All posts by Mr Stratton

Computing teacher and a PT at Coltness High School.
Computing Higher, Revision

Fitting in studying for Computing

So you have a lot of exams between now and Computing and you might even have some after Computing, how can you fit in some extra revision?

Well the best way to revise is a little and often, however, let assume you have left it too late and are cramming.

  1. Print out a Computing past paper
  2. When you get bored cramming for the exam you have next, take out the past paper
  3. Do about 10/15 marks worth of the paper using one of the text books to verify your answer. Don’t use the Marker Information, use the text book, that you you need to search for it, further stimulating your brain.
  4. Get back to studying the next exam.

You should be able to do this for multiple subject and if you rotate them you should avoid feeling bored. Remember though when Computing is your next exam, give it your full attention 🙂

2. Software Development, Computing Higher

Parameter Passing

I was asked a question on parameter passing today. So we came up with mnemonic to try and help you out.

Knowledge to remember

  • By Reference = Input/Output = Changing the value of the original data
  • By Value = Input = Changing the copy of the data.

Mnemonic – Remember you only need to remember one way to work out the reverse.

  • PRO – Passing Reference Original/Output
  • PVC – Passing Value Copy
Computing Higher, Revision

Revision

Computer Systems & Software Development

  • Anti-Virus software
  • Benefits of modular programming
  • Download speeds
  • Find Maximum
  • Software Compatibility
  • Software documentation
  • Software Evaluation
  • Software Reliability
  • Software Testing
  • Types of maintenance

Multi Media

  • Anti Aliasing
  • Authoring software
  • Calculation of image file sizes
  • Calculation of sound file sizes
  • CLUT
  • Codecs
  • Common file types for sound
  • Container files
  • Dithering
  • Embedded file types
  • Features of a sound card
  • Features of MP3 compression
  • Image file types
  • Implications of video usage
  • Normalisation
  • Object oriented file types
  • RIFF file format
  • RLE compression
  • The software development cycle as it relates to multimedia
  • Transparency
  • VRML
3. Multimedia, Computing Higher

Midi

For the higher course you need to be able to explain these terms

  • Instrument
    • This is the instrument that is to be played, you will have seen these if you have ever used an electronic musical keyboard.
  • Pitch
    • This is the note that has to be played.
  • Volume
    • How loud the note has to be played.
  • Duration
    • How long the note has to be played for. In MIDI a start of note and end of note is used. Duration can also be how long it takes the sound to die away.
  • Tempo
    • How quickly the piece of music is to be played. This is expressed in BPM (Beats per minute)
Advantages of MIDI:
  • Smaller file size
  • All aspects of the music can be edited
  • Effects can be applied to individual instruments
  • There is no interference or background noise from the recording

Disadvantages of MIDI:

  • Dependent on soundcard for quality of sound
  • Does not contain vocals
  • Fewer effects can be applied to the sound

Advantages of MIDI:

  • Smaller file size
  • All aspects of the music can be edited
  • Effects can be applied to individual instruments
  • There is no interference or background noise from the recording

and here is the website we were playing with.

3. Multimedia, Computing Higher

Work for 25th March

Higher
Using notes on the web either on the school’s site or scholars. Learn about the SVG file format, follow the tutorial in the notes/ Before creating a drawing of a house using notepad and the SVG file format. IrfanView can open SVG files so you can view and edit your work. You will ffind an empty SVG file in the pupil share
Finish off the monster image, video editing & image type powerpoints.
Extension task for Higher
Using think-pair-share look at the 2013 past paper (on blog) work your way through the multimedia section. Use the marking instructions on the SQA site to help you if needed.