AQA AS and A Level

Computer
Science
AQA AS and A Level
Computer Science
P.M. Heathcote
R.S.U. Heathcote

Published by
PG Online Limited
The Old Coach House
35 Main Road
Tolpuddle
Dorset
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United Kingdom
[email protected]
www.pgonline.co.uk
2016
 Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the AQA Examination Board for permission to use questions from past papers.
The answers in the Teacher’s Supplement are the sole responsibility of the authors and have neither
been provided nor approved by the examination board.
We would also like to thank the following for permission to reproduce copyright photographs:
Screenshots of Arriva Bus App © Arriva PLC
Colossus photograph © The National Archives
Google Maps ‘StreetView’ © Google 2015
Screenshot from Roboform website © Roboform
Alan Turing © By kind permission of the Provost and Fellows, King’s College, Cambridge
from Archives Centre, King’s College, Cambridge. AMT/K/7/12
Trans-continental Internet connections © Telegeography
Internet registries map © Ripe NCC
Other photographic images © Shutterstock

Graphics: Rob Heathcote and Roger Stayte

Cover picture © ‘South Coast Sailing’ 2014

Oil on canvas 60x60cm
Reproduced with the kind permission of Heather Duncan
www.heatherduncan.com

Design and artwork by OnThree

www.on-three.com

Typeset by Chapter One (London) Ltd, Ian Kingston

First edition 2016, reprinted 2016

A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-910523-07-0
Copyright © P.M.Heathcote and R.S.U.Heathcote 2016
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Lightning Source Inc., Milton Keynes

ii
Preface
The aim of this textbook is to provide detailed coverage of the topics in the new AQA AS and A Level
Computer Science specification.

The book is divided into twelve sections and within each section, each chapter covers material that can
comfortably be taught in one or two lessons.

In the first year of this course there will be a strong emphasis on learning to program. You will start by
learning the syntax of your chosen programming language – that is, the rules of how to write correct
statements that the computer can understand. Then you will code simple programs, building up your
skills to the point where you can understand and make additions and amendments to a program
consisting of several hundred lines of code.

Sections 1 and 2 of this book can be studied in parallel with your practical programming sessions. It will
give you practice in the skills you need to master.

In the second year of this course the focus will turn to algorithms and data structures, covered in
Sections 7 and 8. These are followed by sections on regular languages, the Internet and databases.

Object Oriented Programming and functional programming are covered in the final section, which
describes basic theoretical concepts in OOP, as well as providing some practical exercises using the
functional programming language Haskell. Lists, the fact-based model and ‘Big Data’ are all described
and explained.

Two short appendices contain A Level content that could be taught in the first year of the course as an
extension to related AS topics.

The OOP concepts covered may also be helpful in the coursework element of the A Level course.

Each chapter contains exercises and questions, some new and some from past examination papers.
Answers to all these are available to teachers only in a Teacher’s Supplement which can be ordered from
our website www.pgonline.co.uk.

Approval message from AQA

This textbook has been approved by AQA for use with our qualification. This means that we have
checked that it broadly covers the specification and we are satisfied with the overall quality. Full details of
our approval process can be found on our website.

We approve textbooks because we know how important it is for teachers and students to have the right
resources to support their teaching and learning. However, the publisher is ultimately responsible for the
editorial control and quality of this book.

Please note that when teaching the A Level Computer Science course, you must refer to AQA’s
specification as your definitive source of information. While this book has been written to match the
specification, it cannot provide complete coverage of every aspect of the course.

A wide range of other useful resources can be found on the relevant subject pages of our
website: www.aqa.org.uk.

iii
 Contents
Section 1
Fundamentals of programming 1
Chapter 1 Programming basics2
Chapter 2 Selection8
Chapter 3 Iteration13
Chapter 4 Arrays17
Chapter 5 Subroutines21
Chapter 6 Files and exception handling 29

Section 2
Problem solving and theory of computation 33
Chapter 7 Solving logic problems 34
Chapter 8 Structured programming 39
Chapter 9 Writing and interpreting algorithms 42
Chapter 10 Testing and evaluation 48
Chapter 11 Abstraction and automation52
Chapter 12 Finite state machines60

Section 3
Data representation 67
Chapter 13 Number systems 68
Chapter 14 Bits, bytes and binary72
Chapter 15 Binary arithmetic and the representation of fractions77
Chapter 16 Bitmapped graphics83
Chapter 17 Digital representation of sound88
Chapter 18 Data compression and encryption algorithms93

iv
Section 4
Hardware and software 99
Chapter 19 Hardware and software100
Chapter 20 Role of an operating system103
Chapter 21 Programming language classification106
Chapter 22 Programming language translators110
Chapter 23 Logic gates114
Chapter 24 Boolean algebra118

Section 5
Computer organisation and architecture 125
Chapter 25 Internal computer hardware126
Chapter 26 The processor132
Chapter 27 The processor instruction set138
Chapter 28 Assembly language142
Chapter 29 Input-output devices148
Chapter 30 Secondary storage devices154

Section 6
Communication: technology and consequences 158
Chapter 31 Communication methods159
Chapter 32 Network topology 164
Chapter 33 Client-server and peer-to-peer168
Chapter 34 Wireless networking, CSMA and SSID171
Chapter 35 Communication and privacy176
Chapter 36 The challenges of the digital age179

v
 Section 7
Data structures 187
Chapter 37 Queues 188
Chapter 38 Lists 194
Chapter 39 Stacks 198
Chapter 40 Hash tables and dictionaries 202
Chapter 41 Graphs 207
Chapter 42 Trees 211
Chapter 43 Vectors 217

Section 8
Algorithms 223
Chapter 44 Recursive algorithms 224
Chapter 45 Big-O notation 229
Chapter 46 Searching and sorting 235
Chapter 47 Graph-traversal algorithms 243
Chapter 48 Optimisation algorithms 249
Chapter 49 Limits of computation 254

