Computer Science 1 All Vocabul

7/27/2019 Computer Science 1 All Vocabul

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@author Javadoc block tag denoting the

author of a method or class.

@Before JUnit annotation marking a method sothat it will be run before each test in the

class.

@Ignore JUnit annotation marking a testmethod so that it will not be run.

@param Javadoc block tag specifying avariable's name and its description.

@return Javadoc block tag to describe

the return value of a method.

@see Javadoc block tag used to create a link fromone javadoc comment to another related

javadoc comment. Accessor See getter.

@Test JUnit annotation marking a

method to be run as a test.

abstract class A class for which no instances

can be created.

abstract method A method with no body whose definition isleft to concrete subclasses

ACS II A mapping from integers to characters thatincludes predominantly English

characters.


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Algorithm A sequential set of steps that will alwaysfind the correct solution to a problem.

ancestor A class that is higher in an inheritancehierarchy than a referenced class.

Annotation Instruction to the Java compiler in theform of @tag before a method declaration.

Array A data structure that can hold a fixednumber of values of the same type.

Assembler A piece of software that translatesprograms written in an assembly language

into the language of a target machine.

Assembly language A programming language where onestatement in the language translates to

exactly one machine instruction.

Assignment statementA Java statement that stores a value into a variable. It is of the form

= ; where the left hand side of the

equals sign is the variable whose value is being changed and, when

evaluated, the expression will give the new value that variable is to

hold.

average time analysis Run-time analysis based on

random input.

bench marking Measuring the elapsed run-time of aspecific application on a specific machine.

best case analysis Run-time analysis based on inputthat would minimize that run-time.


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big-oh A notation for describing run-time thatmeans the run-time is no worse than a

given function.

Biginteger A class provided by the Java API that canstore arbitrarily large integers.

Block tag A marker beginning with '@' that markportions of javadoc comments so they can

be formatted into web pages.

boolean A primitive type that only holds

the values true or false.

border case A situation where a small change in inputcauses a fundamentally different behavior

Breakpoint A way to mark a line of code so thedebugger will stop immediately prior to

that line's execution.

bubble sort A sorting algorithm where neighbors areswapped and the large values move toward

their correct positions.

byte A primitive type that holds

integer values from -128 to 127.

Camel capitalization Capitalizing the first letter of everyword except the first word.

char A primitive type that holds a

character.


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Check digit A digit added to data with a particularcharacteristic that makes it unique so that errors

made reading the data can be detected.

child class sub class

Class 1) A type we are declaring. 2) The set ofobjects of a particular type. 3) The java

code defining the class.

Class diagram One of the UML diagrams that shows thestructure of the classes in a system

Comment Section of source code that is meant tohelp explain the code to people and are

ignored by the compiler.

Compiler A piece of software that translatesprograms written in high level languages

into the language of the target machine.

Concatenate To put two strings together to

create a new string.

Conditional statement A language construct that allows thebehavior of the system to change based on

the values of variables.

Console the window to which output is

displayed.

Constant A variable whose value cannot

be changed.


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Constructor A method whose purpose is to allocatespace for and initialize an object.

count-controlled loop A loop that will run a pre-

defined number of times.

dangling else problem The problem of determining with which ifstatement an else statement will be paired

Declare To specify the name and type of

a variable.

Default Constructor If you do not code a constructor, Java givesyou a constructor with no parameters that

just allocates the space for the object.

descendent A class which is lower in the inheritancehierarchy and therefore inherits from a

referenced class.

Design The definition of the components of asystem and how they interact.

double A primitive type that holds a

real value with higher precision

early exit condition A return statement inside a loop so thatthe method returns before the loop

completes its execution.

else block The statement or block of code

following the "else" keyword.


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ExceptionA situation that does not normally occur and requires

special handling. A class provided by Java that holds

information description an exception that has

occurred. An instance of the class Exception.

extends A keyword denoting inheritance

Fibonacci Numbers The sequence of numbers: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8,13, ... where each number is the sum of the

two previous numbers.

final A keyword marking a variable denotingthat its value will not be able to be

changed.

