Look inside the machine, then write real Python - in an underwater adventure.

• 203 pages
• 16 chapters
• Mini project

About this book

One Tuesday the first lighthouse goes dark. By Thursday every lighthouse along the coast of Memunic World has stopped, the tide gates at Riverbend are jammed and the golden Light Bridges are flickering. Nimo arrives at Memoon's window in his water bubble with the news: the Deep Engine, the giant machine on the floor of the Data Sea that runs it all, is failing. Only Octavia, an ancient octopus and its Keeper for two hundred years, knows how to look after it, and Memoon is about to learn how.

The first part of the book explains how a computer really works: the CPU and the fetch-decode-execute cycle, RAM, ROM, cache and storage, what an operating system does, system and application software, and how compilers and interpreters turn a program into machine code. It teaches binary, octal and hexadecimal, how text (ASCII and Unicode), images (pixels, RGB and hex) and sound (sampling) are stored as numbers, and the difference between lossless and lossy compression.

From there readers plan with flowcharts, pseudocode and trace tables, then write real Python in IDLE: variables, data types, input, f-strings and error messages, operators and decisions with if, elif and else, and loops with for, while, range and random. Turtle graphics makes stars, spirals and rangoli patterns. Further chapters cover building a first web page in HTML with Notepad and Edge, databases (tables, records, fields, primary keys and SQL basics), image editing with layers, malware, backups with the 3-2-1 rule and digital ethics, how AI sees, hears and predicts, and how chatbots work, how to write a good prompt and how to use AI honestly.

How each chapter works
Every chapter has the same six parts: The Adventure, Learn With Memoon, Try It Yourself, Memoon Solves It, Check Your Knowledge and a Word Bank.

What they’ll learn

• Name the parts of a CPU and explain fetch-decode-execute; tell RAM, ROM, cache and storage apart
• Describe the jobs of an operating system, and explain compilers and interpreters
• Convert between decimal, binary, octal and hexadecimal, and add binary numbers
• Explain how text, images and sound are stored as numbers
• Plan programs with flowcharts, pseudocode and trace tables, and choose good test data
• Write Python with input, f-strings, operators, if/elif/else, for and while loops
• Draw patterns with Python Turtle, and build a web page with HTML
• Design a simple database, and sort, filter and query records
• Edit images in layers, protect against malware and back up with the 3-2-1 rule
• Explain how machine learning, computer vision and language models work, and use chatbots honestly

Contents

1. 1How a Computer Really Works
2. 2Operating Systems and Software
3. 3Number Systems
4. 4How Computers Store Text, Images and Sound
5. 5Planning Programs
6. 6Meet Python
7. 7Operators and Decisions
8. 8Loops in Python
9. 9Drawing with Python Turtle
10. 10Building Web Pages with HTML
11. 11Databases and Records
12. 12Image Editing with Layers
13. 13Malware, Backup and Digital Ethics
14. 14How AI Sees, Hears and Predicts
15. 15Chatbots, Prompts and Using AI Honestly
16. ·Revision: Let's Remember

Who it’s for

Children aged 12 and up (Grade 7 skills) who are ready to go from using computers to understanding them, and to type real programs line by line. It opens with a recap of Book 5, covers the Class 7 computer syllabus and CBSE AI topics and goes beyond them, and suits self-study and homeschooling.

What you need: Free tools only - Python and IDLE, Notepad, Microsoft Edge and Paint - on a Windows 11 computer.

Included with your purchase

• The bookThe 203-page illustrated ebook
• Teaching and classroom slidesA full lesson deck - the whole book as slides, chapter by chapter, for teaching or projecting

Read a free sample: the first 20 pages

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