Graded IB Computer Science Notes Page

This page will store notes made by Mr. Griswold for students in IB Computer Science. It will be updated and edited over time, but old versions will be archived.

The material below is broken into three sections - general course resources, Paper 1, and Paper 2. Paper 2 is focused on java programming, but much of the thinking in paper 2 overlaps with topic 4 from Paper 1.

Paper 1 Notes

Topic 1 - Systems

We will mostly use external resources for this topic

Topic 2 - Computer Organization

• P1 2.1 - Abstraction and the Elements of a Computer System (IB Topic 2)
• P1 2.1a - Transistors
• P1 2.2 - Memory and Storage (IB Topic 2)
• P1 2.3 - Computer Processor Architecture (IB topic 2)
• P1 2.4 - Software, the OS, and Programming languages (IB Topic 2)
• P1 2.5 - Working with Binary and Hexadecimal
• P1 2.6 - Representing characters on computers
• P1 2.7 - Representing other numbers
• P1 2.8 - Representing colors
• P1 2.9 - Logic gates and circuits

Topic 3 - Networking

• P1 3.1 - Types of networks
• P1 3.2 - Protocols and Standards
• P1 3.3 - Network Layers
• P1 3.4 - Network Hardware
• P1 3.5 - VPNs

Topic 4 - Programmatic Thinking and Pseudocode

• P1 4.3 - IB collections
• P1 4.4 - IB Arrays
• P1 4.5 - Search Algorithms
• P1 4.6 - Sorting Algorithms
• P1 4.10 - Common Pseudocode Techniques

Topic 5 - HL ONLY - Data Structures

No notes here yet!

Topic 6 - HL ONLY - Resource management

• P1 6.1 - Operating Systems
• P1 6.2 - Types of computers and their resources
• P1 6.3 - Management Techniques

Topic 7 - HL ONLY - Control

• P1 7.1 - Introducing Control

Paper 2 - Java and Programming Notes

We will learn programming and problem solving in java using several resources - Coding Bat, CS Awesome, and CodeHS, and these notes will supplement those ideas.

Unit 1 - Introduction to problem-solving

• P2 1.1 - Anatomy of a method signature
• P2 1.2 - Variables and data types
• P2 1.3 - If statements, Return, and Logical Operators
• P2 1.4 - Operators
• P2 1.5 - Strings and reference types
• P2 1.6 - Printing and the Java skeleton

Unit 2 - Objects and Classes

You should also use CS Awesome to study this material, specifically chapters 2 and 5.

• P2 2.1 - Anatomy of a Class

Unit 3 - Loops and Arrays

Check back later

Course Resources

• Official IB Syllabus. In the notes, when a section connects directly to this syllabus, it will be represented with a superscript, like^this.

• CS Awesome. This is the primary online platform we will use to learn to program in Java.

• Traced algorithms and coding problems. I will add coding problems and traced algorithms to this page, over time, for you to view and practice with.

• CodingBat. Coding practice in java

• CodingBat Pseudocode Practice - Coding practice in IB Pseudocode

• IA Information

• Sample IA Made in Class by Mr. G

• The IB CS Guide - Includes the full syllabus (as a PDF, rather than the website above) and IA guidelines among other things

• CompSciHub About page - This excellent resource put together by IB CS teachers and students compiles notes and information about the course.

• Paul Baumgarten’s IB CS Page - Paul Baumgarten is a long-time IB CS teacher and active contributor to the community. His page includes notes and exercises on nearly all IB topics, as well as links to even more resources. The order is different than our course, but an excellent resource for studying or reading new perspectives.

• Mr. Wach’s IB CS Page - Mr. Wachs is a teacher of many computer science courses including IB CS. He has many videos, slideshows, and workbooks that we will look at for some units, and makes a good resource for studying many aspects of the course.

See the version of these notes used from 2019-2020