GCSE (9-1)

Computer
Science
AQA 8525

S Robson and
PM Heathcote
 Contents
Section 1
Fundamentals of algorithms 1

Section 1.1 Algorithms, decomposition and abstraction 2

1.2 Developing algorithms using flowcharts  6
1.3 Developing algorithms using pseudocode  9
1.4 Searching algorithms 13
1.5 Sorting algorithms  15

Section 2A
Programming basics 24

Section 2A.1 Data types and operations 25

2A.2 Sequence and selection 30
2A.3 Iteration 33
2A.4 Arrays and records 36

Section 2B
Programming techniques 44

Section 2B.1 Procedures and functions 45

2B.2 Validation and authentication  50
2B.3 Determining the purpose of algorithms  52
2B.4 Errors and testing  55

iv
Section 3
Fundamentals of data representation 62

Section 3.1 Storage units and binary numbers 63

3.2 Binary arithmetic and hexadecimal  66
3.3 ASCII and Unicode 70
3.4 Images 71
3.5 Sound 74
3.6 Compression 75

Section 4
Computer systems 80

Section 4.1 Boolean logic  81

4.2 Application and system software  86
4.3 Classification of programming languages and translators  93
4.4 Systems architecture  96
4.5 The CPU and Fetch-Execute cycle  97
4.6 Memory  99
4.7 Secondary storage  100

Section 5
Fundamentals of computer networks  110

Section 5.1 Wired and wireless networks 111

5.2 Network topologies and transmission 114
5.3 Network security 118
5.4 Protocols and layers 120

v
 Section 6
Cyber security  125

Section 6.1 Cyber security threats 126

6.2 Social engineering 128
6.3 Malicious code 130
6.4 Detecting and preventing cyber security threats 131

Section 7
Relational databases and SQL 135

Section 7.1 The concept of a database 136

7.2 The concept of a relational database 137
7.3 Structured query language (SQL) 138

Section 8
Ethical, legal and environmental impacts of digital technology 145

Section 8.1 Ethical impacts of technology on society  146

8.2 Environmental impacts of technology on society  149
8.3 Legislation and privacy  152

vi
 SECTION 1 FUNDAMENTALS OF ALGORITHMS Abstraction allows us to separate the ‘logical’ from the ‘physical’. A good example of this is the
map of the London Underground – all we need to know is what stations are on which line, and
the best route to get from A to B. There is no need to get bogged down in details of the exact
distance between stations or even in which direction the route actually takes us at any given
moment.
Similarly, we are all quite happy to use a computer or drive a car without having much idea of how
it works. A driver, a child in the back seat and a mechanic all have a very different view of a car.
We abstract away everything we don’t need to know about and concentrate on the essentials.

1.2 Developing algorithms using flowcharts

In computing we write programs or create computer systems to ‘solve a problem’. The problem
1 is the need or requirement we have to meet. The solution could be a simple program but is more
likely to be a complex suite of hardware and software in a real-world scenario, which will need to
be broken down into many programs and subroutines.
Understanding how to solve the problem is important. You cannot just start coding at line 1 and
hope to get a working solution straight away. The first step is to write an algorithm – that is, the
series of steps needed to solve the problem.
This section will consider how algorithms are developed with the aid of flowcharts and
pseudocode. Flowcharts are diagrams which use certain symbols to show the flow of data,
processing and input/output taking place in a program or task.

Standard flowchart symbols

This is used to START and END the flowchart.

This is a process box, for example:

count  count + 1 or total  (a * b) + 3

This is an input/output box, for example:

INPUT number or OUTPUT total

No This is a decision box that can only accept “yes” or “no” answers, for
example: "Is number less than 0?"

Yes

6 Section 1 Fundamentals of algorithms

Merge sort

1.5 SORTING ALGORITHMS

This is a two stage sort. In the first stage, the list is successively divided in half, forming two
sublists, until each sublist is of length one.

