Cambridge International AS & A Level

* 3 6 5 9 0 7 9 7 1 3 *

COMPUTER SCIENCE 9608/23

Paper 2 Fundamental Problem-solving and Programming Skills May/June 2021

2 hours

You must answer on the question paper.

No additional materials are needed.

INSTRUCTIONS
● Answer all questions.
● Use a black or dark blue pen.
● Write your name, centre number and candidate number in the boxes at the top of the page.
● Write your answer to each question in the space provided.
● Do not use an erasable pen or correction fluid.
● Do not write on any bar codes.
● You may use an HB pencil for any diagrams, graphs or rough working.
● Calculators must not be used in this paper.

INFORMATION
● The total mark for this paper is 75.
● The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].
● No marks will be awarded for using brand names of software packages or hardware.

This document has 24 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

DC (PQ/FC) 205019/2
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1 (a) Algorithms usually consist of three different types of activity.

Complete the following table.

Write each example statement in program code and state the programming language used.

The third activity has already been given.

Programming
Activity Example statement in program code
language

OUTPUT

[5]

(b) An algorithm searches a 1D array to find the first index of an element that contains a given
value. If the value is found, the index of that element is returned.

(i) State an appropriate loop structure for this algorithm. Justify your choice.

Loop structure ...................................................................................................................

Justification .......................................................................................................................

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[2]

(ii) Give two possible reasons why the search for the value in part (b)(i) would end.

You should assume there is no error.

1 ........................................................................................................................................

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(c) Each pseudocode statement in the following table may contain an error due to the incorrect
use of the function or operator.

Describe the error in each case, or write 'NO ERROR' if the statement contains no error.

Refer to the Appendix on pages 22 and 23 for the list of built-in pseudocode functions and
operators.

Statement Error

Code RIGHT("Cap" * 3, 2)

Valid IS_NUM(3.14159)

NextChar MID(ThisString, Index), 1

[3]

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2 (a) After using a program for some time, a user notices a fault in the program.

Describe the term program fault.

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(b) Good programming practice may help to avoid faults. The use of sensible identifier names is
one example of good practice.

(i) Explain the reason for using sensible identifier names.

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(ii) State three other examples of good programming practice.

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[3]

(c) A programmer chooses data to test each path through her program.

Identify the type of testing that the programmer has decided to perform.

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3 (a) The process of decomposition is often applied to a programming problem.

Describe the process of decomposition.

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(b) Result is a 1D array of type STRING. It contains 100 elements.

Draw a program flowchart for an algorithm that will output each element in the array.

[4]
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(c) The program flowchart for part of an algorithm from a mobile phone program is shown.
Identifier Active is a global variable of type BOOLEAN.

START

Set Online to FALSE

Is Online = NO
FALSE ?

YES END

Is Active = NO
TRUE ?

YES
CALL Reset()
CALL Sync()

Is Active = YES
FALSE ?

NO
CALL Error("No
Signal")

Set Online to TRUE

CALL ReCheck()

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Write pseudocode to implement the algorithm represented by the flowchart.

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4 Study the following pseudocode for a string handling function Check().

Refer to the Appendix on pages 22 and 23 for the list of built-in pseudocode functions and
operators.

FUNCTION Check(InString : STRING) RETURNS INTEGER

DECLARE Index, Result, Count : INTEGER

DECLARE NextChar : CHAR

Result 0
Count 1

FOR Index 1 TO LENGTH(InString)

NextChar MID(InString, Index, 1)

IF (NextChar >= '0' AND NextChar <= '9') OR NextChar = '.'
THEN
Result Result + 1
ELSE
IF NextChar = ','
THEN
Count Count + 1
ELSE
Result -1
ENDIF
ENDIF
ENDFOR

IF Count < 3
THEN
RETURN -1
ELSE
RETURN Result
ENDIF

ENDFUNCTION

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(a) (i) Complete the trace table by performing a dry run of the function when it is called as
follows:

Answer Check("74.0,4.6,3x2")

Note, there are no space characters in the string shown.

Result Count Index NextChar

[5]

(ii) State the value returned by the function when it is called as shown in part (a)(i).

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(b) A number group is a string of characters that represents an integer or decimal value. A comma
separates number groups.

For example, "74.0" is a number group in the string "74.0,4.6,3x2".

The function Check() is intended to analyse the number groups in the parameter passed.

The function returns:

• a count of the number groups in the parameter passed

or

• −1 if there are less than three number groups in the string or if any non-numeric
characters occur in the string (other than decimal point and comma).

There is an error in the algorithm causing an incorrect value to be returned by the function.

(i) Explain why this error can occur.

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(ii) Describe how the algorithm could be amended to correct the error.

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(c) A dry run of a pseudocode algorithm may help to locate logic errors.

