2.4 Types Of Programming Language

Question 1

What are 2 types of programming paradigms and what is the difference?

Answer 1

Declarative languages e.g. SQL contain code that describes the goal/operation that needs to be achieved but not how to achieve it.

Imperative languages use code that clearly specifies the actions to be performed in order to solve a problem.

Question 2

What are the 2 main imperative types of programming language?

Answer 2

procedural
object oriented

Question 3

What is a procedural language?

Answer 3

A language that solves a problem by carrying out a series of instructions step by step. e.g. python

Question 4

What is an object oriented language?

Answer 4

A language that is based on objects of different classes that have methods and attributes. e.g. JavaScript

Question 5

When is OOP better suited in general?

Answer 5

Problems where we can represent real life entities with objects or higher scale complex software.

Question 6

What are the 4 programming constructs and what do they mean?

Answer 6

sequence - line by line execution of code

selection - block of code ran based on a condition

iteration - block of code ran repetitively based on a condition or for a set number of times (count or condition controlled)

recursion - when a function calls itself until a certain condition is met which returns a different value

Question 7

What is the opcode?

Answer 7

The type of instruction to be performed.

Question 8

What is the operand?

Answer 8

The data or address upon which the instruction is performed.

Question 9

What are 4 memory addressing modes?

Answer 9

immediate addressing
direct addressing
indirect addressing
indexed addressing

Question 10

What is immediate addressing?

Answer 10

When the operand is the actual value that the opcode is performed on.

Question 11

What is direct addressing and why is it used?

Answer 11

When the operand is the address of the location in memory that contains the data upon which the instruction is performed.

This is used to represent higher numbers as memory has access to more bits than the operand.

Question 12

What is indirect addressing and why is it used?

Answer 12

When the operand is the address in memory that stores another memory address that is the location of the data upon which the instruction is performed.

This is used to access more memory addresses as memory can represent more bits than the operand.

Question 13

What is indexed addressing and when is it used?

Answer 13

The operand is added to the value in the index register to produce the memory address of the location of the data that the instruction is performed on.

This is used for arrays as the index register stores an offset that represents the start of the array so that the data can be stored contiguously.

Question 14

What is a class?

Answer 14

A template for defining methods and attributes, used to create objects.

Question 15

What is an object?

Answer 15

A single instance of a class that can have its own values for the class’ attributes.

Question 16

What is a method?

Answer 16

A function that belongs to a class and carries out something that the class can do.

Question 17

What is an attribute?

Answer 17

A specific property of a class that is stored as a variable.

Question 18

What is the constructor method?

Answer 18

The function used to create a new instance of a class.

Question 19

What is the difference between private and public methods/attributes?

Answer 19

Private can only be accessed within the scope of the object whereas public can be accessed from outside of the object.

Question 20

What is encapsulation?

Answer 20

When private attributes can only be accessed and changed via public methods.

Question 21

What is the purpose of encapsulation?

Answer 21

Reduces chance for bugs and unintended side effects as an instance’s attribute values can’t be edited unless using a preprogrammed method.

Question 22

What are get and set methods (getters and setters)?

Answer 22

Public methods that are used to get or set private attributes.

Question 23

What is inheritance?

Answer 23

When a class takes on the methods and attributes of a parent class but can override some of these or be given additional methods and attributes.

Question 24

What is polymorphism?

Answer 24

When an object can take on more than one form.

Question 25

What are the advantages of OOP?

Answer 25

high level of reusability through inheritance

classes can be used across multiple projects

encapsulation makes the code more reliable

modular structure is easy to update and maintain

high level of abstraction and classes can be reused saving time and effort

Question 26

What are the disadvantages of OOP?

Answer 26

when few components are reused, OOP may be a long and inefficient solution compared to procedures

OOP isn’t very useful for smaller problems