Cambridge International AS & A Level

* 1 5 8 7 7 1 7 4 0 3 *

COMPUTER SCIENCE 9608/41

Paper 4 Further 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 20 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

DC (LO) 214519
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1 A vending machine allows users to insert coins to purchase an item.

The user then enters the code for the item they would like the machine to dispense (give out). The
user must re-enter the code until it is valid.

If the code is valid but the user has not inserted enough money for the item chosen, the machine
waits for more coins to be inserted. The user then has to re-enter the code.

The user can press cancel at any time to return the money inserted into the machine.

(a) The state-transition diagram shows the different states of the vending machine.

Complete the state-transition diagram.

..........................

Total the
money
Cancel inserted

Return ..............................
money

......................

Check
Cancel code
valid

Code re-entered
Valid code

Check .................
............. Sufficient money
total
inserted .................
.............

[5]

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(b) The vending machine is part of a program that is written using object-oriented programming
(OOP). The vending machine makes use of two classes that are described in the following
tables.

All attributes are declared as private.

foodItem

name : STRING // the name of the item of food

code : STRING // the code to be entered for that item to be

// selected

cost : REAL // the cost of the item

constructor(nameP, codeP, // creates an instance of foodItem
costP) // takes the name, code and cost as parameters

getCode() // returns the code for the item

getCost() // returns the cost of the item
getName() // returns the name of the item

vendingMachine

items : ARRAY[0:3] OF foodItem // stores four items of type foodItem

moneyIn : REAL // stores the total money inserted by the
// user, initialised to 0 in the constructor
constructor(item1, item2, // creates an instance of vendingMachine,
item3, item4) // takes four objects of type foodItem as
// parameters and stores them in array items

insertMoney() // takes the value of the coin as a parameter

// and adds it to moneyIn
checkValid () // takes a code as a parameter and checks it is
// valid against the food item codes
getItemName() // takes the array index as a parameter and
// returns the name of the food items

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(i) Write program code to declare the class vendingMachine. You are only required to
write program code for the attribute declarations and the constructor.

If you are writing in Python, include attribute declarations using comments.

Use your programming language’s constructor method.

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

Program code

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(ii) The method checkValid() takes the food item code as a parameter. It checks the
code against each element in items and returns:

• –1 if the code is not valid

• -2 if the code is valid, but the moneyIn is less than the cost of the item
• the index of the item, if the code is valid and the moneyIn is greater than or equal
to the cost of the item.

Write program code for the method checkValid().

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

Program code

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(iii) Four objects of type foodItem are declared with the identifiers:

chocolate, sweets, sandwich, apple

Write program code to declare an instance of vendingMachine with the identifier

machineOne and the objects: chocolate, sweets, sandwich, apple.

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

Program code

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2 Peter uses a record structure, customer, to store data about customers. The data includes:

• a unique customer ID between 10 000 and 99 999

• the customer's first name
• the customer's last name
• the customer's telephone number (for example, +44 1234567891).

(a) Write pseudocode to define the record type customer.

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(b) The customer records are stored in a random file. The location of each record is calculated as
a hash value using:

(customer.customerID modulus 1000) + 2

(i) Calculate the hash value for each of the customer IDs in the following table.

Customer ID Hash value

40 125
10 131
[1]

(ii) Two or more records could have the same hash value that results in a collision.

Explain how the hashing algorithm can be designed to handle collisions.

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(iii) The function, getCustomer():

• takes the customer ID as a parameter

• passes the customer ID to the function getRecordLocation(), which returns the
calculated hash value
• reads and returns the record from the hashed location in the file
customerRecords.dat

You can assume that both the file and the record being accessed exist.

Write pseudocode for the function getCustomer().

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3 Alix manages a team of programmers who are creating a new computer game.

Alix has listed some of the tasks, along with their estimated time to complete and their immediate
predecessors in the following table:

Time to complete
Task Description Predecessors
(weeks)
A Design character – 1
Program character
B A 1
movement
C Design level 1 – 2
D Program level 1 C 2
E Design robot – 1
F Program robot movement E 1
G Integrate character in level 1 B, D 2
H Integrate robot in level 1 F, G 2
I Design level 2 C 2
J Program level 2 D, I 2
K Test level 1 H 3
Integrate character and
L J, K 2
robot into level 2

(a) Complete the Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) chart for the tasks in the table.

.........
4 7
.........

E
1
.........
2 5
.........
A K L
9 12 13
1 H 3 2
.........
C ......... 8 2
1 3 6 .........
2 .........
I ......... 11
2
10 .........

[5]

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(b) Explain how the tasks in the table can be divided between the team to allow concurrency of
tasks.

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(c) Explain the benefits of the team using program libraries in the development of the program.

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(d) Identify two features in an editor that the developers can use to help them create their
programs.

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

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

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4 Chon creates a binary tree structure to store options that the user can select from a menu (M) in
his program.

C R

A G L W

(a) There are four new options that need to be added.

If option G is selected, the user must choose either option D or option H. If option L is selected,
the user must choose either option J or option P.

Complete the following binary tree by adding options D, H, J and P.

