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NSWSoftware EngineeringQuick questions
Module 3: Software Automation
Quick questions on Machine learning fundamentals explained: HSC Software Engineering Module 3
9short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is classical programming?Show answer
The developer writes the rules. The program takes inputs and applies the rules to produce outputs.
What is machine learning?Show answer
The developer provides examples (data plus the correct answers). The algorithm learns the rules.
What is worked Python?Show answer
A minimal end-to-end ML workflow with scikit-learn:
What is when to use ML vs classical?Show answer
Classical programming is the right tool when:
What is the training/test split?Show answer
You never evaluate a model on data it has already seen. Standard practice:
What is forgetting the test split?Show answer
Reporting training accuracy is meaningless because the model has already seen the data.
What is confusing label and prediction?Show answer
The label is the known correct answer in the training data. The prediction is what the model outputs for new data.
What is calling more data "always better"?Show answer
Data quality matters more than quantity. Mislabelled or biased data poisons the model.
What is treating the model as understanding meaning?Show answer
A model finds statistical patterns. It does not understand spam the way humans do; it has just learned which features correlate with the label. :::