Example 5: Sorting a list in ascending order

Stage 1

42 31 12 3 37 18 29 47

42 31 12 3 37 18 29 47

42 31 12 3 37 18 29 47

42 31 12 3 37 18 29 47

This is the end of stage 1 where all the elements have been separated out.
In the second stage, each pair of sublists is repeatedly merged to produce new sorted sublists
until there is only one sublist remaining. As each pair of lists is merged, they are merged in order.
Merging the final two sublists results in the sorted list.
Stage 2

42 31 12 3 37 18 29 47
1
31 42 3 12 18 37 29 47

3 12 31 42 18 29 37 47

3 12 18 29 31 37 42 47

This is the end of stage 2, with all the items recombined in sorted order.

Carry out a merge sort on the following set of numbers. The numbers are to be sorted
Q22 in ascending order.

6 8 1 17 27 11 15 3

(a) Write out the four sorted sublists after the first phase of Stage 2 (the merge
process).
(b) Write out the two sorted sublists after the second phase of the merge process.
(c) Write out the complete list after the third phase of the merge process.

1.5 Sorting algorithms 19

Exercises

SECTION 1 EXERCISES
1. Abstraction and decomposition are two aspects of computational thinking.
(a) Sienna is designing a program to control a cat-flap which will open only when a cat
belonging to the owner approaches.
Describe two ways in which she may use abstraction in reaching a solution to this
problem.  [2]
(b) A program is required to enter a set of students’ examination marks, count the number
of students who obtained each mark and output the counts for each mark. Examination
marks entered must be in the range 0 to 100.
Explain how decomposition might be used in designing a solution to this problem. [3]

2. (a) (i) A bubble sort is used to sort the following numbers in ascending order:
34, 56, 89, 23, 12, 77, 49, 44
Write the order that the numbers be in after the first pass.  [2]
(ii) State the number of passesrequired to sort the items? (No flag is used to
indicate a sorted list.)  [1]
(b) A merge sort is to be used to sort the same numbers. During the merge phase, the
following four pairs of numbers need to be merged into two groups of four.
(34, 56), (23, 89), (12, 77), (44, 49)
Write the contents of each group of four numbers after the next phase
of the merge? [2]
1
3. A list of surnames is held in sorted order. The names are:
Beck, Coe, Ford, Grey, Hill, Kerr, Lunn, Pugh, Ross, Shaw, Taft, Ward
(a) State which names would be examined when searching for the name Grey using
(i) a linear search  [1]
(ii) a binary search  [1]
(b) State which names would be examined when searching for the name James using
(i) a linear search  [1]
(ii) a binary search  [1]
(c) In a list of 1000 items, state the maximum number of names that would have to be
searched to find a particular name using
(i) a linear search  [1]
(ii) a binary search  [1]

Section 1 Exercises 21
Binary shifts

3.2 BINARY ARITHMETIC AND HEXADECIMAL

If a binary number is shifted to the left this is equivalent to multiplying the number by 2 for each
shift to the left.
For example: If we shift:

0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1

TWO places to the left we get the binary number:

0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0

(NOTE: Fill empty binary positions with 0s as you shift to the left.)
The original binary number has a value of 15 (i.e. 8+4+2+1 = 15); the number after shifting two
places to the left has the value 60 (i.e. 32+16+8+4 = 60). It is multiplied by 4, or 22.
Shifting binary numbers to the right has the opposite effect i.e. each shift to the right has the
effect of dividing by 2. Thus if we shift:

0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0

THREE places to the right we get the binary number:

0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 3
The original binary value was 112 (i.e. 64 + 32 + 16 = 112) and the value after shifting three
places to the right is 14 (i.e. 8 + 4 + 2 = 14). The number was divided by 8, and becomes 23.
(NOTE: Fill empty binary positions with 0s as you shift to the right.)

