ENGN132 - Chapter 2

Question 1

What is a Preprocessor Directive?

Answer 1

Preprocessor Directive is a C program line beginning with # that provides an instruction to the preprocessor

e.g. #define, #include

Question 2

What is a Preprocessor?

Answer 2

A preprocessor is a System Program that modifies a C program prior to its compilation

Question 3

What is a Library?

Answer 3

A collection of useful functions and symbols that may be accessed by a program

Question 4

What is a Constant Macro?

Answer 4

A name that is replaced by a particular constant value before the program is sent to the compiler

Question 5

What is a comment?

Answer 5

Comments are text beginning with /* and ending with */ that provide supplementary information but are ignored by the preprocessor and the compiler.

// is used for a quick comment

Question 6

Define Declaration

Answer 6

The part of the program that tells the compiler the names of the memory cells in a program

Question 7

What are executable statements?

Answer 7

Executable Statements are program lines that are converted to machine language instructions by the compiler and executed by the computer

Question 8

What is a Reserved Word?

Answer 8

Reserved Words are words with special meaning in C

Question 9

What is a Standard Identifier?

Answer 9

A word having special meaning but one that a programmer may redefine.

Redefinition of Std. Identifiers is not recommended

Question 10

What is a Variable?

Answer 10

A variable is a name associated with a memory cell whose value can change

Question 11

What is a Variable Declaration?

Answer 11

Statements that communicate to the compiler the names of variables in the program and the kind of information stored in each variable.

Question 12

Define Data Types

Answer 12

Data Types are a set of values and operations that can be performed on those values.

Question 13

What is an ASCII code?

Answer 13

A particular code that specifies the integer representing each “char” value

Question 14

Define Assignment Statements

Answer 14

Instructions that store values or a computational result in a variable.

Question 15

What is an Input Operation?

Answer 15

An instruction that copies data from an input device into memory

Question 16

What is an Output Operation?

Answer 16

An instruction that displays information stored in memory.

Question 17

What is an Input/Output Function?

Answer 17

A C function that performs an input or output operation.

Question 18

Define Function Call

Answer 18

Calling or Activating a Function

Question 19

Define Function Argument

Answer 19

Enclosed in Parentheses following the function name; provides information required by the function.

Question 20

What is a Format String?

Answer 20

In a call to “printf”, a string of characters enclosed in quotes ( “” ), which specifies the form of the output line

Question 21

What is a print list?

Answer 21

Print lists occur in a call to “printf”, the variables or expressions whose values are displayed

Question 22

What is a Placeholder?

Answer 22

A symbol beginning with % in a format string that indicates where to display the output value

Question 23

What is the ‘Newline Escape Sequence’?

Answer 23

The character sequence “\n”, which is used in a format string to terminate an output line.

Question 24

What is a Cursor?

Answer 24

A moving place marker that indicates the next position on the screen where information will be displayed.

Question 25

What is a Prompt, or a Prompting Message?

Answer 25

A message displayed to indicate what data to enter in what form.

Question 26

Define Program Documentation

Answer 26

Information (Comments) that enhances the readability to the program.

Increases Readability for Programmer, the user does not see Program Documentation/Comments

Question 27

What is a Mixed Type Expression?

Answer 27

An expression with operands of different types

Question 28

What is a Mixed Type Assignment?

Answer 28

The expression being evaluated and the variable to which it is assigned have different data types.

Question 29

Define a Type Cast

Answer 29

Converting an Expression to a different type by writing the desired type in Parentheses in front of the expression.

Question 30

Define Unary Operators

Answer 30

An operator with one operand

Question 31

Define Operand

Answer 31

A quantity on which an operation is to be done.

Question 32

Define Binary Operator

Answer 32

An operator containing two operands

Question 33

What is a Representational Error?

Answer 33

An error due to coding a real number as a finite number of binary digits.

Question 34

What is a Cancellation Error?

Answer 34

An error resulting from applying an arithmetic operation to operands of vastly different magnitudes; effect of the smaller operand is lost

Question 35

What is Arithmetic Underflow?

Answer 35

An error in which a very small computational result is represented as zero

Question 36

What is Arithmetic Overflow?

Answer 36

An error that is an attempt to represent a computational result that is too large

Question 37

Define Field Width

Answer 37

The number of Columns used to display a value

Question 38

Define Interactive Mode

Answer 38

A mode of program execution in which the user responds to prompts by entering (typing in) data

Question 39

Define Batch Mode

Answer 39

A mode of program execution in which the program scans its data from a previously prepared data file

Question 40

What is Debugging?

Answer 40

Removing Errors from a Program

Question 41

What is a Syntax Error?

Answer 41

A violation of the C grammar rules, detected during program compilation (translation from programmer language to machine language)

Question 42

What is a Run-time Error?

Answer 42

An attempt to form an invalid operation, detected during program execution

Question 43

What is a Logic Error?

Answer 43

An error caused by following an incorrect algorithm