Section 9
Regular languages 259
Chapter 50 Mealy machines 260
Chapter 51 Sets 265
Chapter 52 Regular expressions 269
Chapter 53 The Turing machine 273
Chapter 54 Backus-Naur Form 278
Chapter 55 Reverse Polish notation 283

vi
Section 10
The Internet 287
Chapter 56 Structure of the Internet 288
Chapter 57 Packet switching and routers 292
Chapter 58 Internet security 294
Chapter 59 TCP/IP, standard application layer protocols 300
Chapter 60 IP addresses 307
Chapter 61 Client server model 313

Section 11
Databases and software development 318
Chapter 62 Entity relationship modelling 319
Chapter 63 Relational databases and normalisation 323
Chapter 64 Introduction to SQL 330
Chapter 65 Defining and updating tables using SQL 336
Chapter 66 Systematic approach to problem solving 342

Section 12
OOP and functional programming 346
Chapter 67 Basic concepts of object-oriented programming 347
Chapter 68 Object-oriented design principles 353
Chapter 69 Functional programming 360
Chapter 70 Function application 367
Chapter 71 Lists in functional programming 371
Chapter 72 Big Data 374

References 379

Appendices and Index

Appendix A Floating point form 380
Appendix B Adders and D-type flip-flops 387

Index 391

vii
 CHAPTER 1 – PROGRAMMING BASICS

String-handling functions
Programming languages have a number of built-in string-handling methods or functions. Some of the
common ones in a typical language are:
len(string) Returns the length of a string
string.substring(index1,index2) Returns a portion of string inclusive of the characters at
each index position
string.find(str) Determines if str occurs in a string. Returns index (the
position of the first character in the string) if found, and -1
otherwise. In our pseudocode we will assume that string(1)
is the first element of the string, though in Python, for
example, the first element is string(0)
ord("a") Returns the integer value of a character (97 in this example)
chr(97) Returns the character represented by an integer
("a" in this example)

Q3: What will be output by the following lines of code?

x = "Come into the garden, Maud"
y = len(x)
z = x.find("Maud")
OUTPUT "x= ",x
OUTPUT "y= ",y
OUTPUT "z= ",z
1-1

To concatenate or join two strings, use the + operator.

e.g. “Johnny” + “Bates” = “JohnnyBates”

String conversion operations

int("1") converts the character “1” to the integer 1
str(123) converts the integer 123 into a string “123”
float("123.456") converts the string “123.456” to the real number 123.456
str(123.456) converts the real number 123.456 to the string “123.456”
date(year,month,day) returns a number that you can calculate with

Converting between strings and dates is usually handled by functions built in to string library modules,
e.g. strtodate("01/01/2016").
Example:
date1 ß strtodate("18/01/2015")
date2 ß strtodate("30/12/2014")
days ß date1 - date2
OUTPUT date1, date2, days

This will output

2015-01-18 2014-12-30 19

5
 SECTION 2 – PROBLEM SOLVING AND THEORY OF COMPUTATION

Chapter 12– Finite state machines

Objectives
• Understand what is meant by a finite state machine
• List some of the uses of a finite state machine
• Draw and interpret simple state transition diagrams for finite state machines with no output
• Draw a state transition table for a finite state machine with no output and vice versa

What is a finite state machine?

A finite state machine is a model of computation used to design computer programs and sequential logic
circuits. It is not a “machine” in the physical sense of a washing machine, an engine or a power tool, for
example, but rather an abstract model of how a machine reacts to an external event. The machine can
be in one of a finite number of states and changes from one state to the next state when triggered by
some condition or input (say, a signal from a timer).
In a finite state machine:
• The machine can only be in one state at a time
• It can change from one state to another in response to an event or condition; this is called a
transition. Often this is a switch or a binary sensor.
• The Finite State Machine (FSM) is defined by a list of its states and the condition for each transition
2-12 There can be outputs linked to the FSM’s state, but in this chapter we will be considering only FSMs with
no output.

Example 1
Draw an FSM to model the states and transitions of a door. The door can be open, closed or locked.
It can change from the state of being open to closed, from closed to locked, but not, say, from locked
to open. (It has to be unlocked first.)

Transition condition
Transition

State
Close door Lock door

Opened Closed Locked

Open door Unlock door

60
 CHAPTER 12 – FINITE STATE MACHINES

Example 2
Draw an FSM to represent a light switch. When the button is pressed, the light goes on. When the button
is pressed again, the light goes off.
There is just one input B to this system: Button pressed (B=1) or Button not pressed (B=0).

B=1

B=0 B=0

Light Light
off on

B=1
Notice that in each state, both the transitions B=0 and B=1 are drawn. If the light is off, the transition
B=0 has no effect so the transition results in the same state. Likewise, if the light is on, as long as the
button is not pressed, the light will stay on.

Usage of finite state machines

FSMs are widely used in modelling the design of hardware digital systems, compilers and network
protocols. They are also used in the definition of languages, and to decide whether a particular word
is allowed in the language.
A finite state machine which has no output is also known as a finite state automaton. It has a start
state and a set of accept states which define whether it accepts or rejects finite strings or symbols.
The finite state automaton accepts a string c1, c2…cn if there is a path for the given input from the start 2-12
state to an accept state. The language recognised by the finite state automaton consists of all the strings
accepted by it.
If, when you are in a particular state, the next state is uniquely determined by the input, it is a
deterministic final state automaton. All the examples which follow satisfy this condition.

Notation

Symbol Meaning

State

Start state

Accept state

Transition

61
 SECTION 2 – PROBLEM SOLVING AND THEORY OF COMPUTATION

Example 3
Use an FSM to represent a valid identifier in a programming language. The rules for a valid identifier for
this particular language are:
• The identifier must start with a lowercase letter
• Any combination of letters and lowercase numbers may follow
• There is no limit on the length of the identifier
a-z

S1 S2 a-z, 0-9

0-9

S3 a-z, 0-9

In this diagram, the start state S1 is represented by a circle with an arrow leading into it.
The accept state S2 is denoted by a double circle.
2-12 S3 is a “dead state” because having arrived here, the string can never reach the accept state.
Each character of the input string is input sequentially to the FSM and if the last character reaches
the final state S2 (the accept state), the string is valid and is accepted. If it ends up anywhere else
the string is invalid.
Note that there can only be one starting state but there may be more than one accept state (or no
accept states).