Multiplication/division by powers of 2
This gives an easy way to multiply and divide binary numbers by powers of 2, but can come
at the expense of accuracy. For example 00000110 shifted right twice to divide by 4 would be
00000001. This is the equivalent of decimal 1, but 6 / 4 = 1.5.
• Shifting right one place divides the number by 2
• Shifting left one place multiplies the number by 2
This is equivalent to shifting a decimal number right or left – for example shifting 12300 right
gives 1230, i.e. it divides the number by 10. Shifting left multiplies a decimal number by 10.

Write down the results after the following shift operations and write down the decimal
Q7 values before and after the shifts:
(a) The number 11001100 is shifted TWO places to the right
(b) The number 00011001 is shifted TWO places to the left
(c) The number 11001000 is shifted THREE places to the right
(d) The number 00000111 is shifted FOUR places to the left
(e) The number 10000000 is shifted FIVE places to the right

3.2 Binary arithmetic and hexadecimal 67

 3.6 COMPRESSION
Using RLE, show how the image below would be coded, if black is encoded as 0 and
Q17 white as 1.

Huffman coding
Huffman coding is a compression technique used to reduce the number of bits used to represent
each letter. The more frequently a letter appears in the text, the fewer bits are used to represent it
in a text file.

Example 3
Consider the sentence PIPPA ATE A PEPPER. A table showing the frequency of each character,
including spaces is created as the first step in building the Huffman tree. For example, there is
one "I", one "R", and six "P"s in the sentence.

Character I R T A E SPACE P
Frequency 1 1 1 3 3 3 6

You will only be required to interpret the tree, not build it. A Huffman tree for this sentence is
shown below. It is a binary tree in which characters that occur most frequently are nearer the top
and therefore require fewer characters to encode them, as described below.

0 1
3
0 1 0 1

Space P
0 1 0 1

T A E
0 1

I R

Using this Huffman tree, the coding for each character is derived from the path taken from the
root node to the character. Branching left at a node is coded as 0, branching right is coded as 1.
Thus the character ‘A’ would be represented by the bit pattern 110 because from the top of the
tree, you go right, right, left to reach A. The encoding for ‘T’ would be 001 and for ‘E’, 111.
The total number of bits needed to represent the word “ATE” would be 3 + 3 + 3 = 9. In 7-bit
ASCII, the number of bits required would be 3 x 7 = 21, representing a saving of 12 bits in the
compressed format, with a 57% reduction in size.

(a) What would be the coding for the word PIT?

Q18
(b) How many bits would these three letters take using the Huffman code?
(c) T
 he sentence PIPPA ATE A PEPPER is represented in a total of 47 bits.
How many bits would be required to represent the sentence in ASCII?
(d) How many bits are saved by compressing PIT using Huffman coding?

3.6 Compression 77
 The Boolean expression for AND is written: Q = A • B where • represents AND.

4.1 BOOLEAN LOGIC

The truth table reflects the fundamental property of the AND gate: the output of A AND B
is 1 (True) only if input A and input B are both 1 (True).
OR gate

Input A Input B Output Q

A
Q 0 0 0
B 0 1 1
1 0 1
Q = A OR B 1 1 1

The Boolean expression for OR is written: Q = A + B where + represents OR.

If A = 0 (False) and B = 0 (False) then A OR B = 0 (False), otherwise A OR B = 1 (True).
XOR gate

Input A Input B Output Q

A
Q 0 0 0
B 0 1 1
1 0 1
Q = A XOR B 1 1 0

The Boolean expression for XOR is written: Q = A ⊕ B where ⊕ represents XOR.

If either A or B, but not both, = 1 (True) then A ⊕ B = 1 otherwise A ⊕ B = 0 (False)
The XOR gate is known as the exclusive OR gate.
4
Combining logic gates into logic circuits
These logic gates can be combined to form more complex logic circuits which can carry out
a number of functions. They are the basic building blocks of many electronic circuits found
in computer memories, household devices, computer management systems in cars, and
so on. Two examples are shown below. You should look at each logic circuit and follow the
accompanying truth table which represents the logic circuit.