Give another type of program error and describe how it can occur.

Type of error .............................................................................................................................

Description ................................................................................................................................

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[2]

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5 A program stores a contact list of telephone numbers. Each telephone number is stored as a
string of six or more numeric characters.

Before they are displayed, number strings are formatted to make them easier to read. This involves
forming the characters into groups, separated by the space character.

The maximum length of a number group is five characters.

Different numbers may have different groupings. A template string is used to define the grouping.

For example:

Number string Template string Formatted string

"01223553998" "53" "01223 553 998"

"509700101" "222" "50 97 00 101"

"4044496128" "33" "404 449 6128"

For the first row, template "53" results in a formatted string comprising:

• the first five characters in the first group

• a space character
• the next three characters in the second group
• a space character
• the remaining characters from the number string.

(a) Write pseudocode for a function GroupNum(), which takes a telephone number and a
template as parameter strings and returns a formatted string.

You may assume that the template and telephone number are valid.

Refer to the Appendix on pages 22 and 23 for the list of built-in pseudocode functions and
operators.

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(b) The function GroupNum() is to be extended to include parameter checking.

State one check that could be applied to each parameter.

Give an example of test data that could be used to demonstrate that each check identifies
invalid data.

The type of check must be different for each parameter.

Telephone number check .........................................................................................................

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Test data ...................................................................................................................................

Template check .........................................................................................................................

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Test data ...................................................................................................................................

[4]

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6 A program stores data about stock items in four global 1D arrays as follows:

Example Initial data

Array Data type Description
data value value
the stock item ID
StockID STRING (eight alpha-numeric "ABLK0001" ""
characters)
a description of the item
Description STRING "torch" ""
(alphabetic characters only)
Quantity INTEGER the number in stock 6 0

Cost REAL the cost of the item 4.80 0.0

• Each array contains 10 000 elements.

• Elements with the same index relate to the same stock item. For example, StockID[5]
contains the ID for the product whose description is in Description[5].

• The StockID array is not sorted and unused elements may occur at any index position.

• Unused elements are assigned the initial data value shown in the table above.

• The first four characters of the StockID represent a product group. The last four characters
represent the item within the group.

The program is to be modified so that:

• data from the arrays are stored in a text file for backup purposes. Data from unused elements
are not stored in the file.

• a Summary array is added. This will be a global 1D array of 500 elements of type STRING.
Each product group will occur once in the array, for example "ABLK" for the item in the table
above.

The programmer has started to define program modules as follows:

Module Description

• prompts and inputs a filename

GetValidFilename()
• returns a valid filename as a STRING
• calls GetValidFilename() for a filename
• checks if the file is empty
CheckBackupFile() • If the file is not empty ask the user to confirm that overwrite
is intended. If not intended allow the user to re-input a
different filename.
• returns the filename.

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(a) Write pseudocode for the module CheckBackupFile().

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(b) Write program code for a module GroupReport(), which will summarise the stock data for
a given product group.

The product group will be passed to the module as a string. The total value of items is
calculated by multiplying the cost by the quantity.

An example of the output for group ABLK is as follows:

Group: ABLK
Number of items in Group: 11
Total value of items in Group: 387.89

If no items are found for group ABLK, the output is as follows:

There are no items in Group: ABLK

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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(c) Two additional modules are required:

Module Description
• called with a STRING representing a product group
(for example, "ABLK")
Lookup()
• searches the Summary array for the group
• returns the index position or returns −1 if not found
• stores each product group name (found in the
StockID array) into the Summary array, if not there
already
GroupSummary() • calls Lookup() to check whether the name is
already in the Summary array
• returns the number of product groups added to the
Summary array

You can assume:

• all elements of the Summary array have been initialised to the value "" before
GroupSummary() is called
• there will be no more than 500 product groups.

Write program code for the module GroupSummary().

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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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 "BCD"

LENGTH(ThisString : STRING) RETURNS INTEGER

returns the integer value representing the length of 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 "ABC"

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

returns rightmost x characters from ThisString

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

INT(x : REAL) RETURNS INTEGER

returns the integer part of x

Example: INT(27.5415) returns 27

NUM_TO_STRING(x : REAL) RETURNS STRING

returns a string representation of a numeric value.
Note: This function will also work if x is of type INTEGER

Example: NUM_TO_STRING(87.5) returns "87.5"

STRING_TO_NUM(x : STRING) RETURNS REAL

returns a numeric representation of a string.
Note: This function will also work if x is of type CHAR

Example: STRING_TO_NUM("23.45") returns 23.45

IS_NUM(ThisString : STRING) RETURNS BOOLEAN

returns the value TRUE if ThisString contains only numeric characters ('0' to '9').

Example: IS_NUM("123a") returns FALSE

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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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