Q1: Which of the following strings is valid and accepted by this finite state machine?
(i) a    (ii) bba    (iii) abbaa    (iv) bbbb

S0 S1 a

b
b

S2
b

62
 SECTION 3 – DATA REPRESENTATION

What is encryption?
Encryption is the transformation of data from one form to another to prevent an unauthorised third party
from being able to understand it. The original data or message is known as plaintext. The encrypted
data is known as ciphertext. The encryption method or algorithm is known as the cipher, and the
secret information to lock or unlock the message is known as a key.
The Caesar cipher and the Vernam cipher offer polar opposite examples of security. Where the Vernam
offers perfect security, the Caesar cipher is very easy to break with little or no computational power.
There are many others methods of encryption – some of which may take many computers, many years
to break, but these are still breakable and the principles behind them are similar.

The Caesar cipher

Julius Caesar is said to have used this method to keep messages secure. The Caesar cipher (also
known as a shift cipher) is a type of substitution cipher and works by shifting the letters of the
alphabet along by a given number of characters; this parameter being the key. Below is an example of
a shift cipher using a key of 5. (An algorithm for this cipher is given as an example on page 46.)

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â
F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E

Q2: Using the table above, what is the ciphertext for ‘JULIUS CAESAR’ using a shift of 5?
3-18 Q3: What word can be translated from the following ciphertext, which uses a key of -2: ZYBECP

You will no doubt be able to see the ease with which you might be able to decrypt a message using
this system.

DGYDQFH WR ERUGHU DQG DWWDFN DW GDZQ

Even if you had to attempt a brute force attack on the message above, there are only 25 different
possibilities (since a shift of zero means the plaintext and the ciphertext are identical). Otherwise you
might begin by guessing the likelihood of certain characters first and go from there. Using cryptanalysis
on longer messages, you would quickly find the most common ciphertext letter and could start by
assuming this was an E, for example, or perhaps an A. (Hint.)

Cryptanalysis and perfect security

Other ciphers that use non-random keys are open to a cryptanalytic attack and can be solved given
enough time and resources. Even ciphers that use a computer-generated random key can be broken
since mathematically generated random numbers are not actually random; they just appear to be so. A
truly random sequence must be collected from a physical and unpredictable phenomenon such as white
noise, the timing of a hard disk read/write head or radioactive decay. A truly random key must be used
with a Vernam cipher to ensure it is mathematically impossible to break.

The Vernam cipher

The Vernam cipher, invented in 1917 by the scientist Gilbert Vernam, is one implementation of a class
of ciphers known as one-time pad ciphers, all of which offer perfect security if used properly. All others
are based on computational security and are theoretically discoverable given enough time, ciphertext
and computational power. Frequency analysis is a common technique used to break a cipher.

96
 CHAPTER 18 – DATA COMPRESSION AND ENCRYPTION ALGORITHMS

One-time pad
To provide perfect security, the encryption key or one-time pad must be equal to or longer in characters
than the plaintext, be truly random and be used only once. The sender and recipient must meet in person
to securely share the key and destroy it after encryption or decryption. Since the key is random, so will
be the distribution of the characters meaning that no amount of cryptanalysis will produce meaningful
results.

The bitwise exclusive or XOR

A Boolean XOR operation is carried out between the binary representation of each character of the
plaintext and the corresponding character of the one-time pad. The XOR operation is covered in Chapter
23 and you may want to refer to this to verify the output for any combination of 0 and 1. Use the ASCII
chart on page 73 for reference.

Plaintext: M Key: + XOR: f

1 0 1
0 1 1
0 0 0
1 1 0
1 0 1
0 1 1
1 1 0

3-18
Q4: Using the ASCII chart and the XOR operator, what ciphertext character will be produced from
the letter E with the key w?

Using this method, the message “Meet on the bridge at 0300 hours” encrypted using a one-time pad
of +tkiGeMxGvnhoQ0xQDIIIVdT4sIJm9qf will produce the ciphertext:

The encryption process will often produce strange symbols or unprintable ASCII characters as in the
above example, but in practice it is not necessary to translate the encrypted code back into character
form, as it is transmitted in binary. To decrypt the message, the XOR operation is carried out on the
ciphertext using the same one-time pad, which restores it to plaintext.
Exercises
1. Explain the difference between lossy and lossless data compression. [2]

2. Run-length encoding (RLE) is a pattern substitution compression algorithm.

Data is stored in the format (colour,run) where 0 = White, 1 = Black.
(0,1),(1,5),(0,1),
(1,7),
(1,1),(0,2),(1,1),(0,2),(1,1),
(1,7),
(0,1),(1,1),(0,1),(1,1),(0,1),(1,1),(0,1),
(0,1),(1,1),(0,1),(1,1),(0,1),(1,1),(0,1),
(0,1),(1,1),(0,3),(1,1),(0,1)

97
 SECTION 5 – COMPUTER ORGANISATION AND ARCHITECTURE

Assembly language instructions

Machine code was the first “language” used to enter programs by early computer programmers. The next
advance in programming was to use mnemonics instead of binary codes, and this was called assembly
code or assembly language. Each assembly language instruction translates into one machine code
instruction.
Different mnemonic codes are used by different manufacturers, so there are several versions of assembly
language.
Typical statements in machine code and assembly language are:

Machine code Assembly code Meaning

0100 1100 LDA #12 Load the number 12 into the accumulator

0010 0010 ADD #2 Add the number 2 to the contents of the accumulator

0111 1111 STO 15 Store the result from the accumulator in location 15

The # symbol in this assembly language program signifies that the immediate addressing mode is being
used.

Q5: Write a statement in a high level language which performs an operation equivalent to the
three statements in the above machine code program, with the result being stored in a
location called TOTAL.
5-27 Q6: Write a machine code program, and an equivalent assembly language program, to add the
contents of locations 10 and 11 and store the result in location 14.