Example 1
The logic circuit below represents the Boolean condition (NOT A AND B) OR (A AND C). The
outputs at D and E have been labelled so that they can be referred to in the truth table overleaf.

A
D
B
P
E
C

4.1 Boolean logic 83

Automatic software updates

6.4 DETECTING AND PREVENTING CYBER SECURITY THREATS

Some popular software is a common target for malware. Browsers, PDF readers and other software
can be automatically updated by selecting options to Automatically update and install either from the
operating system or from the software. This will remove any harmful code that has been planted in
the software by a hacker, or potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited in the future.

Biometric methods

Employees of an organisation or members of the public passing through airport security, for
example, may be asked to identify themselves by using a biometric method to prove to the system
that they are who they claim to be. Biometric methods include a fingerprint scan, voice pattern
sample or retinal scan. The probability of two people having identical biological characteristics is
infinitesimally small, and so these methods can be used to positively identify a person.
Biometric methods are often used on mobile devices. The advantage of these methods over
password entry are that it is not possible to steal or forget a biometric characteristic.

CAPTCHA
6
CAPTCHA is an acronym for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and
Humans Apart", and is a type of test to determine whether or not the user is human.
A piece of text is displayed on screen in a format indecipherable by text recognition software.
Context is critical; a t might look like an l or i, and it is only in context that a human can identify it
as a t.

Even perfectly sighted individuals sometimes find CAPTCHA text very difficult or
Q6 impossible to read. Does the use of CAPTCHA images discriminate against any
computer users?

6.4 Detecting and preventing cyber security threats 133

 SECTION 7 RELATIONAL DATABASES AND SQL
Looking at the Owner and Animal tables, who owns Lottie the rabbit? Which animals
Q3 does Mrs Feinnes own?

Relationships between tables in a database

There are three possible relationships between database tables. Entity-relationship diagrams can
be drawn to show what the relationship is between two tables. For example:

located in
Capital city Country One-to-one

holds
Hospital ward Patient One-to-many

take
Student Course Many-to-many

The ‘many’ end of a relationship is shown by the “crow’s feet” in the relationship diagram.

Q4 What type of relationship is there between the Owner and Animal tables?

Draw diagrams to show the relationship between

Q5
7 (a)
(b)
pet and owner
magazine and contributor
(c) school and head
 ou may have to state what assumptions you are making before you can draw
Y
the diagram.

7.3 Structured query language

Structured Query Language, or SQL, is a language used for querying and updating database
tables in a relational database. The Owner and Animal table in the Vet database will be used to
demonstrate some SQL statements.

SELECT .. FROM .. WHERE

The SELECT statement is used to extract a collection of fields from one or more tables in a
database. The syntax of the statement is
SELECT list of fields to be displayed
FROM list the table or tables where the data will come from
WHERE list of search criteria
ORDER BY list the fields that the results are to be sorted on (default is Ascending)

138 Section 7 Relational databases and SQL

SECTION 8 ETHICAL, LEGAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACTS OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
Think of some ways in which computers have helped to decrease environmental
Q6 pollution, by monitoring the environment or by replacing old polluting industries with
more environmentally friendly products, for example in the energy industry.

Monitoring the environment

Computers are widely used for monitoring the environment. Water quality in rivers and oceans,
air quality in cities, pollen levels in the countryside which affect people with hay fever and asthma,
radiation in nuclear plants, can all be monitored and warnings given.
Data which helps to predict earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and other natural disasters is
collected and analysed continuously all over the world. Weather data can be collected from the
top of a mountain or from inside a volcano without a scientist having to go into these dangerous
situations every day to collect it
Using data collected about weather, volcanic activity, and movement beneath the earth’s surface,
people can be warned about impending disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes, and
moved to safety.

Environmental impacts of cloud storage

Cloud storage uses vast amounts of energy to keep its storage equipment running, and cooling
systems to combat the heat they generate also uses massive amounts of water and energy.
However, cloud storage is generally much more energy efficient than storing all the data for an
organisation in its own data storage centre. An organisation’s data centre needs to be up and
running 24/7, while its actual usage may be closer to 15%.

