ISC Class 11 Syllabus 2028 Computer Science

ISC
INDIAN SCHOOL CERTIFICATE
EXAMINATION

YEAR 2028

COMPUTER SCIENCE
(868)

Developed by:
Research, Development and Curriculum Division (RDCD)
CISCE

January 2026
____________________________________________________________________________________________

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Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE)

MISSION STATEMENT

The Council for the Indian School Certificate
Examinations is committed to serving the nation's
children, through high quality educational
endeavours, empowering them to contribute towards
a humane, just and pluralistic society, promoting
introspective living, by creating exciting learning
opportunities, with a commitment to excellence.

ETHOS OF CISCE

Trust and fair play.
Minimum monitoring.
Allowing schools to evolve their own niche.
Catering to the needs of the children.
Giving freedom to experiment with new ideas
and practices.
Diversity and plurality - the basic strength for
evolution of ideas.
Schools to motivate pupils towards the
cultivation of:
Excellence - The Indian and Global
experience.
Values - Spiritual and cultural - to be the bedrock
of the educational experience.
Schools to have an 'Indian Ethos', strong roots in
the national psyche and be sensitive to national
aspirations.

COMPUTER SCIENCE (868)

Aims (Conceptual)
(1) To understand algorithmic problem solving using data abstractions, functional and procedural abstractions,
and object based and object-oriented abstractions.
(2) To understand:
(a) how computers represent, store and process data at different levels of abstraction that mediate between
the machine and the algorithmic problem solving level and
(b) how they communicate with the outside world.
(3) To create awareness of ethical issues related to computing and to promote safe, ethical behavior.
(4) To make students aware of future trends in computing.
Aims (Skills)
To devise algorithmic solutions to problems and to be able to code, validate, document, execute and debug the
solution using the Java and python programming system to align with the future trend.

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CLASS XI
There will be two papers in the subject:
Paper I: Theory………….. 3 hours…70 marks
Paper II: Practical………. 3 hours…30 marks
Distribution of marks for the theory paper:

S.no Unit Marks
Section A – Hardware
1. System of Numeration
2. Encodings
3. Propositional logic, Hardware implementation, Arithmetic 25
operations

Section B – Java
4. Introduction to Object Oriented Programming using Java
5. Objects
6. Primitive values, Wrapper classes, Types and casting
7. Variables, Expressions
8. Statements, Scope
9. Methods and Constructors 30

10. Arrays, Strings
11. Basic input/ output file handling(only Text)
Section C – Python and Conceptual aspects
12. Introduction to python
13. Trends in computing and ethical issues 15
Total 70

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PAPER I (THEORY) : 70 MARKS
SECTION A - HARDWARE

1. System of Numeration
Representation of numbers in different bases and interconversion between them (e.g. binary, octal, decimal,
hexadecimal). Addition, subtraction and multiplication operations for numbers in different bases.
Introduce the positional system of representing numbers and the concept of a base. Discuss the conversion
of representations between different bases using English or pseudo code. These algorithms are also good
examples for defining different functions in a class modelling numbers (when programming is discussed).
For addition and subtraction (1’s complement and 2’s complement) use the analogy with decimal numbers,
emphasize how carry works (this will be useful later when binary adders are discussed), multiplication of
numbers in different bases [without decimals].

2. Encodings
Characters and their encodings (e.g. ASCII, ISCII, Unicode).
Discuss the limitations of the ASCII code in representing characters of other languages. Discuss the Unicode
representation for the local language. Java uses Unicode, so strings in the local language can be used (they
can be displayed if fonts are available) – a simple table lookup for local language equivalents for Latin
(i.e. English) character strings may be done. More details on Unicode are available at www.unicode.org.

