General Programming terminology

Question 1

program

Answer 1

a set of instructions for a computer to carry out

Question 2

application software

Answer 2

program designed to instruct computer to carry out tasks for a user

Question 3

system software

Answer 3

a program that manages the computer itself

Question 4

syntax

Answer 4

rules that govern how characters in commands are formatted

Question 5

command

Answer 5

the expression of a single instruction formatted to the requirements of the language the program it is written in

Question 6

keywords

Answer 6

the lexicon specific to a given programming language

Question 7

compiler/interpreter

Answer 7

translates commands for program written in a higher-level language into language interpretable by the computer (machine language)

• compiler: translates entire program before executing it
• interpreter: translates and executes one command at a time

Question 8

syntax error (bug)

Answer 8

error due to the character configuration of commands being in the wrong format to be decipherable by a compiler/interpreter

• generates an error message

Question 9

debugging

Answer 9

the process of removing bugs from a programming

Question 10

logic (semantic) error

Answer 10

causes and undesired output but does not violate syntax

• will not generate error message
• observed from undesired output

Question 11

convention

Answer 11

common agreed upon character representations in commands that don’t impact the compiling/interpretation of those commands; more for user readability than machine readability