1: Chapter 1 & 2

Question 1

Algorithm

Answer 1

A step-by-step description of how to accomplish a task.

Question 2

Program

Answer 2

A list of instructions to be carried out by a computer.

Question 3

Binary number

Answer 3

A number composed of just 0s and 1s, also known as a base-2 number.

Question 4

Digital

Answer 4

Based on numbers that increase in discrete increments, such as the integers 0, 1, 2, 3, etc.

Question 5

Program execution

Answer 5

The act of carrying out the instructions contained in a program.

Question 6

Compiler

Answer 6

A program that translates a computer program written in one language into an equivalent program in another language (often, but not always, translating from a high-level language into machine language).

Question 7

Java Virtual Machine

Answer 7

A theoretical computer whose machine language is the set of Java bytecodes.

Question 8

Java Runtime

Answer 8

A program that executes compiled Java bytecodes.

Question 9

Java Class Libraries

Answer 9

The collection of preexisting Java code that provides solutions to common programming problems.

Question 10

Console window

Answer 10

A special text-only window in which Java programs interact with the user.

Question 11

Class

Answer 11

A unit of code that is the basic building block of Java programs.

Question 12

Method

Answer 12

A program unit that represents a particular action or computation.

Question 13

Statement

Answer 13

An executable snippet of code that represents a complete command.

Question 14

Identifier

Answer 14

A name given to an entity in a program, such as a class or method.

Question 15

Comment

Answer 15

Text that programmers include in a program to explain their code. The compiler ignores comments.

Question 16

Decomposition

Answer 16

A separation into discernible parts, each of which is simpler than the whole.

Question 17

Iterative enhancement

Answer 17

The process of producing a program in stages, adding new functionality at each stage. A key feature of each iterative step is that you can test it to make sure that piece works before moving on.

Question 18

Static method

Answer 18

A block of Java statements that is given a name.

Question 19

Method call

Answer 19

A command to execute another method, which causes all of the statements inside that method to be executed.

Question 20

Flow of control

Answer 20

The order in which the statements of a Java program are executed.

Question 21

Data type

Answer 21

A name for a category of data values that are all related, as in type int in Java, which is used to represent integer values.

Question 22

Expression

Answer 22

A simple value or a set of operations that produces a value.

Question 23

Evaluation

Answer 23

The process of obtaining the value of an expression.

Question 24

Operator

Answer 24

A special symbol (like + or *) that is used to indicate an operation to be performed on one or more values.

Question 25

Precedence

Answer 25

The binding power of an operator, which determines how to group parts of an expression.

Question 26

Variable

Answer 26

A memory location with a name and a type that stores a value.

Question 27

Declaration

Answer 27

A request to set aside a new variable with a given name and type.

Question 28

String concatenation

Answer 28

Combining several strings into a single string, or combining a string with other data into a new, longer string.

Question 29

Control structure

Answer 29

A syntactic structure that controls other statements.

Question 30

Scope

Answer 30

The part of a program in which a particular declaration is valid.

Question 31

Local variable

Answer 31

A variable declared inside a method that is accessible only in that method.

Question 32

Localizing variables

Answer 32

Declaring variables in the innermost (most local) scope possible.

Question 33

Infinite loop

Answer 33

A loop that never terminates.

Question 34

Pseudocode

Answer 34

English-like descriptions of algorithms. Programming with pseudocode involves successively refining an informal description until it is easily translated into Java.

Question 35

Class constant

Answer 35

A named value that cannot be changed. A class constant can be accessed anywhere in the class (i.e. its scope is the entire class).

Question 36

Widening

Answer 36

The process of changing a value's data type from a narrower one to a wider one. Widening is a "safe" conversion because there is no potential loss of information.

Question 37

Narrowing

Answer 37

A programmer may force narrowing to occur by using an explicit type cast in an expression. Type casts have higher precedence than all arithmetic operations.

Question 38

Overloaded operator

Answer 38

The plus sign (+) is said to be an overloaded operator because it performs different operations on different types of data (concatenation if operands are of type string and addition if operands are numeric types). The division operator is also overloaded (ints vs. doubles).

Question 39

Describe the flow of the Java Virtual Machine.

Answer 39

Your source code (.java file) is compiled by the Java compiler into Java bytecodes (.class file), which is then interpreted by the Java Virtual Machine so that it can run on Mac, Windows, Unix, etc. Source code (.java file) --> compiled by Java compiler --> Java bytecodes (.class file) --> JVM (interpreter) --> Mac, Windows, Linux