AP CSP

Question 1

What is Sequencing?

Answer 1

Putting steps in an order.

Question 2

What is Selection?

Answer 2

Deciding which steps to do next.

Question 3

What is Iteration?

Answer 3

Doing some steps over and over.

Question 4

What is a Heuristic?

Answer 4

Provides a ‘good enough’ solution to a problem when an actual solution is impractical or impossible.

Question 5

What is a Decision Problem?

Answer 5

A problem with a yes/no answer (e.g., is there a path from A to B?).

Question 6

What is an Optimization Problem?

Answer 6

A problem with the goal of finding the ‘best’ solution among many (e.g., what is the shortest path from A to B?).

Question 7

What is an Undecidable Problem?

Answer 7

A problem for which no algorithm can be constructed that is always capable of providing a correct yes-or-no answer.

Question 8

What is Sequential Computing?

Answer 8

A model in which programs run in order, one command at a time.

Question 9

What is Parallel Computing?

Answer 9

A model in which programs are broken into small pieces, some of which are run simultaneously.

Question 10

What is Distributed Computing?

Answer 10

A model in which programs are run by multiple devices.

Question 11

What is a Parameter?

Answer 11

A variable in a function definition. Used as a placeholder for values that will be passed through the function.

Question 12

What is an Argument?

Answer 12

The value passed to the parameter.

Question 13

What is Return?

Answer 13

Used to return the flow of control to the point where the procedure (also known as a function) was called and to return the value of expression.

Question 14

What is an API?

Answer 14

Application Program Interface - specifications for how functions in a library behave and can be used.

Question 15

What is Modularity?

Answer 15

The subdivision of a computer program into separate subprograms.

Question 16

What is Traversal?

Answer 16

The process of accessing each item in a list one at a time.

Question 17

What is Data Abstraction?

Answer 17

Manage complexity in programs by giving a collection of data a name without referencing the specific details of the representation.

Question 18

What is Lossless Compression?

Answer 18

A process for reducing the number of bits needed to represent something without losing any information. This process is reversible.

Question 19

What is Lossy Compression?

Answer 19

A process for reducing the number of bits needed to represent something in which some information is lost or thrown away. This process is not reversible.

Question 20

What is Analog Data?

Answer 20

Data with values that change continuously, or smoothly, over time. Some examples of analog data include music, colors of a painting, or position of a sprinter during a race.

Question 21

What is Digital Data?

Answer 21

Data that changes discretely through a finite set of possible values.

Question 22

What is Sampling?

Answer 22

A process for creating a digital representation of analog data by measuring the analog data at regular intervals called samples.

Question 23

What is the Internet?

Answer 23

A computer network consisting of interconnected networks that use standardized, open (nonproprietary) communication protocols.

Question 24

What is the World Wide Web?

Answer 24

A system of linked pages, programs, and files.

Question 25

What is a Computing Device?

Answer 25

A machine that can run a program, including computers, tablets, servers, routers, and smart sensors.

Question 26

What is a Computing System?

Answer 26

A group of computing devices and programs working together for a common purpose.

Question 27

What is a Computing Network?

Answer 27

A group of interconnected computing devices capable of sending or receiving data.

Question 28

What is Pair Programming?

Answer 28

A collaborative programming style in which two programmers switch between the roles of writing code and tracking or planning high level progress.

Question 29

What is Citizen Science?

Answer 29

Scientific research conducted in whole or part by distributed individuals, many of whom may not be scientists, who contribute relevant data to research using their own computing devices.

Question 30

What is Cleaning Data?

Answer 30

A process that makes the data uniform without changing its meaning (e.g., replacing all equivalent abbreviations, spellings, and capitalizations with the same word).

Question 31

What is Correlation?

Answer 31

A relationship between two pieces of data, typically referring to the amount that one varies in relation to the other.

Question 32

What is Crowdsourcing?

Answer 32

The practice of obtaining input or information from a large number of people via the Internet.

Question 33

What is an Expression?

Answer 33

A combination of operators and values that evaluates to a single value.