8 Large-scale cloud providers allow organisations to use fewer servers and therefore, less energy.
Specially designed cloud data centres are more efficient than in-house hardware, using optimised
equipment and sophisticated cooling equipment. This can result in very significant energy
savings.
In addition, cloud storage enables many employees to work from home for at least part of the
week, saving on the carbon emissions arising from commuting daily to work.
Many cloud providers are committed to reducing the environmental impact of using their
technology. Data centres may be powered by wind and solar power alongside non-renewable
energy sources. Google and Amazon purchase almost 100% renewable energy. Microsoft has
reduced the huge amount of water used in cooling systems by designing air-cooling systems.

150 Section 8 Ethical, legal and environmental impacts of digital technology

 AQA GCSE (9-1) COMPUTER SCIENCE INDEX
Index
Symbols Blu-ray disks 104 D
1-dimensional arrays 37 Boolean database 40, 136
2-dimensional arrays 38 condition 11 query 136
data type 25, 30 relational 137
A expressions 31 data consistency 137
abstraction 4, 47 logic 81 data redundancy 137
access rights 127 bootstrap loader 100 data structure 39
algorithm 2 boundary (extreme) data 58 data transmission 112
purpose of 52 browser 111 data type 25
amplitude 74 bubble sort 15 decimal
analogue sound 74 bus 96 to binary 64
Analogue-to-Digital 74 bus topology 116 to hexadecimal 69
AND gate 82 decomposition 3, 49
anti-malware software 132 C device management 88
application cable types 117 digital sound 74
layer 123 cache 98 disk defragmentation 91
management 89 Caesar shift cipher 119 dual-core 99
software 86 CAPTCHA 133 DVD 104
Applications Program Interface CD 104
89 char 25 E
Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU) character set 70 efficiency of algorithms 20
I 96
arithmetic operations 27, 96
ciphertext 119
clock 96
email protocols 122
embedded system 90
arrays 36 cloud storage 106, 150 encryption 91, 119, 155
ASCII 30, 70 colour depth 72 environmental impact 149
converting characters 30 comparison operations 27 erroneous data 58
assembler 94 compiler 95 errors
assembly language 93 compression 75, 92 logic 56
assignment 26 Huffman coding 77 syntax 55
authentication 51, 118 lossless 76 using a trace table 59
automatic software update 133 lossy 75 Ethernet 117
autonomous vehicles 148 run length encoding (RLE) cable 113
76 protocol 120
B computational thinking 4 ethical impacts 146
binary 63 computer-aided manufacturing extended ASCII 71
arithmetic 66 149
counting in 64 computer-based implants 147 F
logic 81 Computer Misuse Act 1990 153 fetch-execute cycle 97
search 14 concatenation 29 fibre optic 117
shifts 67 constant 26 fields 136
to decimal 65 control unit 96 file 39
to hexadecimal 68 copper cable 117 File Transfer Protocol (FTP) 122
biometrics 133 cores 99 firewall 120
bitmap 71 CPU performance 98 flag 17
black box penetration test 132 cyber security 126 flash memory 102
blagging 128 preventing threats 131 float 25

