AQA Computer Science GCSE - 3.1 Fundamentals of algorithms

A technique used to hide the underlying complexity and necessities of a system.

• Flowchart
• Abstraction
• Algorithm
• Decomposition

A sequence of steps that can be followed to complete a task.

• Guideline
• Instructions
• To do list
• Algorithm

To break down a problem into smaller sub-tasks.

• Analysis
• Abstraction
• Decomposition
• Reduction

A method of showing an algorithm graphically.

• Entity Relationship Diagram
• Flowchart
• Pseudocode
• Data Flow Diagram

This stage turns the input into the output.

• Processing
• Interpreting
• Compiling
• Working

A way of representing an algorithm as a 'universal' programming language.

• Flowchart
• Pseudocode
• Assembler Code
• Python Code

This is used to 'dry run' a program to see the value of variables and the program output.

• execution
• Trace Table
• monitoring
• testing

A search algorithm that examines every item in turn, until the required item is found or the end of the list is reached.

• Linear Search
• look up search
• Binary Search
• read through search

A search algorithm that only works on sorted data.

• Linear Search
• look up search
• read through search
• Binary Search

A sorting algorithm that compares adjacent pairs and swaps their position if in the wrong order.

• Quick Sort
• Bubble sort
• Easy Sort
• Merge sort