Computer Fundamentals

Theme A1 of the IB Computer Science course, written as an interactive book. Read it like a textbook, then pull the levers: step a CPU through its cycle, watch a cache miss, compress a photo, build a circuit, schedule processes, tune a thermostat. Every section ends with exam practice, and every chapter with a test.

Start reading: A1.1.1 CPU components →

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IB Computer Science

Computer
Fundamentals

A1.1 – A1.3 · Interactive

Chapter A1.1

Computer hardware and operation

What is inside a computer, and how it runs a program: the CPU and GPU, memory, storage, compression and the cloud.

Chapter A1.1 test

Chapter A1.2

Data representation and computer logic

How everything becomes binary: numbers, text, pictures and sound, and the logic gates that compute with it.

Chapter A1.2 test

Chapter A1.3

Operating systems and control systems

The software that runs the hardware: what an operating system does, how it shares out the CPU and memory, and how control systems use sensors and feedback to run the world around us.

Chapter A1.3 test

Test yourself on the whole of A1

One question from every section, then all three structured questions.

Start the test →