Exercises
1. A computer with a 16-bit word length uses an instruction set with 6 bits for the opcode, including
the addressing mode.
(a) What is an instruction set?[1]
(b) How many instructions could be included in the instruction set of this computer? [1]
(c) What is the largest number that can be used as data in the instruction? [1]
(d) What would be the effect of increasing the space allowed for the opcode by 2 bits? [2]
(e) What would be the benefits of increasing the word size of the computer? [2]

2. The high-level language statement

X = Y + 6
is to be written in assembly language.

Complete the following assembly language statements, which are to be the equivalent of the above
high level language statement. The LOAD and STORE instructions imply the use of the accumulator
register.
LOAD ……………………………
……………………………………#6
STORE ………………………… [3]

140
 SECTION 6 – COMMUNICATION: TECHNOLOGY AND CONSEQUENCES

Parity
Computers use either even or odd parity. In an even parity machine, the total number of ‘on’ bits in every
byte (including the parity bit) must be an even number. When data is transmitted, the parity bit is set at
the transmitting end and parity is checked at the receiving end, and if the wrong number of bits are ‘on’,
an error has occurred. In the diagram below the parity bit is the most significant bit (MSB).

01000001

Parity Least Significant Bit (LSB)

Parity bit in even parity system

Q2: The ASCII codes for P and Q are 1010000 and 1010001 respectively. In an even parity
transmission system, what will be the value of the parity bit for the characters P and Q?

Synchronous transmission
Using synchronous transmission, data is transferred at regular intervals that are timed by a clocking
signal, allowing for a constant and reliable transmission for time-sensitive data, such as real-time video
or voice. Parallel communication typically uses synchronous transmission – for example, in the CPU, the
clock emits a signal at regular intervals and transmissions along the address bus, data bus and control
bus start on a clock signal, which is shared by both sender and receiver.
6-31
Asynchronous transmission
Using asynchronous transmission, one byte at a time is sent, with each character being preceded by
a start bit and followed by a stop bit.
The start bit alerts the receiving device and synchronises the clock inside the receiver ready to receive the
character. The baud rate at the receiving end has to be set up to be the same as the sender’s baud rate
or the signal will not be received correctly. The stop bit is actually a “stop period”, which may be arbitrarily
long. This allows the receiver time to identify the next start bit and gives the receiver time to process the
data before the next value is transmitted.
A parity bit is also usually included as a check against incorrect transmission. Thus for each character
being sent, a total of 10 bits is transmitted, including the parity bit, a start bit and a stop bit. The start
bit may be a 0 or a 1, the stop bit is then a 1 or a 0 (always different). A series of electrical pulses is sent
down the line as illustrated below:
Voltage (V)

High

Low
0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1
Bit 9 Bit 8 Bit 7 Bit 6 Bit 5 Bit 4 Bit 3 Bit 2 Bit 1 Bit 0
Stop Parity Start
bit bit bit
Character code for ‘R’

Asynchronous transmission

162
 Chapter 41 – Graphs

Chapter 41 – Graphs
Objectives
• Be aware of a graph as a data structure used to represent complex relationships
• Be familiar with typical uses for graphs
• Be able to explain the terms: graph, weighted graph, vertex/node, edge/arc, undirected graph,
directed graph
• Know how an adjacency matrix and an adjacency list may be used to represent a graph
• Be able to compare the use of adjacency matrices and adjacency lists

Definition of a graph
A graph is a set of vertices or nodes connected by edges or arcs. The edges may be one-way or
two way. In an undirected graph, all edges are bidirectional. If the edges in a graph are all one-way, the
graph is said to be a directed graph or digraph.

Bury St Edmunds

57 Framlingham

10
25 Wickham Market

45 7-41
31 56
9
Stowmarket
21
15
Ipswich Woodbridge

Figure 41.1: An undirected graph with weighted edges

The edges may be weighted to show there is a cost to go from one vertex to another as in Figure 41.1.
The weights in this example represent distances between towns. A human driver can find their way
from one town to another by following a map, but a computer needs to represent the information about
distances and connections in a structured, numerical representation.

A
D

F E

Figure 41.2: A directed, unweighted graph

207
 Section 7 – Data structures

Implementing a graph
Two possible implementations of a graph are the adjacency matrix and the adjacency list.

The adjacency matrix

A two-dimensional array can be used to store information about a directed or undirected graph. Each
of the rows and columns represents a node, and a value stored in the cell at the intersection of row i,
column j indicates that there is an edge connecting node i and node j.

A B C D E F
B
5 3 A 5 4

A 6 B 6 3
D
4
C 8
2
C D 2
F 8 E E
F

In the case of an undirected graph, the adjacency matrix will be symmetric, with the same entry in row
0 column 1 as in row 1 column 0, for example.
An unweighted graph may be represented with 1s instead of weights, in the relevant cells.

7-41
Q1: Draw an adjacency matrix to represent the weighted graph shown in Figure 41.1.

Advantages and disadvantages of the adjacency matrix

An adjacency matrix is very convenient to work with, and adding an edge or testing for the presence of
an edge is very simple and quick. However, a sparse graph with many nodes but not many edges will
leave most of the cells empty, and the larger the graph, the more memory space will be wasted. Another
consideration is that using a static two-dimensional array, it is harder to add or delete nodes.

The adjacency list

An adjacency list is a more space-efficient way to implement a sparsely connected graph. A list of all the
nodes is created, and each node points to a list of all the adjacent nodes to which it is directly linked. The
adjacency list can be implemented as a list of dictionaries, with the key in each dictionary being the node
and the value, the edge weight.
The graph above would be represented as follows:

A {B:5, C:4}
B {C:6, D:3}
C {F:8}
D {E:2}
E {}
F {}

208
 Chapter 47 – Graph-traversal algorithms

Applications of depth-first search

Applications of the depth-first search include the following:

• In scheduling jobs where a series of tasks is to be performed, and certain tasks must be completed
before the next one begins.
• In solving problems such as mazes, which can be represented as a graph
Finding a way through a maze
A depth-first search can be used to find a way out of a maze. Junctions where there is a choice of route
in the maze are represented as nodes on a graph.

