Introduction to Computer Science Flashcards
What is Analog data?
Data represented in a continuous and variable form.
What is ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)?
A standard encoding system for text characters that use numeric values to represent letters, numbers, and symbols.
What is bandwidth?
The maximum rate of data transfer across a network, usually measured in bits per second.
What is binary?
A numerical system that uses only two digits—0 and 1—to represent data in computing.
What is a Boolean expression?
A logical statement that can be either true or false, using operators like AND, OR, and NOT.
What is a character?
A single letter, digit, or symbol used in text.
What is a character set?
A collection of characters a computer can recognize, such as ASCII or Unicode.
What is compression ratio?
The ratio of the original data size to the compressed data size.
What is a control structure?
A programming construct that controls the flow of execution (e.g., loops and conditionals).
What is data?
Raw facts and figures that can be processed into information.
What is data compression?
Reducing the size of data to save space or transmission time.
What are data types?
Categories defining the kind of value that can be stored, such as int, float, or string.
What is a declaration?
A statement that specifies the name and type of a variable or function.
What is digital data?
Data represented using discrete binary values (0s and 1s).
What is floating point?
A format for representing real numbers with fractional parts using a base and exponent.
What is Huffman encoding?
A compression technique using variable-length codes based on data frequency.
What is information?
Data that has been processed or organized meaningfully.
What is an integer?
A whole number without a fractional part.
What is keyword encoding?
Compression by replacing frequent patterns with shorter codes.
What is lossless compression?
A method that allows original data to be perfectly reconstructed.
What is lossy compression?
A method that removes some data permanently to reduce file size.
What does numeric mean?
Any value that is a number.
What is overflow?
A condition where a value exceeds the max limit of the storage format.
What is pulse-code modulation (PCM)?
A method for digitally representing analog signals.
What is a radix point?
A point that separates the integer and fractional parts of a number (like a decimal point).
What is a real number?
A number with a fractional part; also known as a floating-point number.
What is reclocking?
Refreshing digital signals’ timing to maintain accuracy.
What is run-length encoding?
A compression technique replacing repeated characters with one character and a count.
What is scientific notation?
A way of writing very large or small numbers using powers of 10.
What is signed-magnitude representation?
A binary format where one bit represents the sign and the rest the magnitude.
What is a string?
A sequence of characters treated as one unit in programming.
What is strong typing?
A feature requiring explicit type declaration to reduce errors.
What is ten’s complement?
A way to represent negative numbers in decimal systems.
What are alphanumeric values?
Characters including both letters and numbers.
What is an assignment operator?
A symbol (typically =) used to assign a value to a variable.
What is an assignment statement?
A line of code that assigns a value to a variable, e.g., x = 5.
What is a binary operator?
An operator that uses two operands, like +, -, *, or /.
What is camel casing?
A naming style with the first word lowercase and subsequent words capitalized (e.g., myVariableName).
What is garbage (in memory)?
Unused or leftover data no longer referenced by the program.
What is Hungarian notation?
A naming convention where the variable name starts with a prefix indicating type (e.g., strName).
What is an identifier?
The name given to a variable, function, or object in code.
What does it mean to initialize a variable?
To assign it an initial value during declaration.
What is kebab case?
A lowercase naming style with hyphens between words (e.g., my-variable-name).
What is a keyword (reserved word)?
A word with special meaning in a language that can’t be used as an identifier (e.g., if, while).
What is an lvalue?
A variable or location that can appear on the left-hand side of an assignment.
What is mixed case with underscores?
A naming style like My_Variable_Name.
What is a numeric constant?
A fixed number used directly in code, like 42.
What is a numeric variable?
A variable that stores numeric data.
What is an operand?
A value or variable an operator acts upon.
What is Pascal casing?
Each word starts with a capital letter (e.g., MyVariableName).
What is right-to-left associativity?
When operators of the same precedence are evaluated from right to left.
What is snake casing?
Lowercase words separated by underscores (e.g., my_variable_name).
What is a string constant?
A fixed sequence of characters, like “Hello”.
What is a string variable?
A variable that holds a string (text).
What is type safety?
Ensuring variables are used according to their declared type.
What is an unnamed constant (magic number)?
A hard-coded value in code, like 3.14, without a descriptive name.
What is a variable?
A named memory location used to store and manipulate data.
What is an abstract step?
A high-level action in an algorithm, not detailing how it’s done.
What is an algorithm?
A step-by-step procedure to solve a problem.
What is a branch?
A decision point in an algorithm that leads to different outcomes.
What is an infinite loop?
A loop that never ends because its exit condition is never met.
What is input?
Data provided to a program for processing.
What is a loop control variable?
A variable that determines if a loop continues or stops.
What is a nested structure?
A control structure placed inside another (e.g., loop inside a loop).
What is output?
Data produced and returned by a program.
What is a pretest loop?
A loop that tests its condition before executing (e.g., while loop).
What is pseudocode?
A simplified version of programming logic using plain language.
What is repetition (iteration)?
Repeating instructions in a loop.
What is selection?
Choosing different actions based on conditions (e.g., if statements).
What is left-to-right associativity?
When operators of the same precedence are evaluated from left to right.
What is a magic number?
A hard-coded number without context, making code harder to maintain.
What is a named constant?
A named value that doesn’t change, like PI = 3.14.
What is overhead?
Extra resources needed beyond what a task requires (e.g., memory or processing time).
What are rules of precedence (order of operations)?
Rules determining the order in which operations are evaluated in expressions.
