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Question

General Certificate of Education

Advanced Subsidiary Examination
January 2012

Computing

COMP2

1
2
3
4

Unit 2 Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept

and the Internet

Monday 16 January 2012

1.30 pm to 2.30 pm

Mark

You will need no other materials

You must not use a calculator.

TOTAL

Time allowed
1 hour
Instructions
Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
Fill in the boxes at the top of this page.
Answer all questions.
You must answer the questions in the spaces provided. Do not write
outside the box around each page or on blank pages.
Do all rough work in this book. Cross through any work you do not want
to be marked.
Information
The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
The maximum mark for this paper is 60.
The use of brand names will not gain credit.
Question 5(c) should be answered in continuous prose. In this question
you will be marked on your ability to:
- use good English
- organise information clearly
- use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.

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COMP2

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Answer all questions in the spaces provided.

Figure 1 below shows program code developed using different generations of

programming languages.
Figure 1
Program 1 (with comments)

//Calculate
FirstVar := 47;
SecondVar := FirstVar + 2;
FourthVar := ThirdVar;
Program 2 (with comments)

AB2F
BC5D
E402
BCFF
AC61
BC4A
1 (a)

;
;
;
;
;
;

Load value 2F into accumulator

Store contents of accumulator at address 5D
Add value 2 to accumulator
Store contents of accumulator at address FF
Load accumulator with contents of address 61
Store contents of accumulator at address 4A

What generation of programming language was used to write Program 1?

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(1 mark)

1 (b)

Machine code can be represented in different numeric formats.

1 (b) (i)

Which numeric format is used by the machine code program in Program 2?

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(1 mark)

1 (b) (ii) State one reason for using this format.

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(1 mark)
1 (b) (iii) The machine for which Program 2 has been written has limited addressing capability.
What are the lowest and highest memory addresses that can be addressed by this
machine?
Lowest address: ................................................................................................................
Highest address: ................................................................................................................
(1 mark)

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1 (c)

Give an example of a situation for which it would be appropriate to write a program in a

low level language (ie machine code or assembly language).

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(1 mark)
1 (d)

Explain the differences between a compiler and an interpreter.

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(4 marks)

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4
2

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Figure 2 below shows a logic circuit.

Figure 2

2 (a)

Write a Boolean expression for D.

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(1 mark)

2 (b)

Write a Boolean expression for B.

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(1 mark)

2 (c)

Figure 3 below shows a different logic circuit.

Figure 3

2 (c) (i)

Complete the truth table below for the logic circuit in Figure 3.
Inputs
X
0
0
1
1

Outputs
Y
0
1
0
1

(2 marks)
2 (c) (ii) What arithmetic function does the logic circuit in Figure 3 perform?
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(1 mark)

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2 (d)

Without using a truth table, simplify the Boolean expression below.

(X+Y).(X+Y)
Show the stages of your working.
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(3 marks)
Final answer .......................................................................................................................
(1 mark)

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3

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Figure 4 below shows an incomplete diagram of the components of a processor.

Figure 4

Address Bus

MBR

Control Unit
Control Circuits
R0

Status Register

R1
R2

ALU

3 (a)

General Purpose
Registers

Provide the full names for the components numbered 1 to 3 in Figure 4 by completing
Table 1 below.
Table 1
Component Component Name
Number
1
2
3
(3 marks)

3 (b)

What is the role of the Control Unit?

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(1 mark)

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3 (c)

State the full name of the processor component that would perform subtraction and
comparison operations.
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(1 mark)

3 (d)

What is meant by the term register?

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(1 mark)

3 (e)

State one example of when the status register might have a bit set.
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(1 mark)

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Turn over for the next question

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There are various formats of optical storage media currently available.

4 (a)

Choose the most appropriate medium from the list below that would be best suited to
the purpose given. Write your answer in the Medium column in Table 2. You must not
use the same medium more than once.
CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, Blu-Ray
Table 2
Purpose

Medium

To distribute 300MB of commercial software

To store a 20GB high definition movie file
To use for a 3GB archive of the data on a school server
To create a copy of a 60 minute audio music album
(4 marks)
4 (b)

Describe how data is written to and read from a CD-R disk.

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(3 marks)

4 (c)

A series of word-processed documents have been archived onto CD-R.