A
B A

C B
D
E
C D

E
X

Q1: (a) Redraw the graph without showing the dead ends. 8-47
(b) State the properties of this graph that makes it a tree.
(c) Complete the table below to show how the graph would be represented using an
adjacency matrix.

A B C D E X
A
B
C
D
E
X

Q2: Draw a graph representing the following maze. Show the dead ends on your graph.

A D X

B C

247
 Chapter 53 – The Turing machine

Chapter 53 – The Turing machine

Objectives
• Know that a Turing machine can be viewed as a computer with a single fixed program, expressed using
o a finite set of states in a state transition diagram
o a finite alphabet of symbols
o an infinite tape with marked off squares
o a sensing read-write head that can travel along the tape, one square at a time
• Understand the equivalence between a transition function and a state transition diagram
• Be able to:
o represent transition rules using a transition function
o represent transition rules using a state transition diagram
o hand-trace simple Turing machines
• Explain the importance of Turing machines and the Universal Turing machine to the subject of
computation

Alan Turing
Alan Turing (1912–1954) was a British computer scientist and mathematician,
best known for his work at Bletchley Park during the Second World War.
While working there, he devised an early computer for breaking German 9-53
ciphers, work which probably shortened the war by two or more years and
saved countless lives.
Turing was interested in the question of computability, and the answer
to the question “Is every mathematical task computable?” In 1936 he
invented a theoretical machine, which became known as the Turing
machine, to answer this question.

The Turing machine

The Turing machine consists of an infinitely long strip of tape divided into squares. It has a read/write
head that can read symbols from the tape and make decisions about what to do based on the contents
of the cell and its current state.
Essentially, this is a finite state machine with the addition of an infinite memory on tape. The FSM
specifies the task to be performed; it can erase or write a different symbol in the current cell, and it can
move the read/write head either left or right.

Infinite tape

... 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 □ 0 1 1 □ ...

Read / Write head

State S1

The Turing machine is an early precursor of the modern computer, with input, output and a program
which describes its behaviour. Any alphabet may be defined for the Turing machine; for example a binary
alphabet of 0, 1 and □ (representing a blank), as shown in the diagram above.

273
 Section 9 – Regular languages

The finite state machine corresponding to the state transition diagram is given below.

1,1,R 1,1,R
0,0,R 1,0,L 0,0,R

□,□,L 0,1,L □,□,L

□,1,R
S0 S1 S2 S3

Q1: Trace the computation of the Turing machine if the tape starts with the data 11 as shown below.

... □ □ 1 1 □ □ ...

S0

(You will need to draw ten representations of the tape to complete the computation.)

Transition functions
The transition rules for any Turing machine can be expressed as a transition function d. The rules are
written in the form

9-53 d (Current State, Input symbol) = (Next State, Output symbol, Movement).
Thus the rule
d (S1, 0) = (S2, 1, L)
means “IF the machine is currently in state S1 and the input symbol read from the tape is 0, THEN write a
1 to the tape, and move left and change state to S2”.

Q2: Looking at the state transition diagram above, write the transition rules for inputs of 0, 1 and □
when the machine is in state S0.

The universal Turing machine

A Turing machine can theoretically represent any computation.

A, B  + A+B

A, B  * A*B

Each machine has a different program to compute the desired operation. However, the obvious problem
with this is that a different machine has to be created for each operation, which is clearly impractical.
Turing therefore came up with the idea of the Universal Turing machine, which could be used to
compute any computable sequence. He wrote: “If this machine U is supplied with the tape on the
beginning of which is written the string of quintuples separated by semicolons of some computing
machine M, then U will compute the same sequence as M.”

276
 Chapter 68 – Object-oriented design principles

Chapter 68 – Object-oriented design principles

Objectives
• Understand concepts of association, composition and aggregation
• Understand the use of polymorphism and overriding
• Be aware of object-oriented design principles:

◦◦ encapsulate what varies

◦◦ program to interfaces,overnotinheritance
favour composition
◦◦ implementation
• Be able to draw and interpret class diagrams

Association, aggregation and composition

Recall that inheritance is based on an “is a” relationship between two classes. For example, a cat
“is a(n)” animal, a car “is a” vehicle. In a similar fashion, association may be loosely described as a
“has a” relationship between classes. Thus a railway company may be associated with the engines and
carriages it owns, or the track that it maintains. A teacher may be associated with a form bi-directionally
– a teacher “has a” student, and a student “has a” teacher. However, there is no ownership between
objects and each has their own lifecycle, and can be created and deleted independently.
Association aggregation, or simply aggregation, is a special type of more specific association. It can
occur when a class is a collection or container of other classes, but the contained classes do not have a
strong lifecycle dependency on the container. For example, a player who is part of a team does not cease 12-68
to exist if the team is disbanded.
Aggregation may be shown in class diagrams using a hollow diamond shape between the two classes.

Team Player

Class diagram showing association aggregation

Composition aggregation, or simply composition, is a stronger form of aggregation. If the container is
destroyed, every instance of the contained class is also destroyed. For example if a hotel is destroyed,
every room in the hotel is destroyed.
Composition may be shown in class diagrams using a filled diamond shape. The diamond is at the end of
the class that owns the creational responsibility.

Hotel Room

Class diagram showing composition aggregation

Q1: Specify whether each of the following describe association aggregation or composition
aggregation.
(a) Zoo and ZooAnimal
(b) RaceTrack and TrackSection
(c) Department and Teacher

353
 Section 12 – OOP and functional programming

Polymorphism
Polymorphism refers to a programming language’s ability to process objects differently depending on
their class. For example, in the last chapter we looked at an application that had a superclass Animal,
and subclasses Cat and Rodent. All objects in subclasses of Animal can execute the methods
moveLeft, moveRight, which will cause the animal to move one space left or right.