156 AQA GCSE (9-1) Computer Science Index

 AQA GCSE (9-1) COMPUTER SCIENCE INDEX
flowchart 6 L Network Interface Card (NIC)
flowchart symbols 6 lands 104 113
foreign key 137 layers 123 nibble 63
FOR...ENDFOR 11, 33 legislation 152 normal (typical) data 58
format check 50 length check 50 NOT gate 82
functions 45, 46 linear search 13
link layer 123 O
G Local Area Network (LAN) 114 operating system 87
GDPR 152 local variable 47 operations
gigabyte (GB) 63 logic arithmetic 27
global variable 47 circuits 83 comparison 27
gates 82 string handling 28
H logical operations 96 optical devices 104
hacking 154 logic diagrams 81 OR gate 83
hardware 86 logic errors 56 output statement 27
network 113 loop 11 overflow 66
healthcare 146 lossless compression 76
hertz 74 lossy compression 75 P
hexadecimal 68 low-level languages 93 packets 123
to binary 69 packet switching 112
to decimal 69 M parameters 46
uses of 69 MAC address 113, 117, 123 password protection 118
high-level languages 93 filtering 120 passwords 126
Huffman coding , 77
HyperText Transfer Protocol
machine code 93
magnetic disks 101, 105
patch 128
penetration testing 132
I
122 main memory 99 Personal Area Network (PAN)
HTTPS 122 maintainability 51 116
maintenance 49 petabyte (PB) 63
I maintenance utilities 91 pharming 126
identifiers 7, 25 malicious code 128, 130 phishing 129
IF...THEN...ELSE 10 malware 130 pits 104
images 71 megabyte (MB) 63 pixels 71
image size 73 memory 99 pixels per inch (PPI) 73
input statement 27 management 88 plaintext 119
INSERT INTO statement 141 merge sort 19 presence check 50
integer 25 metadata 154 primary key 136
Internet 111 mobile technologies 148 privacy 152, 154
Internet layer 123 monitoring the environment procedures 45
Internet Messaging Access 150 processor 96
Protocol (IMAP) 122 processor management 87
interpreter 95 N programming languages
IP (Internet Protocol) nested selection 10 classification 93
address 112 network protocols 120
iteration 11, 33 hardware 113 pseudocode 2, 9
security 118
K topologies 115 Q
kilobyte (kB) 63 wireless 113 quad-core 99
networking benefits 114 queries 136

AQA GCSE (9-1) Computer Science Index 157

 AQA GCSE (9-1) COMPUTER SCIENCE INDEX Index continued
R solid state devices 102 user access levels 119
Random Access Memory (RAM) sorting 15 User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
99 bubble sort 15 121
random number generation 38 comparing algorithms 20 utility software 91
range check 50 merge sort 19
Read Only Memory (ROM) 100 sound 74 V
real 25 sampling 74 validation 50
records 36, 39, 136 source code 95 variable 7, 25
register 96 spyware 131 assignment 26
relational database 137 SQL 138 data type 25
removable media 126 star topology 115 declaring 25
REPEAT...UNTIL 11, 35 storage devices 100 flag 17
resolution storage units 63 local and global 47
image 73 string 25 verification 50
sound 74 handling 28 virus 130
robust code 31 manipulation 29 volatility 100
router 113 structured programming 49 Von Neumann architecture 96
run length encoding (RLE) 76 Structured Query Language vulnerabilities 131
138
S subroutine 45, 49 W
sample switch 113, 115 waste 149
rate 74 syntax errors 55 wearable technologies 147
resolution 74 system bus 97 WHILE...ENDWHILE 11, 34
I searching 13
binary search 14
systems architecture 96 white box penetration test 132
Wide Area Network (WAN) 111
comparing algorithms 15 T Wi-Fi 113, 121
linear search 13 TCP/IP 121, 123 Wireless Access Point (WAP)
secondary storage 99, 100 layers 123 121
security management 89 terabyte (TB) 63 wireless LAN (WLAN) 121
selection 10, 30 test data 58 wireless network 111, 113
SELECT statement 138 testing 55 wireless networking 151
sequence 9, 30 test plan 57
server 115 topology X
shift operations 96 bus 116 XOR gate 83
shouldering 130 star 115
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol trace table 52, 59
(SMTP) 122 translators 94
simulation 5 transmission media 117
smart cities 151 transport layer 123
social engineering 128 Trojan 131
social media 146 trolling 146
software 86, 128 truth table 82, 84
application 87 type check 50
compression 92
encryption 91 U
system 86 Unicode 71
utility 91 UPDATE statement 142