Fisher-Yates Shuffle An algorithm that randomizes

the order of a set of objects.

float A primitive type that hold a real

values.

for loop variable A variable that is declared in the initialization partof a for statement. For example in for (int inx = 0;

inx < 5; inx++) The for loop variable is inx.

Frame bit A bit at the beginning or ending of a bar codewhose purpose is to allow the machine reading to

bar code to orient the bar code for reading.

generalization superclass

Getter A method whose purpose is the return thevalue stored in an instance variable.


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Hard-coding Embedding a specific value

throughout the code.

High level language A language where one source codeinstruction may be translated into many

machine instructions.

if statement conditional statement

if-then-else statement A statement used to select between theexecution of two mutually exclusive

behaviors.

Increment To make larger by 1.

Index Used as a noun, this is an integerspecifying a position in an array. Used as a

verb, it is the act of location that position.

infinite loop A loop that will never finish runningbecause its condition will never be false.

Information hiding The principle of minimizing the portion ofthe system that can directly access a

variable or method.

inheritance The process of defining new classes suchthat they contain functionality of existing

classes.

Initializer A statement that declares a

variable and gives it a value.


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insertion sortA sorting algorithm where the leftmost value in the

unsorted portion of the array gets iteratively swapped

to move left until it is in the correct position of the

sorted portion.

Instance One member of a class.

Instance Variable A variable associated with an object. Eachobject of a type gets its own copy of that

type's instance variables.

int primitive type that holds an integer valuefrom -2,147,438,648 to 2,147,438,647.

Interpreted When the translation to machine languageis done as the execution of the program

requires the code.

Is-A The relationship between a

subclass and its ancestors.

Java API The Java Applications ProgrammingInterface that specifies the wide variety of

classes that come with the Java platform.

Java byte code The language that is output of the Javacompiler and that runs on Java Virtual

Machines.

Java Virtual Machine (JVM) A piece of software that executes Java ByteCode on a particular type of hardware.

Javadoc The tool which converts javadoc commentsinto html design documentation.


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Javadoc comment A comment in a specific format so that itcan be translated into design

documentation.

JUnit A tool which allows us to build tests thatverify that our classes behave as they

should.

Keyword A word that has special meaning to theJava compiler (also called a reserved

word).

Lifetime The time span during the execution of theprogram in which a variable exists in the

system.

Local variable A variable declared in a method. Can be aparameter, a method variable, or a for loop

variable.

long A primitive type that holds an integer valuefrom - 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to9,223

372 036,854 775,807.

Loop A language construct that allows a sectionof code to be executed repeatedly.

Machine code The language that the processor

of the machine executes.

main() method The method that the JVM will run. It mustbe declared as public static void

main(String[] args).

Mantissa the fractional part of the scientificnotation used to store real numbers.


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Memory diagram A diagram that shows how a programwill store information in variables.

Method A named block of code.

Method overloading Giving two methods the same

name.

Method signature The name of the method and the order andtypes of the parameters in its parameter

list.

Method variable A variable declared within a method using thestandard declaration syntax (not a

parameter or a for loop variable).

Modulus (mod) operator Mathematical operator calculating theremainder after division. Symbol used is %

Mutator see setter

Naming Convention Guideline for naming entities to

support consistency.

nested conditions When one if statement is contained withineither the then block or the else block of

another if statement.

Nested Loops When one loop construct is

contained within another.


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new statement A Java statement used to allocate the spacefor an array or to call a constructor of an

object.

null A value representing a pointer whichhas not been assigned a value.

Object An entity the system needs toknow about. A member of a class.

Object code the output of a compiler or

assembler.

Object-Oriented A type of language which supports theability to code designs that are based on

the objects the system needs to manage.

Output The results of running a

program.

Overflow A condition that occurs when a value beingstored cannot fit in the variable into which

it is being stored.

Overload To declare two methods with

the same name.

Override Declaring a method in a subclass that isalso declared in the superclass.

Package A set of related classes.


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Parameter A variable declared in a method'sdeclaration into which values are passed.