Moves
Animal one space

Cat Moves Rodent Moves

three spaces two spaces

Mouse Beaver

We might decide that a cat should move three spaces when a moveLeft or moveRight message is
received, and a Rodent should move two spaces. We can define different methods within each of the
classes to implement these moves, but keep the same method name for each class.
Defining a method with the same name and formal argument types as a method inherited from a
superclass is called overriding. In the example above, the moveLeft method in each of the Cat and
Rodent classes overrides the method in the superclass Animal.

Q2: Suppose that tom is an instance of the Cat class, and jerry is an instance of the Mouse
class. What will happen when each of these statements is executed?
12-68 tom.moveRight()
jerry.moveRight()
Q3: Looking at the diagram above, what changes do you need to make so that bertie, an instance
of the Beaver class, moves only one space when given a moveRight() message?

Class definition including override

Class definitions for the classes Animal and Cat will be something like this:
Animal = Class
Public
Procedure moveLeft
Procedure moveRight
Protected
Position: Integer
End
Cat = Subclass (Animal)
Public
Procedure moveLeft (Override)
Procedure moveRight (Override)
Procedure pounce
Private
Name: String
End
Note: The 'Protected' access modifier is described on page 356.

354
 INDEX– AQA A LEVEL COMPUTER SCIENCE

Index
A asynchronous transmission, 162 breadth-first
absolute error, 385 attributes, 319, 347 search, 248
abstract data types, 188 audio bit depth, 88 traversal, 245, 246
abstraction, 52, 108 automation, 58 bridges of Königsberg, 54
data, 57 automaton, 61 browser, 305
functional, 56 bubble sort, 44, 238
problem, 57 B bus, 127
procedural, 55 backing store management, 104 address, 128
accumulator, 132, 138 Backus-Naur form, 278 control, 128
active tags, 152 bandwidth, 161 data, 128
ADC, 90 barcode reader, 149 byte, 72
adders barcodes bytecode, 112
concatenating, 387 2-D, 148
address bus, 127, 128, 135 linear, 148 C
addressing mode base case, 224 cache memory, 135
direct, 139 baud rate, 161 Caesar cipher, 96
immediate, 139 behaviours, 347 call stack, 200, 225
adjacency Big Data, 374 camera-based readers, 150
list, 208 Big-O notation, 229, 231 cardinality, 265
matrix, 208 binary carry, 78
ADT, 188 addition, 77 Cartesian product, 266
aggregation, 353 converting to and from decimal, 69 CASE, 10
agile modelling, 342 file, 31 CCD reader, 150
Alan Turing, 273 fixed point, 80 CD-ROM, 155 Index
algorithm, 2 floating point, 81 Central Processing Unit, 126
ALU, 132 multiplication, 78 check digit, 75
Amazon, 179 negative numbers, 79 checksum, 75, 292
analogue number system, 69 ciphertext, 96, 295
data, 89 subtraction, 80 CIR, 133
to digital conversion, 90 binary expression tree, 286 circular queue, 190
analysis, 34, 342 binary search, 236 class, 348
AND, 10, 144 recursive algorithm, 237 classful addressing, 308
AND gate, 115 tree, 212 classless addressing, 308
API, 313 binary search tree, 215 client-server
appending, 372 binary tree search, 238 database, 339
application layer, 300, 301 bit, 72 model, 313
Application Programming depth, 88 network, 168
Interface, 103, 313 rate, 161 clock speed, 135
application software, 102 bitmap image, 83 CMOS, 151
arithmetic logic unit, 127, 132 block-structured languages, 39 co-domain, 360
arithmetic operations, 3, 127, 143 Blu-Ray, 155 collision, 202
ARPANET, 288 BNF, 278 resolution, 204
array, 17, 19, 190 Boolean algebra, 120 Colossus computer, 106
ASCII, 73 Absorption rules, 120 colour depth, 83
assembler, 110 Associative rules, 120 comments, 3
assembly language, 108, Commutative rules, 120 commitment ordering, 340
109, 140, 142 Distributive rules, 120 compact representation, 266
association, 353 Boolean operators, 10 compare and branch
asymmetric encryption, 296 instructions, 143

391
 INDEX– AQA A LEVEL COMPUTER SCIENCE

compiler, 110, 112 defining a table, 336 encryption, 96, 295

composite data types, 188 locking, 340 asymmetric, 296
composition, 57, 353 normalisation, 324 private key, 296
compression relational, 323 public key, 296
dictionary-based, 95 De Morgan’s laws, 118 symmetric, 296
lossless, 93 decomposition, 57 Enigma code, 106
lossy, 93 denary, 80 entity, 319
computability, 273 depth-first identifier, 319
computable problems, 256 traversal, 243 relationship diagram, 320, 321
computational thinking, 35, 52 design, 34, 343 error checking, 74
Computer Misuse Act, 183 destruction of jobs, 180 ethics, 182
constant, 6 dictionary, 205 evaluating a program, 46
constructor, 348 dictionary based compression, 95 evaluation, 50, 344
control bus, 127, 128 digital event messages, 91
control unit, 127, 132 camera, 151 exbi, 72
convex combination, 220 certificate, 297 exponent, 381
Copyright, Designs and data, 89 exponential function, 230
Patents Act (1988), 183 signature, 296
CPU, 126 to analogue conversion, 90 F
CRC, 292 digraph, 207 fact-based model, 377
CRUD, 314 Dijkstra’s algorithm, 249, 293 fetch-execute cycle, 134
cryptanalysis, 96, 97 directed graph, 207 field, 29
CSMA/CA, 173 disk defragmenter, 101 FIFO, 188
Index CSMA/CD, 166 divide and conquer, 43 file, 29
CSS Object Model, 305 DNS, 290 binary, 31
CSSOM, 305 Document Object Model, 305 server, 168
current instruction register, 133 DOM, 305 text, 29
cyber-attack, 177 domain, 360 File Transfer Protocol, 303
cyber-bullying, 181 domain name, 289, 290 filter, 370
cyclical redundancy check, 292 fully qualified, 291 finite set, 265
Domain Name System, 290 finite state
D dot product, 220 automaton, 61, 260
DAC, 90 DPI, 83 machine, 60, 260
data driverless cars, 182 firewall, 294
analogue, 89 dry run, 49 first generation language, 53
boundary, 48 D-type flip-flop, 388, 389 First In First Out, 188
bus, 127, 128, 135 dual-core processor, 134 First normal form, 324
communication, 159 dynamic data structure, 190 first-class object, 362
digital, 89 dynamic filtering, 295 fixed point, 385
erroneous, 48 floating point, 385
normal, 48 E binary numbers, 381
structures, 17 EAN, 76 fold (reduce), 370
transfer operations, 143 early computers, 106 folding method, 203
types, 3 eBay, 179 FOR … ENDFOR, 15
user-defined type, 29 edge, 207 foreign key, 320, 324
data abstraction, 188 elementary data types, 17, 188 FQDN, 291
data packets, 292 embedded systems, 130 frequency of a sound, 90
Data Protection Act (1998), 183 encapsulating what varies, 357 FSM, 260
database encapsulation, 188, 350 FTP, 303

