Sheet 2 - Data
Handling & Storage |
|
You are
returning from a family holiday in your car and are stopped by
the police. To your surprise the police officer greets the driver
by name. This is because his/her details and the details of the
car are held on a central computer at Swansea.
- How did the
police officer communicate with the local police station?
- What device is
required for the computer at the local police station to
communicate with the central computer at Swansea?
- What type of
computer program is used to store all the details about
all the cars in the country and their owners?
- Name the device
used to store these details when the computer is switched
off.
- Name 5 fields
of data likely to be stored by this program, other than
the owners name.
- Suggest a query
statement that the police officer might have used to
locate the record on your car.
- How were all
the details about your car and its owner obtained in the
first place?
- Name an input
device that could be used to enter these details into the
computer.
- When these
details were entered into the computer a mistake was made
in the owners age. The number 366 was entered
instead of 36.
(a) Suggest how
this error could be found.
(b) Suggest how this error could be prevented from happening
again.
- Actually, it is
not a good idea to store a persons age on the
computer. Why is this?
- Are you allowed
to see personal information about yourself, which is held
on a computer and check that it is correct?
- Are you allowed
to see personal information about other people, which is
held on a computer?
- Suggest one
possible problem that might occur if your details could
be accessed by any computer in the country.
- State one way
in which this access to personal information might be
prevented?
- What
precautions are taken in case of a complete computer
breakdown where all data stored on the computer is lost?
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