Edexcel curriculum (2015)

Python

Binary/Hex

Data representation

Compression

Encryption

What is a computer?

Working computer

Hardware

Operating system

Computer processes

The CPU

Memory

Input devices

Output devices

Data storage

Inside the CPU

Stored program

F-D-E cycle

CPU components

Networks

LAN, WAN and PAN

Network topologies

Network addressing

Protocols

Error detection

The internet

The world wide web

HTML and CSS

Client-server model

VPNs

SQL

Impact

Ethical issues

Microcontrollers

Comp models

Emerging trends

Virtual machines

Models and sims

Algorithms

Models and simulators

Model VS Simulation

•Computer Model – This a mathematical description of a problem.
•Simulation – Using the model to predict the likely behaviour of a real life system.

•E.G. Model – Creating a flight simulator game.
•Simulation – Playing the game a certain way – like stalling the plane to see when it crashes.
What other scenarios could we create using a computer model?
​Profit / loss based models for businesses. Car Racing games, Physics engines representing real world physics, Traffic flow simulations in large cities, models to show where bullets and other projectiles might have originated from in a crime scene.
We are lucky enough to be living in a time where we can create a simulator that depicts what it would be like to be a goat.
Python challenge

Create a program in python that simulates a bathtub filling with water. The bath has two taps and a plug hole. Its capacity is 275 litres. The plug hole drains the bath at a rate of 20 litres per minute. The cold tap has a capacity of 14 litres per minute; the hot tap a capacity of 11 litres per minute.

The program should calculate how long it will take to fill the bath if (a) both taps are on fully and the plug is in (b) if the hot tap is on fully, the cold tap is half on and the plug is in (c) both taps are on fully and the plug is out.