392
 INDEX– AQA A LEVEL COMPUTER SCIENCE

full adder, 387 immutable, 363, 372 linear function, 230

Fully Qualified Domain Names, 291 imperative language, 109 linear search, 235
function, 360 implementation, 344 link layer, 300, 301
application, 362 infinite set, 266 linking database tables, 324
higher-order, 367 infix expression, 284 list, 194, 371
functional information hiding, 54, 57, 188, 350 appending to, 372
composition, 364 inheritance, 351 prepending to, 372
programming, 360 in-order traversal, 214, 225, 226 loader, 103
functions, 5, 21, 230 Instagram, 181 local area network, 164
string-handling, 5 instantiation, 348 logarithmic function, 231
instruction set, 107, 110 logic gates, 114
G interface, 23, 129, 357 logical bitwise operators, 144
Galois field, 220 Internet logical operations, 127
gate registrars, 289 low-level language, 108
NOT, AND, OR, 114 registries, 290
XOR, NAND, NOR, 116 security, 172, 294 M
gateway, 293 Service Providers, 289 MAC address, 167, 302
general purpose registers, 132 Internet of things, 182 machine code, 106
getter messages, 349 interpreter, 111, 112 instruction format, 138
GF(2), 220 interrupt, 136 mail server, 304
gibi, 72 handling, 105 majority voting, 75
Google, 179 Interrupt Service Routine, 136 malicious software, 297
Street View, 178 intractable problems, 255 malware, 297
graph, 207 IP address, 291 mantissa, 381 Index
schema, 377 private, 309 many-to-many relationship, 321, 326
theory, 55 public, 309 map, 369
traversals, 243 structure, 307 MAR, 133
half-adder, 387 irrational number, 68 maze, 247
Halting problem, 257 ISBN, 76 MBR, 133
hard disk, 154 ISP, 289 Mealy machines, 260, 261
hardware, 100 Iteration, 13 mebi, 72
Harvard architecture, 130 Media Access Control, 301
hash table, 202 J memory
hashing algorithm, 202 Java Virtual Machine, 112 address register, 133
folding method, 203 JSON, 315, 316 buffer register, 133
data register, 133
H K management, 104
Haskell, 360, 361 kibi, 72 merge sort, 239
heuristic methods, 256 kilobyte, 72 space complexity, 241
hexadecimal, 70 time complexity, 241
hierarchy chart, 40 L metadata, 84
higher-order function, 367 LAN, 164 meta-languages, 278
high-level languages, 109 laser MIDI, 91
HTTP request methods, 314 printer, 152 metadata, 91
scanner, 150 mnemonics, 142
I latency, 161 modelling data requirements, 343
I/O controller, 127, 129 legislation, 183 modular programming, 25
IF … THEN, 8 library programs, 101 module, 39
image resolution, 83 limits of computation, 254 modulo 10 system, 76

393
 N oscillator, 388 processor, 127
NAND gate, 116 overflow, 78, 386 instruction set, 138
NAT, 310 override, 354 performance, 134
natural number, 68, 265 Oyster card, 152 scheduling, 104
nested loops, 15 program
network P constructs, 8
client-server, 168 packet filters, 294 counter, 133
interface cards, 294 packet switching, 292 programming paradigm, 360
layer, 300, 301 PageRank algorithm, 209 proper subset, 266
peer-to-peer, 169 parallel data transmission, 160 protected access modifier, 356
security, 172, 294 parity, 162 protocol, 163
station, 171 bit, 74 prototype, 343
Network Address parity bit checker, 221 proxy server, 294, 295
Translation, 310, 311 partial dependency, 326 pseudocode, 2
nibble, 72 partial function application, 368 public, 348
NIC, 294 passive tags, 152 modifier, 356
node, 207 PC, 133
non-computable problems, 256 pebi, 72 Q
NOR gate, 116 peer-to-peer network, 169 quad-core processor, 134
normal form pen-type reader, 149 queue, 188
first1NF, 324 peripheral management, 105 operations, 189
second 2NF, 326 permutations, 231 Quick Response (QR) code, 148
third 3NF, 326 phishing, 299
Index normalisation, 327 piracy, 170 R
of databases, 324 pixel, 83 Radio Frequency Identification, 151
of floating point number, 382 plaintext, 96, 295 range, 79
NOT, 10, 11, 144 platform independence, 112 raster, 83
gate, 114 polymorphism, 354 rational number, 68, 265
number polynomial function, 230 real number, 265
irrational, 68 polynomial-time solution, 255 record, 29
natural, 68 POP3, 304 record locking, 340
ordinal, 68 port forwarding, 311 recursion, 224
rational, 68 Post Office Protocol (v3), 304 recursive algorithm, 237
real, 68 postfix reference variable, 349
Nyquist’s theorem, 90 expression, 284 referential transparency, 363
notation, 283 register, 127
O post-order traversal, 214, 227 regular expressions, 269
object code, 110 precedence rules, 283 regular language, 270
object-oriented programming, 347 pre-order traversal, 213, 227 rehashing, 204
one-time pad, 97 prepending, 372 relation, 323
opcode, 106, 138 primary key, 319 relational database, 320, 323
operand, 106, 138 priority queue, 192 relational operators, 8
operating system, 100, 103 private, 348 relationships, 320
operation code, 106, 138 key encryption, 296 relative error, 385
optical disk, 155 modifier, 356 REPEAT … UNTIL, 14
OR, 10, 144 problem solving strategies, 36 Representational State Transfer, 314
gate, 115 procedural programming, 347 resolution, 83
ORDER BY, 332 procedure, 21 resource management, 100
ordinal number, 68 procedure interface, 56 REST, 314

