Inputs & Outputs (AQA GCSE Computer Science)

What is an input?

• An input is a value that is read from an input device and then processed by a computer program
• Typical input devices include:
  • Keyboards - Typing text
  • Mice - Selecting item, clicking buttons
  • Sensors - Reading data from sensors such as temperature, pressure or motion
  • Microphone - Capturing audio, speech recognition
• Without inputs, programs are not useful as they can't interact with the outside world and always produce the same result
• In programming the keyboard is considered the standard for user input
• If the command 'USERINPUT' is executed, a program will wait for the user to type a sequence of characters
• In other programming languages different command words can be used

Examples

AQA pseudocode	Python
nameUSERINPUT IF name = "James" OR name = "Rob" THEN...	name=input("Enter your name: ") if name == "James" or name == "Rob":

What is an output?

• An output is a value sent to an output device from a computer program
• Typical output devices include:
  • Monitor - Displaying text, images or graphics
  • Speaker - Playing audio
  • Printer - Creating physical copies of documents or images
• In programming the monitor is considered the standard for user output
• If the command 'OUTPUT' is executed, a program will output to the screen
• In other programming languages different command words can be used

Example

AQA pseudocode	Python
nameUSERINPUT IF name = "James" OR name = "Rob" THEN OUTPUT "Great names!"	name=input("Enter your name: ") if name == "James" or name == "Rob": print("Great names!")