the ScoreDetails.txt file for the lowest score for that member.
3. Output a message giving the lowest score for that member and the date of the round. For
example: "The lowest score was 66 on 300917"

Write program code for the OutputLowestScore() procedure.

Visual Basic and Pascal: You should include the declaration statements for variables.
Python: You should show a comment statement for each variable used with its data type.

Programming language ............................................................................................................

Program code

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6 (a) Individual elements in a 1D array are referenced using an integer value that is used as the
subscript to the array.

Give the technical terms for the minimum and maximum values the subscript may take.

Minimum value .........................................................................................................................

Maximum value ........................................................................................................................

[2]

(b) A 2D array, Picture, contains data representing a bitmap image. Each element of the array
represents one pixel of the image. The image is grey-scale encoded where the value of each
pixel ranges from 0 (representing black) to 255 (representing white) with intermediate values
representing different levels of grey.

A graphics program needs a procedure, Flip(), to flip (reflect) the image. An example of an
image before and after the function is:

Before flip After flip

The values contained in the 2D array before the flip are as follows:

Data values

80 80 255 80 80 255 80 80

80 80 255 80 80 255 80 80

255 80 120 120 120 120 255 80

255 80 255 255 255 255 80 80

255 80 120 120 120 120 80 80

In pseudocode, the array is declared as follows:

DECLARE Picture : ARRAY[1:5, 1:8] OF INTEGER

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Write pseudocode to implement the Flip() procedure.

Assume that Picture is a global variable.

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Appendix

Built-in functions (pseudocode)

Each function returns an error if the function call is not properly formed.

MID(ThisString : STRING, x : INTEGER, y : INTEGER) RETURNS STRING

returns a string of length y starting at position x from ThisString

Example: MID("ABCDEFGH", 2, 3) returns string "BCD"

LENGTH(ThisString : STRING) RETURNS INTEGER

returns the integer value representing the length of string ThisString

Example: LENGTH("Happy Days") returns 10

LEFT(ThisString : STRING, x : INTEGER) RETURNS STRING

returns leftmost x characters from ThisString

Example: LEFT("ABCDEFGH", 3) returns string "ABC"

RIGHT(ThisString : STRING, x : INTEGER) RETURNS STRING

returns rightmost x characters from ThisString

Example: RIGHT("ABCDEFGH", 3) returns string "FGH"

ASC(ThisChar : CHAR) RETURNS INTEGER

returns the ASCII value of character ThisChar

Example: ASC('A') returns 65

MOD(ThisNum : INTEGER, ThisDiv : INTEGER) RETURNS INTEGER

returns the integer value representing the remainder when ThisNum is divided by ThisDiv

Example: MOD(10,3) returns 1

Operators (pseudocode)

Operator Description

Concatenates (joins) two strings

&
Example: "Summer" & " " & "Pudding" produces "Summer Pudding"

Performs a logical AND on two Boolean values

AND
Example: TRUE AND FALSE produces FALSE

Performs a logical OR on two Boolean values

OR
Example: TRUE OR FALSE produces TRUE

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© UCLES 2018 9608/22/M/J/18