394
 INDEX– AQA A LEVEL COMPUTER SCIENCE

Reverse Polish notation, 283 sound sample size, 89 T

RFID, 151 source code, 110 table structure, 336
RLE, 94 space complexity, 241 TCP/IP protocol stack, 300
root node, 211 spam filtering, 299 tebi, 72
rooted tree, 211 specifier Telnet, 304
rounding errors, 384 private, 356 test plan, 48
router, 171, 293 protected access, 356 testing, 48, 344
RTS/CTS, 173 public, 356 text file, 29
Run Length Encoding, 94 SQL, 330, 338 thick-client computing, 316
SSD, 156 thin-client computing, 316
S SSH, 304 Third normal form, 326
sample resolution, 88 SSID, 172 Tim Berners-Lee, 288
scaling vectors, 220 stack, 198 time complexity, 229, 233, 235, 236
Second normal form, 326 call, 200 of merge sort, 241
secondary storage, 154 frame, 201 timestamp ordering, 340
Secure Shell, 304 overflow, 200 topology
SELECT .. FROM .. WHERE, 330 underflow, 200 logical, 166
selection statement, 8 state, 347 physical, 166
serial data transmission, 159 transition diagrams, 260 physical bus, 164
serialisation, 340 transition table, 261 physical star, 165
server stateful inspection, 295 trace table, 14, 49, 107
database, 168 stateless, 363 tractable problems, 255
file, 168 static data structure, 190 transition functions, 276
mail, 168 static filtering, 294 translators, 101 Index
print, 168 Static IP addressing, 310 transmission rate, 161
web, 168 stored program concept, 129 transport layer, 300, 301
Service Set Identification, 172 string conversion, 5 travelling salesman problem, 254, 256
set, 265 structured programming, 39 traversing a binary tree, 213
compact representation, 266 Structured Query Language, 330 tree, 211
comprehension, 266 subclass, 351 child, 211
countable, 266 subnet mask, 308, 310 edge, 211
countably infinite, 266 subnetting, 309 leaf node, 211
difference, 267 subroutines, 21 node, 211
intersection, 267 advantages of using, 25 parent, 211
union, 267 user-written, 22 root, 211
setter messages, 349 with interfaces, 23 subtree, 211
side effects, 363 subset, 266 traversal algorithms, 225
simulation, 188 substitution cipher, 96 trojans, 298
Snowden, Edward, 176 superclass, 351 trolls, 181
social engineering, 299 symmetric encryption, 296 truth tables, 114
software, 34, 100, 102 synchronous transmission, 162 TSP, 256
application, 102 synonym, 202 Turing machine, 273
bespoke, 102 syntax diagrams, 280 two’s complement, 80
development, 342 syntax error, 111 typeclasses, 365
off-the-shelf, 102 system
system, 100 bus, 127 U
utility, 101 clock, 132 underflow, 386
solid-state disk, 156 vulnerabilities, 298 undirected graph, 207
sorting algorithms, 44, 238 Unicode, 74

395
 INDEX– AQA A LEVEL COMPUTER SCIENCE

Uniform Resource Locators, 289 W X

union, 267 WAP, 171 XML, 315, 316
universal Turing machine, 276 web server, 305 XOR, 11, 144
URLs, 289 WebSocket protocol, 314 gate, 116
user generated content, 181 weighted graph, 207
user interface, 100 WHILE … ENDWHILE, 13 Y
user-defined data type, 29 whitelist, 172 yobi, 72
utility software, 101 Wi-Fi, 171
Protected Access, 172 Z
V Wilkes, Maurice, 100 zebi, 72
variables, 6 WinZip, 101
global, 24 wireless network
local, 24 access point, 171
vector, 217 interface controller, 171
adding and word, 128
subtracting, 218 word length, 135
convex World Wide Web, 288
combination, 220 worms, 297
dot product, 220 WPA, 172
scaling, 220 WWW, 288
vector graphics, 85
Vernam cipher, 96
vertex, 207
Index virtual memory, 104
virus checker, 101
viruses, 297
von Neumann, 100
machine, 129

396
AQA AS and A Level
Computer
Science
The aim of this textbook is About the authors
to provide a detailed Pat Heathcote is a well-known
understanding of each topic and successful author of
of the new AQA A Level Computer Science textbooks.
Computer Science She has spent many years as a
specification. It is presented in teacher of A Level Computing
an accessible and interesting courses with significant
way, with many in-text examining experience. She has
questions to test students’ also worked as a programmer
understanding of the material and systems analyst, and was
and their ability to apply it. Managing Director of Payne-
Gallway Publishers until 2005.
The book is divided into 12
sections, each containing Rob Heathcote has many
roughly six chapters. Each years of experience teaching
chapter covers material that Computer Science and is
can comfortably be taught the author of several popular
in one or two lessons. It will textbooks on Computing. He
also be a useful reference and is now Managing Director of
revision guide for students PG Online, and writes and
throughout the A Level course. edits a substantial number of
Two short appendices contain the online teaching materials
A Level content that could published by the company.
be taught in the first year of
the course as an extension to
related AS topics.

Each chapter contains

exercises, some new and
some from past examination
papers, which can be set as
homework. Answers to all
these are available to teachers
only, in a Teachers Supplement
which can be ordered from
our website
www.pgonline.co.uk