158 AQA GCSE (9-1) Computer Science Index

 www.pgonline.co.uk/resources/gcse/gcse-aqa

AQA GCSE 8525 (9-1) Specification map

Unit 2A

Unit 2B

Unit 4

Unit 8
Unit 6
Unit 3

Unit 5

Unit 7
Unit 1
3.1 Fundamentals of algorithms
3.1.1 Representing algorithms  
3.1.2 Efficiency of algorithms 
3.1.3 Searching algorithms 
3.1.4 Sorting algorithms 
3.2 Programming
3.2.1 Data types 
3.2.2 Programming concepts 
3.2.3 Arithmetic operations in a programming language 
3.2.4 Relational operations in a programming language 
3.2.5 Boolean operations in a programming language 
3.2.6 Data structures 
3.2.7 Input / output 
3.2.8 String handling operations in a programming language  
3.2.9 Random number generation in a programming language 
3.2.10 Structured programming and subroutines 
3.2.11 Robust and secure programming 
3.3 Fundamentals of data representation
3.3.1 Number bases 
3.3.2 Converting between number bases 
3.3.3 Units of information 
3.3.4 Binary arithmetic 
3.3.5 Character encoding 
3.3.6 Representing images 
3.3.7 Representing sound 
3.3.8 Data compression 
 www.pgonline.co.uk/resources/gcse/gcse-aqa

AQA GCSE 8525 (9-1) Specification map

Unit 2A

Unit 2B

Unit 4
Unit 3

Unit 5

Unit 7
Unit 1

Unit6
3.4 Computer systems
3.4.1 Hardware and software 
3.4.2 Boolean logic 
3.4.3 Software classification 
3.4.4 Classification of programming languages and translators 
3.4.5 Systems architecture 
3.5 Fundamentals of computer networks
3.5 Computer networks 
3.5 Network topologies 
3.5 Network security 
3.5 Protocols and layers 

3.6 Cyber security

3.6.1 Fundamentals of cyber security 
3.6.2 Cyber security threats 
3.6.1.1 Social engineering 
3.6.1.2 Malicious code (malware) 
3.6.3 Methods to detect and prevent cyber security threats 

3.7 Relational databases and SQL

3.7.1 Relational databases 
3.7.2 Structured query language (SQL) 
3.6.1.1 Social engineering 

3.8 Impacts of digital technology on wider society

3.8 Ethical, legal and environmental impacts 
AQA GCSE (9-1) 8525
Computer
Science
The aim of this book is to About the authors Cover picture:
provide an accessible text for Susan Robson worked for
students, covering the AQA International Computers ‘Side by Side’
GCSE (9-1) 8525 Computer Ltd after graduating from Mixed media on board,
Science specification. It can be Manchester University with a 88 x 64 cm
used both as a course text and degree in Computer Science. © Karen Stamper
as a revision guide for students She spent the following 12 www.karenstampercollage.com
nearing the end of their years in technical pre-sales for
course. It is divided into nine ECI Telecom, before moving
sections, each broken down into teaching. As a Head of
into manageable chapters of Computer Science, she gained
roughly one lesson. years of experience teaching
GCSE and A Level Computing This book has been
Sections 1, 2A and 2B of the and has written successful approved by AQA.
textbook cover algorithms and textbooks and teaching
programming concepts with a materials. She is currently
theoretical approach to provide teaching Computer Science
students with experience of at King Alfred’s Academy in
writing, tracing and debugging Wantage.
pseudocode solutions without
the aid of a computer. These Pat Heathcote is a well-known
sections would complement and successful author of
practical programming Computer Science textbooks.
experience. She has spent many years as a
teacher of A Level Computing
Each section contains in-text courses with significant
questions and practice examining experience. She has
exercises, which can be set as also worked as a programmer
homework. Answers to all and systems analyst, and was
these are available to teachers Managing Director of Payne-
only, in a free Teachers’ Gallway Publishers until 2005.
Supplement, which can be
ordered from our website
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