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0420/11Paper 1October/November 2014

1 State three features of a typical operating system.

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0478/12
Paper 1 Computer Systems February/March 2023

1 A programmer has designed a three-dimensional (3D) interactive computer game. They are
going to develop a program for the game. The program needs to run efficiently, but it must also
be developed as soon as possible.

(a) Tick (✓) one box to identify whether the programmer should use a high-level language or a
low-level language to develop the program.

Explain the reasons for your choice.

High-level language

Low-level language

Reasons for your choice ...........................................................................................................

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(b) If the programmer chooses a high-level language, they can use a compiler or an interpreter to
translate the high-level language into a low-level language.
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Describe the operation of a compiler and of an interpreter.

Compiler ...................................................................................................................................

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Interpreter .................................................................................................................................

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[4]

0478/11
Paper 1 Computer Systems October/November 2023

(a) Interrupts can be hardware based or software based.

A key press is one example of a hardware interrupt.

(i) Give two other examples of a hardware interrupt.

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[2]

(ii) Give two examples of a software interrupt.

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[2]

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0478/13
Paper 1 Computer Systems October/November
2023