3. Propositional logic, Hardware implementation, Arithmetic operations
(a) Propositional logic, well-formed formulae, truth values and interpretation of well formed formulae, truth
tables.
Propositional variables; the common logical connectives ~ (negation) ∧ (and)(conjunction),∨
(or)(disjunction), ⇒ (implication), ⇔ (equivalence)); definition of a well-formed formula (wff);
representation of simple word problems as wff (this can be used for motivation); the values true and
false; interpretation of a wff; truth tables; satisfiable, unsatisfiable and valid formulae.
(b) Logic and hardware, basic gates (AND, NOT, OR) and their universality, other gates (NAND, NOR,
XOR, XNOR), half adder, full adder.
Show how the logic in (a) above can be realized in hardware in the form of gates. These gates can then
be combined to implement the basic operations for arithmetic. Tie up with the arithmetic operations on
integers discussed earlier in 2.

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SECTION B - JAVA
The programming element in the syllabus (Section B and C) is aimed at algorithmic problem solving and not
merely rote learning of Java and Python syntax. The Java version used should be 6.0 or later and Python version
3.13 and above.
For Java programming, students may use any text editor along with the javac compiler, or any integrated
development environment (IDE) such as BlueJ, DrJava, Eclipse, or NetBeans.
For Python programming, students may use any suitable development environment, such as IDLE, PyCharm,
VS Code, Spyder, or Jupyter Notebook.
The students are required to do lab assignments in the computer lab concurrently with the lectures. Programming
assignments should start with development of appropriate algorithm followed by coding using Java and Python.

4. Introduction to Object Oriented Programming using Java
Note that topics 5 to 11 should be introduced almost simultaneously along with Classes and their definitions.

5. Objects
(a) Objects as data (attributes) + behaviour (methods or methods); object as an instance of a class.
Difference between object and class should be made very clear. BlueJ (www.bluej.org) and Greenfoot
(www.greenfoot.org) can be used for this purpose.
(b) Analysis of some real-world programming examples in terms of objects and classes.
Use simple examples like a calculator, date, number etc. to illustrate how they can be treated as objects
that behave in certain well- defined ways and how the interface provides a way to access behaviour.
Illustrate behaviour changes by adding new methods, deleting old methods or modifying existing methods.
(c) Basic concept of a virtual machine; Java Virtual Machine (JVM); compilation and execution of Java
programs (the javac and java programs).
The JVM is a machine but built as a program and not through hardware. Therefore it is called a virtual
machine. To run, JVM machine language programs require an interpreter. The advantage is that such
JVM machine language programs (.class files) are portable and can run on any machine that has the
java program.
(d) Compile time and run time errors; basic concept of an exception, the Exception class, try-catch, throw,
throws and finally.
Differentiate between compile time and run time errors. Run time errors crash the program. Recovery is
possible by the use of exceptions. Explain how an exception object is created and passed up until a
matching catch is found. This behaviour is different from the one where a value is returned by a deeply
nested method call.

6. Primitive values, Wrapper classes, Types and casting
Primitive values and types: byte, int, short, long, float, double, boolean, char. Corresponding wrapper classes
for each primitive type. Class as type of the object. Class as mechanism for user defined types. Changing
types through user defined casting and automatic type coercion for some primitive types.
Ideally, everything should be a class; primitive types are defined for efficiency reasons; each primitive type
has a corresponding wrapper class. Classes as user defined types. In some cases, types are changed by
automatic coercion or casting – e.g. mixed type expressions. However, casting in general is not a good idea
and should be avoided, if possible.

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7. Variables, Expressions
Variables as names for values; named constants (final), expressions (arithmetic and logical) and their
evaluation (operators, associativity, precedence). Assignment operation; difference between left-hand side
and right-hand side of assignment.
Variables denote values; variables are already defined as attributes in classes; variables have types that
constrain the values it can denote. Difference between variables denoting primitive values and object values
– variables denoting objects are references to those objects.
NOTE: Library functions for solving expressions may be used as and when required.

8. Statements, Scope
Statements; conditional (if, if else, if else if, switch case) ternary operator, looping (for, while, do while),
continue, break; grouping statements in blocks, scope and visibility of variables.
Describe the semantics of the conditional and looping statements in detail. Evaluation of the condition in
conditional statements.
Nesting of blocks. Variables with block scope, method scope, class scope. Visibility rules when variables with
the same name are defined in different scopes.

