Undergraduate Assessment Exams Study Guide

Study guide is located below

For CTI students: passing the CSC 210 UAE means the student must substitute another CTI course for CSC 210 in order to complete the required number of CTI credits to graduate (students should talk with their faculty advisors if they have any questions about this policy).
For non-CTI students: passing the CSC 210 UAE does not fulfill any undergraduate education requirements, nor does it provide any progress towards a CTI minor.

Arrangements for taking the exam may be made by contacting CTI Advising

How do students know if they should take the CSC 210 UAE?
If a student has not yet attempted to take CSC 210 and answers "yes" to all of the following questions, then the student should consider taking the UAE:

1. Are you an undergraduate student who started at DePaul during the 2003-2004 academic year or later, or a CTI student enrolled in a program with academic year 2003-2004 or later?
2. Do you feel that you mastered the material in CSC 210 (formerly known as CSC 255)? See the study guide below.
3. Do you wish to enroll in CSC 211 without taking CSC 210?

CSC 210: Introduction to Computing: Study Guide

Note that the time allotted for this exam is 1.5 hour.

General concepts
Students should be able to articulate in writing the meaning of the following terms:
• Data representation, storage, and machine-level processing: access time, ALU, ASCII, binary, bit, bus, byte, circuit (Boolean), computer, CPU, CU, file, gate (Boolean), general-purpose register, gigabyte, instruction register, Internet, jump, kilobyte, machine cycle (fetch-decode-execute), machine instruction, machine language, main memory, mass storage device, megabyte, network, op-code, op-code field, operand, operand field, RAM, ROM, program counter, special-purpose register, transfer rate, Unicode.
• Algorithms and software: algorithm, array (one-dimensional), assembly language, assignment (to a variable), body (of a loop), bug, condition, conditional (jump, loop, statement), input, iteration/iterative, logical expression, loop, output, program, programming language, tracing, variable.

Algorithms and programming
Students should be able to:
• Describe in English the purpose of a given algorithm written in pseudo-code (or Python) and identify its individual steps. Example algorithms are provided below.
• Trace a simple algorithm written in pseudo-code (or Python) (draw a tracing table).
• Given a simple problem, describe its solution as an informal algorithm (expressed in English).
• Locate a logic error in an algorithm by manual tracing.

Be able to write in pseudo-code (or Python) algorithms from the following list:
• Input two numbers and output the sum and/or the difference of the two.
• Input two numbers and output the maximum and/or the minimum of the two.
• Input M and N, and generate a number series from M to N.
• Determine the sum of the first N odd integers = computing N square.
• Input multiple numbers and output their maximum/minimum (no arrays).
• Input multiple numbers and output their sum/average (no arrays).
• Input multiple numbers and their weights and compute a weighted average (no arrays).
• Input a sequence of values into an array (a negative value ends input).
• Find and output the sum/average of values in an array.
• Find and output the maximum/minimum of values in an array.
• Find and output the weighted average (two arrays: one with values, another with weights).
• Sequentially search for a value in an unsorted array.
• Sequentially search for a value in a sorted array.
• Output those values in an array that satisfy a certain condition (such as being above average).

Be able to trace algorithms from the following list:
• Determine the minimum number of bits required to represent a positive integer number.
• Perform a binary search for a value in an increasing list (array) of values.
• Shift an array circularly to the left.
• Shift an array circularly to the right.
• Reverse an array in place.
• Sort an array using insertion sort.
• Sort an array using bubble sort.

Machine language programming
Students should be able to:
• Perform conversions between decimal and binary representations of signed integers.
• Perform conversions between symbolic and ASCII representations of characters and strings.
• Convert basic algorithmic steps into a sequence of machine language instructions (using a minimal simulated machine language).
• Trace simple machine language programs (draw a tracing table).
• Write simple machine language programs (input and store a value, output a value, add or subtract two values, find the largest/smallest of two values, find the absolute value of a value).
• Run supplied machine language programs using an emulator.