Computers

Table of Contents I.    Software Systems and Methodology – 40% A.    Data organization 1.      Data types a.       Definition: Data types are assigned to blocks of information. The type tells the program how to handle the specific information. For example, an integer data type can be multiplied, but a Boolean data type cannot. b.      In C, … Read more

Table of Contents I.    Software Systems and Methodology – 40% A.    Data organization 1.      Data types 2.      Data structures and implementation techniques a.       Definition: A data structure is a way of organizing one or more data types into groups. For example, many languages do not have a string data type. To manipulate a string, you … Read more

Table of Contents I.    Software Systems and Methodology – 40% B.     Program control and structure 1.      Iteration and recursion a.       Definition: Iteration is the process of performing the same actions multiple times. Loops are the best examples of iteration. b.      Definition: Any function that calls itself is recursive. It looks a lot like iteration, but … Read more

Table of Contents I.    Software Systems and Methodology – 40% B.     Program control and structure 2.      Procedures, functions, methods, and exception handlers a.       Definition: A procedure and a function are very similar animals. They both allow the programmer to call them from multiple places in the program. If the called subroutine returns a value, then … Read more

Table of Contents I.    Software Systems and Methodology – 40% C.     Programming languages and notation 1.      Constructs for data organization and program control a.       Definition: In this section, data organization is not referring to anything like data structures. There are many ways to think about information and programming. Object-oriented programming has come to dominate the … Read more

Table of Contents I.    Software Systems and Methodology – 40% D.    Software engineering 1.      Formal specifications and assertions a.       Definition: Whatever. (If you think I should put something here, email me.) 2.      Verification techniques a.       Definition: Whatever. (If you think I should put something here, email me.) 3.      Software development models, patterns, and tools a.       … Read more

Table of Contents II.    Computer Organization and Architecture – 15% A.    Digital logic design 1.      Implementation of combination and sequential circuits a.       Definition: Sequential circuits have memory, and the output depends on the input and the memory. Combinational circuits do not have memory and the output is based only on the input. b.      A flip-flop … Read more

Table of Contents II.    Computer Organization and Architecture – 15% C.     Memories and their hierarchies 1.      Performance, implementation, and management a.       Definition: Because fast memory is significantly more expensive that slow memory, you cannot load up your system with fast memory. So, you must have different speeds of memory. Managing that memory is a sophisticated … Read more

Table of Contents II.    Computer Organization and Architecture – 15% D.    Networking and communications 1.      Interconnect structures (e.g. buses, switches, routers) a.       Caveat: I do not have time to put any information in this section. According to people that took the test in November 2003, there are networking questions on the test. 2.      I/O systems … Read more

Table of Contents III. Theory and Mathematical Background – 40% A.    Algorithms and complexity 1.      Exact and asymptotic analysis of specific algorithms a.       Definition: When looking at an algorithm and evaluating it, we might want to precisely define how long it will take the program to run (exact analysis), but we usually just approximate the … Read more