9. Methods and Constructors
Methods and Constructors (as abstractions for complex user defined operations on objects), methods as
mechanisms for side effects; formal arguments and actual arguments in methods; different behaviour of
primitive arguments. Static methods and variables. The this operator. Examples of algorithmic problem
solving using methods (number problems, finding roots of algebraic equations etc.).
Methods are like complex operations where the object is implicitly the first argument. Operator this denotes
the current object. Methods typically return values. Static definitions as class variables and class methods are
visible and shared by all instances. Need for static methods and variables. Introduce the main method –
needed to begin execution. Constructor as a special kind of method; the new operator; multiple constructors
with different argument structures; constructor returns a reference to the object.

10. Arrays, Strings
Structured data types – arrays (single and multi- dimensional), Strings. Example algorithms that use structured
data types (searching, finding maximum/minimum, sorting techniques, solving systems of linear equations,
substring, concatenation, length, access to char in string, etc.).
Storing many data elements of the same type requires structured data types – like arrays. Access in arrays is
constant time and does not depend on the number of elements. Sorting techniques (bubble, selection,
insertion), Structured data types can be defined by classes – String. Introduce the Java library String class
and the basic operations on strings (accessing individual characters, various substring operations,
concatenation, replacement, index of operations).

11. Basic input/output and Text File Handling
(a) Basic input/output using Scanner class.
Input/output exceptions. Tokens in an input stream, concept of whitespace, extracting tokens from an input
stream (String Tokenizer class). The Scanner class can be used for input of various types of data (e.g. int,
float, char etc.) from the standard input stream.
Discuss the concept of a token (a delimited continuous stream of characters that is meaningful in the
application program – e.g. words in a sentence where the delimiter is the blank character). This naturally
leads to the idea of delimiters and in particular whitespace and user defined characters as delimiters. As
an example show how the String Tokenizer class allows one to extract a sequence of tokens from a string
with user defined delimiters.
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(b) Data File Handling.
Need for Data file, Input Stream, Output Stream, Character Stream (FileReader, FileWriter), Operations-
Creation, Reading, Writing, Appending, and Searching.

SECTION C - PYTHON AND CONCEPTUAL ASPECTS

12. Introduction to Python
(a) Installation and IDE
Source : www.python.org
IDE : IDLE, Pycharm, VScode, spyder, Jupyter
(b) Fundamentals of Python programming
Easy to use and learn, simple syntax, Open Source, Large Standard Library, Dynamically Typed, Large
Community Support, Portable, Platform Independent, Interpreter based.
Execution modes - interactive mode and script mode, Python character set, tokens (keyword, identifier,
literal, operator, punctuator), variables, concept of l-value and r-value, use of comments.
(c) Data types
Number(integer, floating point, complex), boolean, sequence(string, list, tuple), None,
Mapping(dictionary), mutable and immutable data types.
(d) Data processing in Python
Accepting data as input from the console and displaying output. Errors- syntax errors, logical errors,
and run-time errors
(e) Operators and expressions
Forms of operators, Expressions, Statements and Type conversions
Forms of operators (Unary, binary, ternary ) , Arithmetic operators (+, - , *, **, /, //,%) Relational
operators (> , <, >=, <=, ==, !=), Logical operators(and, or, not), Assignment operators (=) ,
Augmented assignment operators(+=, -=, *=, /=,%=,//=, **=), Identity operators (is, is not),
membership operators (in, not in), Python expressions/statement, evaluation of the expressions involving
the operators, type conversion, precedence of operators, type-conversion (explicit and implicit
conversion)
(f) Flow of control
Introduction of programming constructs, use of indentation, sequential flow, conditional and iterative
flow
Conditional statements ( if, if-else, if-elif-else), Iterative Statement( for loop, range(), while loop), break
and continue statements, nested loop.

