Unit notes and practice questions
Everything here is for unit 6 of the Grade 11 Information Technology textbook: what the chapter covers, the short notes, practice questions with their answers, and the lesson video where one exists.
The cards filed under this chapter on the Grade 11 Information Technology page. Open one at a time.
When you use it
Use when creating variable names and checking if an identifier is valid in Python.
Watch out
Variable names cannot start with a digit, cannot contain special characters like & or *, and cannot be Python keywords like while or if.
Drafted from Grade 11 Information Communication Technology, page 132 onwards, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Use to distinguish between program grammatical violations and incorrect computational results.
Watch out
Compilers and interpreters automatically detect syntax errors and stop execution, but logic errors do not generate error messages and must be found by checking program output.
Drafted from Grade 11 Information Communication Technology, page 132 onwards, then checked twice before it went up
When you use it
Reach for this when reading numerical user input from the keyboard in Python.
Watch out
The input() function always returns a string (str), so performing arithmetic on it without explicit conversion using int() or float() causes a runtime TypeError.
Drafted from Grade 11 Information Communication Technology, page 132 onwards, then checked twice before it went up
10 multiple-choice questions written against this chapter, each with its answer and the reason. Try one before you open the answer.
Question 1
In machine language, which symbols are used to represent instructions, numbers and memory locations?
Answer: A 1s and 0s (the binary system)
Why
Machine language is a low-level language. Everything in it is written with 1s and 0s, which is the binary system. Mnemonics are used in assembly language, not machine language.
Question 2
Which software translates assembly language instructions into machine language?
Answer: C Assembler
Why
The textbook says the software that translates assembly language into machine language is called an Assembler. A compiler and an interpreter translate high-level languages, not assembly language.
Question 3
What does the name IDLE stand for, as used with Python?
Answer: A Integrated Development and Learning Environment
Why
IDLE stands for Integrated Development and Learning Environment. It is the free environment that comes with Python.
Question 4
A Python script is saved in a file. Which file extension must the script file have?
Answer: B .py
Why
The textbook says a file that keeps Python scripts is saved with the .py extension. This is called a script file.
Question 5
Which of these languages uses an interpreter to translate its programs?
Answer: C Python
Why
C, Java and C# use compilers. Python, Perl and Ruby use interpreters. An interpreter translates and runs a program one statement at a time.
Question 6
A student writes this line to find the area of a circle: area=PI*radius*2. Python runs the program with no error message, but the answer is wrong. What kind of error is this?
Answer: B Logic error
Why
The program has no syntax error because it follows the rules of the language. It is a logic error because the formula is wrong. The correct formula is area=PI*radius**2. Interpreters and compilers do not catch logic errors.
Question 7
Which of these is a valid identifier in Python?
Answer: D area_5
Why
An identifier must start with a letter or an underscore, and the other characters must be letters, numbers or underscores. area_5 follows these rules. 1x starts with a number, *_5 starts with a character that is not allowed, and while is a keyword.
Question 8
Which of these is an expression, not a statement?
Answer: D x+5
Why
An expression is something the interpreter evaluates to produce a value. x+5 is a complex expression. x=5, y=x and print(x) are statements, because they are instructions the interpreter carries out.
Question 9
Which expression gives the result 2?
Answer: B 5//2
Why
The floor division operator // returns only the integer part of the quotient, so 5//2 gives 2. The division operator / gives 2.5. The modulus operator % returns the remainder, which is 1. The exponentiation operator ** gives 32.
Question 10
Look at this code:
x=5
y=2.5
z=x+y
What is the data type of z?
Answer: B float
Why
Here x is an int and y is a float. Python does the conversion itself, which is called implicit conversion. It converts the smaller type (int) to the larger type (float) so that no data is lost. So z is a float, with the value 7.5.
The app holds 12 questions on this unit, marked as you go. These are the first 10.
The whole Grade 11 Information Technology textbook, free as a PDF.
Ministry of Education edition, English, 170 pages
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