Parent class superclass

Parity bit A bit that is added to a value to provide theability to detect errors in reading the value

Polymorphism Declaring a variable to have one type whileit refers to an object of a subclass of that

type

Porting The process of modifying code that runs onone target machine to make it run on a

different target machine.

Precedence The order in which arithmetic

operations are applied.

Primitive type A data type that the java compiler knowsabout so that it can allocate the space for

the variable at the declaration.

private A visibility modifier that makes aninstance variable or a method only visible

within the defining class.

problem decomposition The process of dividing a large problem into sub-problems and using the solutions to those sub-

problems to build a solution to the original problem.

Prompt Output that is designed to ask

the user to do something.


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protected A visibility modifier that makes aninstance variable or a method visible to a

subclass, but not the entire system.

public A visibility modifier that makes aninstance variable or a method visible to the

entire system.

Refactor To change the code to improve itsdesign without changing its behavior

Reference type Any non-primitive type,

including arrays.

Reserved word A word given specific meaning by the Javacompiler (also called a keyword).

response time The elapsed time between when a requestis made and when the system responds

Return type The data type of the value that a

method will return.

run-time analysis Theoretical, machine-independent, analysisof the amount of time an algorithm will take

as a function of the size of the input.

Runnable Contains a main() method and cantherefore be run by the JVM.

Scanner A class provided by Java that allows us toget keyboard input from the user.


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Scope The portion of code in which a

variable is visible.

selection sortA sorting algorithm in which one swaps the largest

value in the unsorted portion into the last position of

the unsorted portion of the array increasing the

sorted portion.

sentinel-controlled loop A loop that runs until a given

condition becomes true.

Setter A method whose purpose is the change thevalue of an instance method.

short A primitive type that holds aninteger value from -32768 to 32767

short-cutting evluationWhen evaluating complex conditionals, the evaluation

will stop as soon as the resulting value is defined. For

example, when evaluating an &&, if the left hand operand

is false, the right hand operand will not be evaluated.

Sign bit A boolean value stored with a number todenote whether that number is positive or

negative.

sorting problem Given a set of objects (or primitives) inrandom order, rearrange them until they

are in increasing order.

Source code A program written in either a high-level language or assembly language.

specialization subclass


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String A class that comes with Java that can holdan arbitrarily long sequence of characters.

Strongly typedLanguages of this type require that variables must be

given specific data types and that the compiler will

verify that the data being stored in a variable matches

the variable's type.

subclass A class that is defined to inheritfunctionality from another class.

substitution principle An instance of a subclass must be able tobe substituted in any place where an

instance of its superclass is used.

superclass A class from which another

class inherits functionality.

Target machine The machine on which a program will berun. This can be either a physical or virtual

machine.

test suite In JUnit, a class that allows the tests inmultiple other classes to be run with one

command.

Test-Driven Development A problem-solving strategy in which thedevelopment of tests precedes the

development of code.

then statement The statement or block of code followingthe condition in an if statement.

this A keyword representing the instanceon which a method is being run.


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throw A statement that is used when an exceptioncondition has been detected and handling of that

exception is being passed to the calling method.

throws A clause that is added to a methoddeclaration to denote the fact that it might

throw exceptions of the specified types.

Token The input between two

delimiters.

toString() The method that will be called whenever aconversion from an object to a String is

required.

try/catch A Java construct that supports

handling of exceptions.

Typecast To force the compiler to change the type ofan expression by preceding it with the new

type in parentheses.

Unicode A mapping from integers to characters thatincludes characters from most languages.

Unified Modeling Language

(UML)

A standard set of types of diagrams that are

used to document various aspects of the

design of a system.

UTF-8 Unicode encodings using only eight bits forcompatibility with ASCII.

Variable A named location that can store avalue of a particular type.


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Visibility modifier public, private, or protected. A modifier usedto denote which portions of the system

should be able to see a variable or a method

void The return type used in a methoddeclaration when that method will not

return a value.

while loop A Java construct that allows a block ofcode to be executed repeatedly until a

given condition becomes false.

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Computer Science 1 All Vocabul