Basic Definitions VI Flashcards
algorithm
A step-by-step process for solving a category of problems.
body
The statements inside a loop.
counter
A variable used to count something, usually initialized to zero and incremented in the body of a loop.
cursor
An invisible marker that keeps track of where the next character will be printed.
decrement
Decrease by 1.
development plan
A process for developing a program. In this chapter, we demonstrated a style of development based on developing code to do simple, specific things and then encapsulating and generalizing.
encapsulate
To divide a large complex program into components (like functions) and isolate the components from each other (by using local variables, for example).
escape sequence
An escape character, \, followed by one or more printable characters used to designate a nonprintable character.
generalize
To replace something unnecessarily specific (like a constant value) with something appropriately general (like a variable or parameter). Generalization makes code more versatile, more likely to be reused, and sometimes even easier to write.
increment
Both as a noun and as a verb, increment means to increase by 1.
infinite loop
A loop in which the terminating condition is never satisfied.
initialization (of a variable)
To initialize a variable is to give it an initial value, usually in the context of multiple assignment. Since in Python variables don’t exist until they are assigned values, they are initialized when they are created. In other programming languages this is not the case, and variables can be created without being initialized, in which case they have either default or garbage values.
iteration
Repeated execution of a set of programming statements.
loop
A statement or group of statements that execute repeatedly until a terminating condition is satisfied.
loop variable
A variable used as part of the terminating condition of a loop.
