Pro-Theta Computing Institute (Private) Limited.
Computer Training and Business Education.

Fundamental Principles
PIP1. The Stored Program Computer. Components and organisation of a simple processor. Concepts of architecture, buses and interfaces. Examples of industry standards. The execution cycle. Interrupts and their handling.
PIP2. Storage. Levels of storage. Concepts of access time and transfer rate. Comparison of construction, capacity, cost per byte, volatility. Main store organisation and uses. Backing storage: magnetic and optical devices. Organisation of discs: performance considerations, buffering, direct memory access, intelligent controllers.
PIP3. Peripherals. Characteristics of common devices. Information transfer between devices. Buffering, protocols; serial and parallel transfers. Polling and interrupt techniques.
PIP4. Data Transmission and Communication. Character codes; ASCII. Simple methods of transmission and the associated hardware; asynchronous and synchronous techniques. Channel capacity. Error detection and correction.
PIP5. System Operation. System start, including bootstrapping methods. The facilities of an operating system. Resource management; task scheduling; system security. Comparison between common operating systems.
PIP6. Developments and Trends in Computer Equipment. Classification, costs, performance and capacities of current systems. Shared processor, multi-processor and network systems. Recent advances in the design of processors, peripheral equipment, backing store and communications equipment. Real time systems. Fault tolerant systems. Parallel processing.
Data Representation and Processing
PIP7. Binary Logic. Representation of information within the computer. Logical operations and Boolean expressions. Minimisation. Simple combinational and sequential logic networks. Current hardware technologies.
PIP8. Instruction Formats. Wordlength. Concept of an instruction set. Addressing modes. Two and three address instructions. Variable length instructions. Reduced instruction set processors.
PIP9. Numeric Data. Binary representation of integers and fractions. Fixed point and floating point methods. Floating point arithmetic; normalisation. Arithmetic errors; accuracy; methods of improving accuracy. Negative numbers: practical methods. Examples in two's complement form.
PIP10. Data Structures. Simple and compound data types. Operations on arrays, tables, stacks, queues, trees and lists. Representation and processing techniques.
PIP11. Data Files. Organisation, access and processing; different file media. Serial, sequential, indexed and inverted files. Simple databases. Hash (scatter) storage: the address generating algorithm, collisions, hash tables.

Systems Analysis and Design
SP1 The Environment: its characteristics, functions and data flow. Objectives and their realisation. Identifying information processing needs. Alternative methods of operation (batch, on line, real time,..).
SP2 Methodologies. Conventional systems analysis and design methods; their limitations. Comparison of data flow and control flow methods. Advantages of structured methods of analysis and specification. Practical use of one method such as Yourdon Constantine, DeMarco or Learmonth and Burchett (SSADM). Relationship with programming methods.
SP3 Structured Systems Analysis and Design (SSADM). Principles. Stages in SSADM. Analysis of present system: dataflow diagrams, entity models and problems/requirements. Specification of requirements: logical dataflow diagrams, logical data structures, entity life histories, logical dialogue outlines. Data and process design: third normal forms, composite logical data design. Physical design. Documentation. Quality assurance reviews.
SP4 Database Systems. Definition. Database management system. Data dictionary. Database administration. Logical and physical design. Query language and programming interface. Distributed Databases. Transaction processing. Established systems.
SP5 Case Studies in Systems Analysis and Design. Practical examples to demonstrate a working knowledge of techniques in applications such as accounts, payroll, stock control, order entry, invoicing and ticket systems.
Programming
SP6 Structured Programming. The requirements specification. Representation of the design. Data oriented design. Choice of programming language and software development. Documentation. Introduction to formal methods of programming.
SP7 Programming Languages. Detailed practical knowledge of Pascal or `C': types, declarations, assignments, flow control, functions, procedures, parameters, scope, recursion, input output, files. Assembly language techniques: mnemonics, operands (various addressing modes), macros and directives.
SP8 Common Algorithms: static and dynamic data structures. creation of algorithms for processes such as searching, sorting; stack and queue operations, tree processes such as insertion, deletion, traversal. Linked list operations and uses for implementation of stacks and queues. Implications for process time and storage requirements of data structure and data volume.
SP9 Testing and Performance. A systematic approach to testing. The limitations of testing methods. Isolation of faults. The elimination of faults: walkthroughs, software tools. Measuring performance. Tuning.
SP10 Specialised Topics. Introduction to knowledge based systems, robotics, computer aided design and computer aided manufacture.

Projects and Personnel
CM1 Organisation. Data processing facilities within an organisation; types of system. Data processing departments: typical staffing structures.
CM2 The Project Life Cycle. Stages in the life cycle from initiation to support and obsolescence. Levels of project management. Relationships between management, project team, suppliers and users. Project planning and control. System documentation.
CM3 Financial Planning and Control. Estimating life cycle costs; the financial model. Cost benefit analysis: appraisal methods such as discounted cash flow and net present value. Software estimates.
CM4 Methodology and Quantitative Techniques. A systems development methodology such as PROMPT. Techniques for resource allocation, planning and scheduling: networks, linear programming. Simulation and modelling.
CM5 Staff. Recruitment and training. Job descriptions. Standards and discipline. The legal framework of employment.
CM6 External Services. The computer services industry: consultants and bureaux. Computer leasing. Operations Management.
Operations Management
CM7 Installation and Commissioning. Accommodation requirements. Site planning; environmental services. Delivery and installation of equipment. Trials and acceptance. Performance monitoring and tuning. Reliability.
CM8 Support. Hardware maintenance requirements; service agreements with contractors. Standby systems. Software maintenance needs; software support arrangements. System change procedures. Documentation and control.
CM9 System Security. Resources at risk. Threats to security. Risk management. Security precautions: access control, technical counter measures, personnel aspects. Data security: data control procedures, data back up and recovery. Security and Privacy. The Data Protection Act.
CM10 Media, Consumables and Libraries. The range of media and consumables required. Stock control procedures; simple methods of inventory management: economic order quantities. Installation libraries: data, software and manuals on differing media; custody and control procedures.