Basic Definition XIX

Question 1

abstract data type (ADT)

Answer 1

A data type (usually a collection of objects) that is defined by a set of operations but that can be implemented in a variety of ways.

Question 2

interface

Answer 2

The set of operations that define an ADT.

Question 3

implementation

Answer 3

Code that satisfies the syntactic and semantic requirements of an interface.

Question 4

client

Answer 4

A program (or the person who wrote it) that uses an ADT.

Question 5

provider

Answer 5

The code (or the person who wrote it) that implements an ADT.

Question 6

veneer

Answer 6

A class definition that implements an ADT with method definitions that are invocations of other methods, sometimes with simple transformations. The veneer does no significant work, but it improves or standardizes the interface seen by the client.

Question 7

generic data structure

Answer 7

A kind of data structure that can contain data of any type.

Question 8

infix

Answer 8

A way of writing mathematical expressions with the operators between the operands.

Question 9

postfix

Answer 9

A way of writing mathematical expressions with the operators after the operands.

Question 10

parse

Answer 10

To read a string of characters or tokens and analyze its grammatical structure.

Question 11

token

Answer 11

A set of characters that are treated as a unit for purposes of parsing, such as the words in a natural language.

Question 12

delimiter

Answer 12

A character that is used to separate tokens, such as punctuation in a natural language.