additional programming techniques

String manipulation is the use of programming techniques to modify, analyse or extract information from a string.

Case conversion is the ability to change a string from one case to another, e.g. lowercase to uppercase.

Finding the length refers to the ability to count the number of characters in a string.

A substring is the ability to extract a sequence of characters from a larger string using slicing.

Concatenation is the ability to join two or more strings together to form a single string using the + operator.

ASCII conversion is the ability to return an ASCII character from a numerical value and vice versa.

True. In Python, substrings are indexed starting from 0, not 1. This is called 0-indexing.

print(name.upper())

print(len(password))

print(FName + SName)

File handling is the use of programming techniques to work with information stored in text files.

file = open("fruit.txt", "r")

file.close()

file.readline()

file.write("Oranges")

The "r" mode is used for opening a file in read-only mode.

The "w" mode is used for opening a file in write mode, creating a new file if it doesn't exist, or overwriting an existing file.

The "a" mode is used for opening a file in append mode, writing to the end of an existing file.

True. It's important to make a backup of text files before working with them, as mistakes can lead to data loss.

A database is an organised collection of data that allows easy storage, retrieval, and management of information.

A field is one piece of information relating to one person, item or object, represented as a column in a database.

A record is a collection of fields relating to one person, item or object, represented as a row in a database.

Useful when working with small amounts of data, stored in main memory (RAM).

Advantages of databases include:

A disadvantage of text files is that it can be difficult to know where one record begins and ends.

An advantage of arrays is that they can be more efficient and faster to search than text files.

Text files are useful for storing small amounts of data on secondary storage when the application is closed.

SQL (Structured Query Language) is a programming language used to interact with a Database Management System (DBMS).

The SELECT command in SQL is used to retrieve data (fields) from a database table. E.g. SELECT name, age

The FROM command in SQL specifies the table(s) to retrieve data from.

The WHERE command in SQL filters the data based on a specified condition.

True. The * symbol is called a wildcard in SQL and selects all fields in a table when used with SELECT.

This command selects all fields from the Customers table.

This command selects the name and age fields from the Customers table where the age is greater than 30.

False. Using SELECT * will select all fields in the table.

Example: SELECT country, population FROM world WHERE population < 100000;

The FROM clause specifies the table(s) to retrieve data from.

A 1D array is an ordered, static set of elements that can only store one data type. For example, a row in a table

A 2D array is an ordered, static set of elements that can only store one data type BUT adds another dimension. It can be visualised as a table with rows and columns.

temp = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

print(countries[1])

students[2] = "Rebecca"

scores = [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], [7, 8, 9]]

False. Like 1D arrays, 2D arrays can only store one data type.

Zero-indexing means that the indexes of an array start from 0, not 1.

A function is a type of sub-program that performs a specific task and returns a value.

A procedure is a type of sub-program that performs a specific task but does not return a value.

A parameter is a value that is passed into a sub-program (function or procedure).

True. To use a function or procedure, you 'call' it from the main program.

A global variable is a variable declared at the outermost level of a program and can be accessed from any part of the program.

A local variable is a variable declared within a specific scope, such as a function or code block, and can only be accessed within that scope.

A function returns a value, whereas a procedure does not return a value.

def area(length, width):

ageCheck(21)

Global variables are generally discouraged because they can be accessed and modified from anywhere in the program, leading to potential bugs and hard-to-maintain code.

Random number generation adds an element of unpredictability to a program.

True. Examples include simulating dice rolls, selecting random questions, national lottery, cryptography.

To import the random module in Python, use: import random

The random.randint(a, b) function in Python generates a random integer between a and b, inclusive.

import random colours = ["Red", "Green", "Blue", "Yellow"] random_colour = random.choice(colours) print(random_colour)