AP Computer Science Principles AP MC Practice Questions

A program that Thomas has written is complete. It has been tested thoroughly, and some outputs were not as expected. Thomas is now going through the code carefully attempting to establish the cause of these errors and change the code to remove them. What is this procedure called?

• Error check

• Debugging

• Development

• Coding

Understanding of the life cycle of a program is an essential component to becoming an effective programmer. Which of the following is the best example of how the life cycle of a program should work?

• Idea→algorithm→write code→execute code→maintain→debug

• Idea→algorithm→write code→debug→execute code→maintain

• Idea→write code→algorithm→execute code→debug→maintain

• Idea→algorithm→write code→execute code→debug→maintain

Jeremiah is part of a group planning a summer fair at which local businesses can run stalls and events. He wants to use his programming skills to develop an app for the fair which businesses will be able to use to communicate information about their activities at the fair with visitors. Which of the following would be the best first step for Jeremiah to take?

• Develop all of the major algorithms which will be required for the app by drawing flowchart representations

• Write thorough documentation explaining how the code for the app works

• Write some sample code to understand how the app might work

• Find out from the businesses and potential visitors what information and format they think should be used for the app

Which of the following is the MOST important reason computers use artificial languages over natural language?

• The meaning of different characters and words in an artificial languages is explicit and unambiguous

• The syntax of natural languages is easy to translate by computers

• The syntax of artificial languages is explicit and unambiguous

• The meaning of different characters and words in an artificial languages is too complicated

Which of the following best describes high-level computing languages?

• They are not very ambiguous

• They are extremely difficult for humans to read and understand

• They evolve naturally over time

• They are very easy for machines to understand and parse

A statistics teacher wishes to create a program on her calculator that generates a random even integer. The command built in the calculator to generate a random positive integer is RANDOM(a,b). This command generates a random integer between integers a and b (and including a and b). Which of the following lines of code will ensure that the random integer generated will be even?

• RANDOM(a,b) + 1

• RANDOM(a,b) + 2

• RANDOM(a,b) * 2

• RANDOM(a,b) - 2

Which of the following describes the part of a computer which stores instructions and information which has been input to the computer?

• CPU

• Binary

• RAM

• Machine Code

Which of the following best describes “compilation” in reference to computer science?

• Memory is set aside to store variables and instructions so that a program can be executed.

• Code in a high-level language is converted to low-level instructions which can be interpreted and run by the CPU.

• Instructions are repeated a set number of times, or until some specified objective is completed.

• Algorithms which have been planned, for example using flow-charts, are written in code.

Which of the following best describes how a compiled program is run by a computer?

• The instructions are read directly from the computer hard disk, and the RAM and CPU work separately to execute different parts of the code as it is read.

• The CPU converts instructions into binary. RAM is used to look through and interpret these instructions which are then executed by the CPU.

• The binary instructions from the program are loaded into RAM. The CPU reads and executes instructions, storing and accessing data from RAM as needed.

• The instructions stored in the CPU are sent to RAM, where they are read and executed. Outputs for the program are then sent back to the CPU so they can be displayed.

Consider the following actions which might be performed by a developer when creating a new piece of software to solve a problem.

1. Thoroughly testing code with a variety of inputs

2. Designing an algorithm to tackle the central problem the program hopes to solve

3. Considering what outputs a program solving the problem might produce and what inputs it may require to do this

4. Writing code in a high-level programming language to implement an algorithm

In which order in the development cycle would these actions first appear?

• 3, 2, 4, 1

• 2, 4, 1, 3

• 2, 3, 4, 1

• 3, 4, 1, 2