13. Trends in computing and ethical issues
(a) Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality.
(b) Cyber Security, privacy, netiquette, spam, phishing, Digital arrest.
(c) Intellectual property, Software copyright and patents and Free Software Foundation.
Intellectual property and corresponding laws and rights, software as intellectual property.
Software copyright and patents and the difference between the two; trademarks; software licensing and
piracy. free Software Foundation and its position on software, Open Source Software, various types of
licensing (e.g. GPL, BSD).
Brief understanding of the above , the social impact and ethical issues should be discussed and debated
in class. The important thing is for students to realise that these are complex issues and there are multiple
points of view on many of them and there is no single ‘correct’ or ‘right’ view.
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PAPER II (PRACTICAL) : 30 MARKS
This paper of three hours duration will be evaluated internally by the school.
The paper shall consist of three programming problems (in Java only) from which a candidate has to attempt any
one. The practical consists of the two parts:
(1) Planning Session
(2) Examination Session
The total time to be spent on the Planning session and the Examination session is three hours. A maximum
of 90 minutes is permitted for the Planning session and 90 minutes for the Examination session. Candidates are
to be permitted to proceed to the Examination Session only after the 90 minutes of the Planning Session
are over.
Planning Session
The candidates will be required to prepare an algorithm and a hand-written Java program to solve the problem.
Examination Session
The program handed in at the end of the Planning session shall be returned to the candidates. The candidates will
be required to key-in and execute the Java program on seen and unseen inputs individually on the Computer and
show execution to the examiner. A printout of the program listing, including output results should be attached to
the answer script containing the algorithm and handwritten program. This should be returned to the examiner.
The program should be sufficiently documented so that the algorithm, representation and development process
is clear from reading the program. Large differences between the planned program and the printout will result in
loss of marks.Teachers should maintain a record of all the assignments done as part of the practical work
throughout the year and give it due credit at the time of cumulative evaluation at the end of the year. Students are
expected to do a minimum of twenty assignments (15 programs in Java and 5 programs in Python) for the year
and ONE project based on the chapter ‘Trends in computing and ethical issues’. The project work may be
submitted to the school in handwritten or typed form (hard copy or soft copy), or as PowerPoint presentations
(PPTs).

TOPIC WISE BREAKUP OF ASSIGNMENTS
Java – minimum of 15 programs
• Three programs based of conditional / iterative statements (series, number logic, patterns)
• Three programs based on Single dimensional arrays
• Three programs based on Double dimensional arrays
• Four programs based on String handling
• Two programs based on File handling
Note: All programs should be based on classes and objects.
Python – minimum of 5 programs
• One program based on sequential statements
• Two programs on conditional / iteration statements
• Two programs on nested iteration statements

LIST OF SUGGESTED PROJECTS:
PRESENTATION / MODEL BASED/ APPLICATION BASED
1. Creating an expert system for road-traffic management (routing and re-routing of vehicles depending on
congestion).
2. Creating an expert system for medical diagnosis on the basis of symptoms and prescribe a suitable treatment.
3. Creating a security system for age-appropriate access to social media.

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4. Simulate Adders using Arduino Controllers and Components.
5. Simulate a converter of Binary to Decimal number systems using Arduino Controllers and Components.
6. Develop a console-based application using Java for Flight Ticket Reservation.
7. Develop a console-based application using Java to encrypt and decrypt a message (using cipher text, Unicode-
exchange, etc).
8. Develop a console-based application using Java to find name of the bank and branch location from IFSC.
9. Develop a console-based application using Java to calculate taxable income (only direct tax).
10. Develop a console-based application using Java to develop a simple text editor (text typing, copy, cut, paste,
delete).
EVALUATION
Marks (out of a total of 30) should be distributed as given below:
Continuous Evaluation
Candidates will be required to submit a work file containing the practical work related to programming
assignments done during the year and ONE project.
Programming assignments done throughout the year 10 marks
Project Work - (based on any topic from the syllabus) 5 marks

Terminal Evaluation
Solution to Java programming problem on the computer 15 Marks

Marks should be given for choice of algorithm and implementation strategy, documentation, correct output on
known inputs mentioned in the question paper, correct output for unknown inputs available only to the examiner.

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