A-level Computing 2009/AQA

This is a book about A-Level Computing. It aims to fit with the AQA GCE A-Level Computing syllabus but is not endorsed by AQA. It should be useful as a revision guide or to find alternative explanations to the ones in your textbook. If you haven't heard of an A-Level then this book probably won't be of much interest to you but you can find out about them at Wikipedia.

If any part of this book is unclear or even wrong then please post a comment on the discussion page or simply fix it yourself! In particular, please say if the book assumes any knowledge or skills which not all A-Level Computing students have.

AS modules

 * COMP1 - Problem Solving, Programming, Data Representation and Practical Exercise
 * COMP2 - Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet

A2 modules

 * COMP3 - Problem Solving, Programming, Operating Systems, Databases and Networking
 * COMP4 - The Computing Project

Programming
Accepted languages (please note that support for PHP, C and C# at AS Level was withdrawn in 2011. C# has been reintroduced in 2015) A2 Projects can be written in any language.
 * /Java/
 * /Pascal/
 * /Python/
 * /VB/
 * C#

How to read the book
You will meet several coloured boxes, here are their meanings:

What the specification says you must learn for each chapter

Example questions and how to solve them

Topics that aren't examined but you might be interested in

There will be a lot of concepts that you need to be familiar with, definitions are highlighted like so:

{{hide in print|1=

Course Structure
The book is split into the four units. Each unit is split into chapters with each chapter covering the topics for that module.
 * To be awarded an AS (Advanced Subsidiary) Level qualification in Computing, a student must take the 2 AS modules.
 * To be awarded an A (Advanced) Level qualification in Computing, a student must take all 4 modules.

Uncategorized Pages
}}
 * /Advanced Systems Development/
 * /Computer Systems, Programming and Network Concepts/
 * /Practical Systems Development/
 * /Processing and Programming Techniques/