Writing Code: A Field Guide: teacher key

How Coding Works, grade 12 edition, written for 12th grade and up. Code is exact instructions for a machine. Algorithms, binary, compilers, early languages, abstraction, open source, Git, jobs, security guidance, testing and Scratch are all part of it.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What does a compiler do?
   • It translates a whole program into binary or machine code that can run (answer)
   • It records changes to files over time
   • It hides a system behind an API
2. What does a version control system let you do?
   • Revert files to a previous state (answer)
   • Run code without compiling
   • Turn bugs into features
3. Which agency published Secure by Design guidance first in April 2023, with international partners?
   • CISA (answer)
   • NASA
   • MIT
4. A program gives wrong answers because two instructions are in the wrong order. Which kind of bug is that?
   • A syntax error
   • A logic error (answer)
   • A base case
5. Why does abstraction make code easier to reuse?
   • It hides technical detail behind a simpler interface (answer)
   • It turns code into machine language
   • It makes every program open source
6. In the passage, what do vulnerabilities mean?
   • Weaknesses a program could be attacked through (answer)
   • Notes the computer does not run
   • Steps in an algorithm

Words

• abstraction: hiding detail
• compiler: code translator
• recursion: self-calling function
• vulnerabilities: security weaknesses
• syntax: writing rules