1


1.4 Extending skills


Any bugs or problems the QA team found would then be sent back to the software programmers, who would address the issues. Finally, when the bugs had all (or almost all) been fixed, the software could be released as an update or a new version. This worked reasonably well when software programs were relatively simple. However, as programs grew in size and became more complex, testing took up more and more time and resources and created delays in the release of software. Another possible solution was automated testing.


Software engineers had always known that identifying software problems at an early stage reduced the time and cost needed to fix them. However, software programmers were not generally very interested in identifying problems. They preferred to write new code. Automated testing was intended to help programmers fix code problems as they wrote. This worked well for lower-level bugs, such as where wrong variable names were used. However, it was less useful for problems which arose when code from different programmers was merged. Automated testing software has improved considerably over time, but it did not offer a complete solution. Another major improvement in quality came with the


introduction of continuous deployment, or CD. This came about with an increase in the use of agile programming approaches, which saw software development as continually improving a product. Continuous deployment uses very sophisticated automated testing to check if new code will cause any problems for an existing codebase. If the code passes the automated tests, it can be released immediately, and the codebase updated. This type of development has overcome the problem of late testing, and because each programmer is responsible for ensuring that their code fits with existing code, problems are fixed much more quickly.


14 Lecture 5


The processor or central processing unit (CPU) is the part of the system which does the main data processing operations. Earlier CPUs had one core, which meant that they could only process one stream of data at a time. Later, CPUs began to have more cores: dual core, with two cores; and quad core, with four cores. Each of these cores can process streams of data independently of each other, which makes a system much faster. Because these different cores are all on the same chip, they can communicate with each other at high speeds, which also improves the speed of the system. Increasingly, graphics processing unit (or GPU) chips are used for processing video signals in the input to and output from the system. The input and output devices can vary a lot,


depending on the system. A standard laptop will have the keyboard and mouse or touchpad as inputs, as well as a microphone and camera. Usually, the laptop will have a screen as an output device for text, images and video, and a speaker for sound output. The range of input devices is growing all the time, especially with games consoles which use specialized controls such as joysticks to give players better control. System data storage can be divided into two different


types: memory such as random-access memory (RAM) which is intended to hold data ready for processing; and


30


longer-term memory, such as on a hard drive, where data is stored until it is needed. The job of managing all of these different components is done by the operating system (OS). Unix, Linux and Windows are all examples of OSs. The OS is a piece of software which is loaded into the computer when it starts or boots up. It manages the different devices, such as input and output devices, using small programs known as drivers.


E 1.4_E


Allow students to look at Course Book page 13, or give each group the relevant page from the PDF. Give them plenty of time to compare their answers with the model notes. Suggest that they try to work in pairs to reconstruct the lecture orally from the notes – including the introduction.


F


SKILLS BANK 1.4 Speaking from notes


Assign students to work in a different group – with students who have made notes on different lectures. Each student should use their notes to describe the content of their lecture to the other members of the group.


At the end of the activity, students should look at the model notes on Course Book page 13.


Closure


Refer students back to the pictures on Course Book page 12. They should now be able to name them with confidence.


Ask students to work in pairs or in their original groups to create mind maps of the vocabulary from their lecture. These can be posted on the walls of the classroom along with the outline notes.


Encourage students to listen back to the recordings and to refer to the transcript for each talk so they can identify any language which they missed. They could write a short list of any vocabulary that they have identified as problematic.


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