A Level Computing

Planning a website

The design stage of creating a website should be done carefully, ensuring that the idea has been completely thought through and that the documentation is clear, especially if there is a team of developers creating it.

Task 1

Using the handout provided make a presentation explaining the various aspects of designing a website.

Designing for Accessibility

The aim of most websites is to get their message accross to the greatest number of people possible. This is especially important for a business that is advertising or selling products or services.
When designing a website, users with disabilities should be taken into consideration and efforts should be made to allow them easy access to all parts of the website.

Task 1
Using the handout provided create a presentation using Powerpoint or Prezi explaining the accessibility factors that need to be considered when designing a website.

Network Collision Detection

Task 1

In your own words describe how collisions occur, how they are detected and how they are dealt with.


Task 2

http://www.howstuffworks.com/router.htm

Read the article " How routers work" (sections 1 - 6 )

Try the Router Quiz on the introduction page.

Then

Describe in detail how a router works.

Packet switching and circuit switching

"Distinguish between the use of circuit switching and packet  switching in communication networks.
Describe the typical contents of a packet in packet switching."

Task 1

Transmission of data over a wide area network may be carried out by circuit or packet switching.

a) Explain the difference between circuit and packet switching.

b) State three items that will be transmitted with a data packet in addition to the data itself.




Task 2
Network Protocols

Protocol: pre-agreed signals, codes and rules to be used for data and information exchange between systems.

A standard protocol is a protocol that conforms to a standard laid down by a standards authority to allow data exchange between any computing systems conforming to the standard.

Describe the TCP/IP Protocol stack
http://www.howstuffworks.com/osi2.htm

 

Natural Language Interface

input that is spoken."

It is a very attractive idea to have a computer that can understand natural language - 'plain English' in other words. How do I create an A5 folded leaflet in Word? is understandable to most people but it does not elicit a sensible answer from the Office Assistant.

Unfortunately, the ambiguity of natural language makes it very difficulat for a machine to understand. Language is ambiguous in a number of different ways.  Firstly, the syntax, or structure of a sentence may not be clear - for example consider the sentences:

• James and Henrietta are married.
• A salesman visited every house in the area.
• The man hit the dog with the stick.

Are James and Henrietta married to each other? Was there only one salesman involved in the house to house sales operation? Who had the stick?
Secondly, many English words have more than one meaning. How many ways can the word 'match' be interpreted?
(P.M Heathcote and S.Langfield)

Task 1
Get a copy of Chapter 31 from CG3 folder in shared area. Make some revision notes about the natural language interface describing the advantages and disadvantages.

Task 2
Research - Find some other examples of systems that use speech input.
Check out the useful links

Go to the useful links page of the blog and choose two of the news stories.

They should be stories which show the advantages they give us in particular circumstances such as working in extreme conditions or working in a health and care environment.

Task 1

Produce a presentation of each of the news stories and provide some speaker notes.
You will be asked to present the information to the rest of the students next lesson.

• Overview of how they work
• A range of detailed examples of applications where robots are used.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15146053

Task: Take a copy of the presentation "Safety Critical Systems"

Use Prezi and the internet to make your own presentation describing a range of similar systems.

Homework: Be able to describe a range of safety critical systems and the need for them to be highly reliable. 

Disk Partitioning

"Explain the reasons for, and possible consequences of, partitioning of main memory."

 Use the following link for research:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_partitioning
 

• Describe  what is meant by memory partitioning.
• Explain some of the advantages and disadvantages of memory partitioning.