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Built in Functions

This document is an insert for the Cambridge International AS & A Level Computer Science Paper 2, providing resources for problem-solving and programming skills. It details various string, numeric, date, and other functions, along with examples of their usage. Additionally, it includes information on operators and error handling related to function calls.

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hl1095268
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
2 views

Built in Functions

This document is an insert for the Cambridge International AS & A Level Computer Science Paper 2, providing resources for problem-solving and programming skills. It details various string, numeric, date, and other functions, along with examples of their usage. Additionally, it includes information on operators and error handling related to function calls.

Uploaded by

hl1095268
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Cambridge International AS & A Level

COMPUTER SCIENCE 9618/21


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

INSERT 2 hours

INFORMATION
*0910143936-I*

● This insert contains all the resources referred to in the questions.


● You may annotate this insert and use the blank spaces for planning. Do not write your answers on the
insert.

This document has 4 pages.

DC (PQ) 214716
© UCLES 2021 [Turn over
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2

Note: An error occurs if a function call is not properly formed, or if the parameters are incorrect.

STRING Functions

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"

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

LCASE(ThisChar : CHAR) RETURNS CHAR


returns the character value representing the lower case equivalent of ThisChar
Characters that are not upper case alphabetic are returned unchanged

Example: LCASE('W') returns 'w'

UCASE(ThisChar : CHAR) RETURNS CHAR


returns the character value representing the upper case equivalent of ThisChar
Characters that are not lower case alphabetic are returned unchanged

Example: UCASE('a') returns 'A'

TO_UPPER(ThisString : STRING) RETURNS STRING


returns a string formed by converting all characters of ThisString to upper case

Example: TO_UPPER("Error 803") returns "ERROR 803"

TO_LOWER(ThisString : STRING) RETURNS STRING


returns a string formed by converting all characters of ThisString to lower case

Example: TO_LOWER("JIM 803") returns "jim 803"

NUM_TO_STR(x : <data type>) RETURNS STRING


returns a string representation of a numeric value
Note: <data type> may be REAL or INTEGER

Example: NUM_TO_STR(87.5) returns "87.5"

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STR_TO_NUM(x : <data type1>) RETURNS <data type2>


returns a numeric representation of a string
Note: <data type1> may be CHAR or STRING
Note: <data type2> may be REAL or INTEGER

Example: STR_TO_NUM("23.45") returns 23.45

IS_NUM(ThisString : STRING) RETURNS BOOLEAN


returns the value TRUE if ThisString represents a valid numeric value
Note: <data type> may be CHAR or STRING

Example: IS_NUM("12.36") returns TRUE


Example: IS_NUM("-12.36") returns TRUE
Example: IS_NUM("12.3a") returns FALSE

ASC(ThisChar : CHAR) RETURNS INTEGER


returns an integer value (the ASCII value) of ThisChar

Example: ASC('A') returns 65

CHR(x : INTEGER) RETURNS CHAR


returns the character whose integer value (the ASCII value) is x

Example: CHR(87)returns 'W'

NUMERIC Functions

INT(x : REAL) RETURNS INTEGER


returns the integer part of x

Example: INT(27.5415) returns 27

RAND(x : INTEGER) RETURNS REAL


returns a real number in the range 0 to x (not inclusive of x)

Example: RAND(87) could return 35.43

DATE Functions

Note: Date format is assumed to be DDMMYYYY unless otherwise stated.

DAY(ThisDate : DATE) RETURNS INTEGER


returns the current day number from ThisDate

Example: DAY(4/10/2003) returns 4

MONTH(ThisDate : DATE) RETURNS INTEGER


returns the current month number from ThisDate

Example: MONTH(4/10/2003) returns 10

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YEAR(ThisDate : DATE) RETURNS INTEGER


returns the current year number from ThisDate

Example: YEAR(4/10/2003) returns 2003

DAYINDEX(ThisDate : DATE) RETURNS INTEGER


returns the current day index number from ThisDate where Sunday = 1, Monday = 2,
Tuesday = 3 etc.

Example: DAYINDEX(12/05/2020) returns 3

SETDATE(Day, Month, Year : INTEGER) RETURNS DATE


returns a variable of type DATE

NOW() RETURNS DATE


returns the current date

OTHER Functions

EOF(FileName : STRING) RETURNS BOOLEAN


returns TRUE if there are no more lines to be read from file FileName

Note: This function will generate an ERROR if the file is not already open in READ mode

OPERATORS

Concatenates (joins) two strings


& Example: "Summer" & " " & "Pudding" evaluates to "Summer Pudding"
Note: This operator may also be used to concatenate a character with a string
Performs a logical AND on two Boolean values
AND
Example: TRUE AND FALSE evaluates to FALSE
Performs a logical OR on two Boolean values
OR
Example: TRUE OR FALSE evaluates to TRUE
Performs a logical NOT on a Boolean value
NOT
Example: NOT TRUE evaluates to FALSE
Finds the remainder when one number is divided by another
MOD
Example: 10 MOD 3 evaluates to 1
Finds the quotient when one number is divided by another
DIV
Example 10 DIV 3 evaluates to 3

Note: An error is generated if an operator is used with a value or values of an incorrect type.

Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every
reasonable effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the
publisher will be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge
Assessment International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download
at www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of the Cambridge Assessment Group. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of
Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which itself is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2021 9618/21/INSERT/M/J/21

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