State two reasons why in 20 years time it might be impossible to open up these
documents.
Reason 1: ..........................................................................................................................
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Reason 2: ..........................................................................................................................
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(2 marks)

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5

Figure 5 below is a partial view of a router network connecting an e-mail client to an

e-mail server.
Figure 5

Router

E-mail Client

Router

E-mail Server
Router

Router

Router

5 (a)

Router

Describe two roles of the routers shown in Figure 5 above.

Role 1: ................................................................................................................................
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Role 2: ................................................................................................................................
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(2 marks)

5 (b)

Name one of the application protocols associated with e-mail.

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(1 mark)

Question 5 continues on the next page

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5 (c)

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Figure 6 below shows the TCP/IP stack for two computers (hosts) connected via a
network.
Figure 6
Host with IP address
195.110.53.27

Application
Layer

E-mail
Client

Host with IP address

209.44.56.28

E-mail
Server
Web
Server

Web
Browser

Transport
Layer
TCP
layer
Port
Number
1055

(10)

TCP
layer

TCP
layer

Port
Number
1065

Port
Number
110

TCP
layer
Port
Number
80

Network or IP layer

Network or IP layer

Link layer

Link layer

Physical cable

Physical cable

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Explain how the TCP/IP stack in each host supports an e-mail client to e-mail server
request at the same time as a web browser to web server request. You should cover in
your explanation:

the steps from the initiation of a request to the receipt of a response

the role of the different TCP/IP layers in the stages of client-server operation
the use of packets.

In your answer you will be assessed on your ability to use good English and to
organise your answer clearly in complete sentences, using specialist vocabulary where
appropriate.
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(6 marks)

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6

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Figure 7 shows the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheet
(CSS) for a web page, HelpLink.html.
Figure 7
<html>
<head>
<title>Help Centre</title>
<style type="text/css">
#header {color:yellow; font-family:Arial; text-align:center}
#footer {color:red; font-family:Arial; text-align:center}
.links {font-family:Tahoma; text-align:center}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div id="header">
<h1>AQA Help Centre</h1>
<img src="/image/AQALogo.gif" width=248 height=90 />
</div>
<div class="links">
<p><a href="/igcse/english.html">IGCSE English Help</a></p>
<p><a href="/igcse/maths.html">IGCSE Maths Help</a></p>
<p><a href="/igcse/science.html">IGCSE Science Help</a></p>
</div>
<div>
<p id="footer">Copyright (C) 2012 AQA and its licensors.</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>

6 (a)

What is the colour of the heading "AQA Help Centre" when the web page,
HelpLink.html, is viewed in a browser?
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(1 mark)

6 (b)

What font will the browser use to display the hyperlinks for this page?
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(1 mark)

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6 (c)

HelpLink.html is stored in a folder with path C:/HTML/Testing/ for testing

purposes.

State the full pathname of the image file AQALogo.gif.

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(1 mark)
6 (d)

Using the browser window template below, sketch the appearance of the web page
when viewed in a web browser.
You must use labels to clarify your alignment, line spacing and font size.
For the image AQALogo.gif draw a box to represent where the image would appear.

File:///c:/HTML/Testing/HelpLink.html

(5 marks)

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An Internet Service Provider (ISP) has instructed a firm of solicitors to investigate the
download activities of the ISPs clients.

7 (a)

What is the primary role of an ISP?

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(1 mark)

7 (b)

The clients under investigation are alleged to have downloaded music files from a
file-sharing site.
The ISP wishes the firm of solicitors to investigate whether any laws have been broken.
State the full name of the law which might have been broken by the clients
downloading music files.
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(1 mark)

7 (c)

The ISP stores personal data concerning each of its clients.

What is meant by the term personal data?
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(1 mark)

7 (d)

The firm of solicitors discovers during their investigation that the same clients
have been downloading personal data relating to other clients of the ISP without
authorisation.

7 (d) (i)

State the full name of the law that may have been broken by the ISP.
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(1 mark)

7 (d) (ii) State the full name of the law that may have been broken by the clients.
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(1 mark)

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15
8

A well established use for robots in industry is the spraying of car bodies on a car
production line.
A robotics researcher is investigating the feasibility of developing and installing in a
car a computer-based control system to take over completely the driving of the car on
public highways.
She has identified some of the inputs into the control system already:

detailed map
current weather report.

And some of the outputs:

position of steering wheel (in degrees from the vertical)

forces on accelerator and brake pedals.

Discuss why automated car control is a harder programming problem to solve than
developing programmed control of a robot for spraying car bodies on a car production
line.
For full marks your discussion must cover both programming problems.
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(4 marks)

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END OF QUESTIONS

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Copyright 2012 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.

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