C R

A G L W

[2]
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(b) Each node in the binary tree is stored using the following record structure:

TYPE node

leftPointer : INTEGER

data : STRING

rightPointer : INTEGER

ENDTYPE

The tree is stored as a 1D array, binaryTree. Null pointers are represented by –1.

(i) The table shows the contents of the three fields in each record stored in the 1D array
binaryTree.

Complete the table to show the contents of binaryTree from part (a).

rootPointer Index leftPointer data rightPointer

0 M

freePointer 1 C

2 A

3 L

4 G

5 R

6 W

7 J

8 D

9 P

10 H

11

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(ii) Write pseudocode to declare the array binaryTree to store up to 100 objects of type
node.

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(iii) A pre-order traversal on the following tree would output M C A G R L W

M
C R
A G L W
The pre-order traversal can be written as a recursive procedure:

1. output the root node

2. follow the left pointer and repeat from step 1
3. follow the right pointer and repeat from step 1.

Complete the pseudocode recursive procedure preOrder().

PROCEDURE preOrder(BYVALUE rootPointer : INTEGER)

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ENDPROCEDURE
[6]

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5 A binary search algorithm searches for data in a sorted array.

(a) The pseudocode function binarySearch()performs a binary search to find a given value in
the global array, dataArray. If the value is found, the function returns its index. If the value
is not found, the function returns –1.

Complete the pseudocode for the function binarySearch().

FUNCTION binarySearch(BYVALUE upper, lower, searchValue : INTEGER)

RETURNS INTEGER

DECLARE flag : INTEGER

DECLARE mid : INTEGER

flag -2

mid 0

WHILE flag <> -1

mid lower + ((upper − lower) …………………………………………)

IF upper < lower

THEN

RETURN …………………………………………

ELSE

IF dataArray(mid) < searchValue

THEN

………………………………………… …………………………………………

ELSE

IF dataArray(mid) > searchValue

THEN

………………………………………… …………………………………………

ELSE

RETURN …………………………………………

ENDIF

ENDIF

ENDIF

ENDWHILE

ENDFUNCTION
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(b) The binary search algorithm can be written recursively.

Write program code for a recursive function recursiveBinarySearch().

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

Program code

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6 The table shows assembly language instructions for a processor that has one general purpose
register, the Accumulator (ACC), and an Index Register (IX).

Instruction
Label Op Operand Explanation
code
LDM #n Immediate addressing. Load the number n to ACC
Direct addressing. Load the contents of the location at
LDD <address>
the given address to ACC
Indexed addressing. Form the address from <address>
LDX <address> + the contents of the Index Register. Copy the contents
of this calculated address to ACC
LDR #n Immediate addressing. Load the number n to IX
STO <address> Store contents of ACC at the given address
ADD <address> Add the contents of the given address to ACC
INC <register> Add 1 to the contents of the register (ACC or IX)
Bitwise AND operation of the contents of ACC with the
AND <address>
contents of <address>
Bitwise XOR operation of the contents of ACC with the
XOR <address>
contents of <address>
Bitwise OR operation of the contents of ACC with the
OR <address>
contents of <address>
Output to screen the character whose ASCII value is
OUT
stored in ACC
Compare the contents of ACC with the contents of
CMP <address>
<address>
CMP #n Compare the contents of ACC with number n
Following a compare instruction, jump to <address> if
JPE <address>
the compare was True
Following a compare instruction, jump to <address> if
JPN <address>
the compare was False
JMP <address> Jump to the given address
END Return control to the operating system
<label>: <op Labels an instruction
<operand>
code>
<label>: <data> Gives a symbolic address <label> to the memory
location with contents <data>

An algorithm takes each letter of a stored 5-letter word and checks if the letter is upper case.

If the letter is upper case, it outputs the letter.

If the letter is not upper case, it converts the letter to upper case and then outputs it.

All ASCII upper case letters have 010 as the three most significant bits.

Assume each letter is alphabetic.

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Complete the assembly language program for the algorithm described using the instruction set
provided on the previous page.

Instruction
Comment
Label Op code Operand

LDR #0 // load zero to IX

// load count and check if it is 5

JPE endP // jump to end

LDX word // load letter from indexed address word

// check if it is upper case

CMP #0

JPE output // jump to output if it is upper case

LDX word // load letter from indexed address word

// convert to upper case

output: OUT // output the character

// increase count by 1

INC IX // increase IX by 1

JMP start // return to start

endP: end // end the program

word: B01001000

B01101111

B01110101

B01110011

B01100101

mask1: B00100000

mask2: B11011111

count: 0
[6]

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7 Giles is writing a program that uses a stack.

The stack stores up to 1000 integers in the 1D array, stackArray.

(a) The procedure setUpStack()takes two parameters:

• the array, stackArray

• a pointer to the last element pushed onto the stack, topOfStack

The procedure initialises all array elements to −1 and the pointer to −1.

Write pseudocode for the procedure setUpStack().

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(b) The function pop() pops and returns the item from the top of the stack. If the stack is empty,
it returns −1.

Write pseudocode for the function pop().

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