Chapter 1: Introduction Flashcards
computer program
A sequence of instructions that is executed by a computer.
hardware
The physical equipment for a computer or another device.
software
The intangible instructions and data that are necessary for operating a computer or another device.
programming
The act of designing and implementing computer programs.
central processing unit (CPU)
The part of a computer that executes the machine instructions.
Secondary storage
Storage that persists without electricity, e.g., a hard disk.
hard disk
A device that stores information on rotating platters with magnetic coating.
networks
An interconnected system of computers and other devices.
high-level programming languages
A programming language that provides an abstract view of a computer and allows programmers to focus on their problem domain.
compiler
A program that translates code in a high-level language (such as Java) to machine instructions (such as bytecode for the Java virtual machine).
machine code
Instructions that can be executed directly by the CPU.
applets
A graphical Java program that executes inside a web browser or applet viewer.
library
A set of precompiled classes that can be included in programs.
virtual machine
A program that simulates a CPU that can be implemented efficiently on a variety of actual machines. A given program in Java bytecode can be executed by any Java virtual machine, regardless of which CPU is used to run the virtual machine itself.
editor
A program for writing and modifying text files.
case sensitive
Distinguishing upper- and lowercase characters.
source files
A file containing instructions in a programming language such as Java.
source code
Instructions in a programming language that need to be translated before execution on a computer.
files
A sequence of bytes that is stored on disk.
folders (directory)
A structure on a disk that can hold files or other directories; also called a folder.
class
A programmer-defined data type.
method
A sequence of statements that has a name, may have parameter variables, and may return a value. A method can be invoked any number of times, with different values for its parameter variables.
main method
The method that is first called when a Java application executes.
statements
A syntactical unit in a program. In Java a statement is either a simple statement,
a compound statement, or a block.
argument
A value supplied in a method call, or one of the values combined by an operator.
string
A sequence of characters.
compile-time error
An error that is detected when a program is compiled.
syntax errors
An instruction that does not follow the programming language rules and is rejected by the compiler. (A form of compile-time error.)
run-time error
An error in a syntactically correct program that causes it to act differently from its specification.
logic errors
An error in a syntactically correct program that causes it to act differently from its specification. (A form of run-time error.)
exception
A class that signals a condition that prevents the program from continuing normally. When such a condition occurs, an object of the exception class is thrown.
algorithm
An unambiguous, executable, and terminating specification of a way to solve a problem.
