Key Words Flashcards
AI
Artificial intelligence
ASCII
Pronounced ass-key. Stands for the American Standard Code for Information Interchange. It is a 7bit code for characters. For example: the letter ’x’ is represented as 1111000. Because it is only 7 bits long, an ASCII character can be stored in a byte
Algorithm
A set of instructions for accomplishing a task that when executed will terminate.
Analog
Measured in continuous values. The audio signal from a microphone is analog. A clock with hands is considered analog.
Application
A runnable program that provides some service.
Argument
One of the pieces of data provided as input to a procedure or function through the call to the procedure or function.
Assignment
This stores a value in a variable. An assignment statement has an assignment in it describing the storage of values in variables
Bandwidth
Refers to the volume of information that can be transmitted or processed. It is usually measured in bits or bytes per time unit like “bits per second”.
Binary
The base 2 number system. Integer can be encoded as binary which is a string of 0’s and 1’s. Binary is a place-value system in which each bit position denotes a power of 2 (unlike decimal which uses 10 symbols and powers of 10). k bits of information can represent 2k different numbers. For example counting in 3 bits of binary you can count from 0 to 7: 000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110, 111
Bit
A binary digit. The smallest unit of information represented by one of two states (usually 0 or 1). It is often denoted by a lower case ’b’ as in Mbs (mega-bits per second). Or the amount of information gained when answering a yes or no question.
Block
A collection of statements that can be grouped together to be treated as one statement. For instance in C and Processing statements inside parentheses are treated as one statement that is either executed together or not. Generally the only “entry” into a block of code is at the top of the code.
Boolean
A type in many programming languages that can hold either a True or a False. The name comes from the mathematician George Boole. It can also refer to the type of expression for example the type of the expression x > 6 is Boolean.
Byte
8 bits. It is often denoted by a capital B as in MB (mega-bytes).
Call
A statement in a language that starts or invokes a procedure or function.
CPU
Central Processing Unit. Where the computer instructions are executed. It usually refers to the general purpose processor that handles a range of processing tasks.
CPU Intensive
A program that spends most of its time running on the CPU with a disproportionately small amount of time waiting for data from memory.
Cache
Is memory used to speed memory access, that stores data that is anticipated to be used next or was just used and may be used again. For example: cache may exist on slow physically rotating discs to save information of data that is near to the data just accessed or to hold data without writing it to disc until it is likely not to change again.
Card
A circuit board which can be plugged into your computer motherboard.
Central processing unit
Processing unit that takes streams of bits as data and instructions and executes the instructions on the data yielding more data and possibly instructions.
Character
A single letter or symbol that is represented by a small set of bytes in the computer. See ASCII and Unicode.
Chip
A integrated electronic circuit generally with from thousands to billions of components such as transistors and capacitors that perform complex functionality such as addressable memory, CPU, I/O functions.
Clock
The internal “drummer” or heartbeat that keeps the CPU activities across the chip and across the moth- erboard in sync. Often measured in megahertz or gigahertz.
Comment
Comments are important in programs as they are nonexecuting code that explains to a reader of the code in plain text what is going on
Compile
A program for translating a program written in one language into code that can be executed.
Computer science
a) the study of process, data and computation. b) A very cool profession. (No bias here. ;-) ).
Conditional
A control structure such as an if-statement or case-statement that conditionally executes a block of code
Control structure
Code or statement that changes the order of execution for instance an if-statement conditionally executes code while a loop may perform a section of code repeatedly.
Encryption
To use a code to render data unintelligible. An encryption key is data that when supplied to an encryption program and the original data to be encrypted yields the encrypted data. A decryption key when supplied with a decryption program and encrypted data the recovers the original data. Many times these two keys are the same.
Executable
A file that can be executed by the operating system.
Expression
Is a language construct that can be used to produce a value. For example sqrt(3) or 4+7*88.
File
a single block of information allocated by an operating system for retention beyond the execution time of any program.
Floating point number
A number with a decimal in it like 3.141592653589.
Giga
A prefix for a billion, (109) as in a gigabyte or gigahertz or gigabananas (billion bananas).
GPU
Graphics Processing Unit. It is a CPU that processes instructions specifically targeted at graphics processing. It is highly parallel with hundreds to thousands of simple cores.
Graphics card
Is a circuit board containing a CPU that processes instructions specifically targeted at graphics processing. This is especially useful for games and simulation programming.
HSB or HSV
Stands for “Hue, Saturation, Brightness or Value”. It is a way of specifying a color by giving the amount of each of three contributing factors to make the color: Hue is the color in the color wheel, Saturation is the amount of color versus white, Value is how bright the color is or distance from black.
Hexadecimal
The base 16 number system (compare with binary). It is often used to express binary numbers in shorter strings than binary or octal. Counting to 20 using two hex symbols: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 0a, 0b, 0c, 0d, 0e, 0f, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.
Hex
Short for hexadecimal
High level language
A language that is NOT similar to the one that runs on the hardware and deals more complex data types and control structures than the hardware. Languages like Java, C, C++, Python…
I/O
Input/output
IDE
Integrated Development Environment. A software tool to help you write software. Examples include the open source: Eclipse and NetBeans and the proprietary Microsoft Visual Studio.
Kilo
A prefix for a thousand, as in a kilobyte.
Kilobyte
may be 1000 bytes or 210 bytes which is equal to 1024 bytes depending on situation.
Logic error
A semantic error. Note: Compiler writers may draw a subtle distinction between the two.
Machine instructions
The instructions executed by a CPU. The bit level instructions of a computer.
Mega
A prefix for a million, (106) as in a megabyte or megahertz.
Memory
Addressable storage for storage and retrieval of bytes of data. The term memory generally refers to the memory that is off CPU. See the terms Cache and RAM.
Nano
a) a prefix for a billionth, as in a nanosecond or a nanometer. b) a very small thing like nanotechnology.
Nanosecond
a billionth of a second. Light travels about a foot in a vacuum in a nanosecond
OS
Operating system
Octal
The base 8 number system (compare with binary). It is often used to express binary numbers in shorter strings. Counting to 10 using two octal symbols: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 10, 11, 12.
Operating System
The program that runs on the computer hardware creating information objects such as files and processes and assures the fair and secure allocation of processor time, access to files, access to devices, and other resources. Accounts and access control of data is commonly provided giving privacy/security
Pc
Personal Computer or sometimes stands for a Personal Computer running the Windows operating system
Packet
A unit of information into which data is broken up for transmission in a network or by other means. For example a stream or file of data would be broken up into packets and sent separately across the internet.
Peripheral
A physical device used by a computer that is not part of the physical box containing CPU and memory. A printer is an example.
PETA
A prefix for a quadrillion (1015) as in a petabyte.
Port
A physical socket on a computer for attaching the computer to external devices such as a printer or a router.
Powers of Two
A number that is the product of two multiplied together many times. The kth power of two is denoted 2k. Powers of two are very important in computing because k bits can be used to number 2k things in binary. The first few powers of two are: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096.
Program
An implementation of an algorithm
Protocol
A standard for communication between pieces of hardware or between pieces of software that allows information and/or commands to be exchanged.
RAM
Random Access Memory. Generally refers to the memory that is not in the CPU and not a disk. In general it is volatile and anything in it is lost when the computer is turned off. It’s used to temporarily store current instructions and data during execution amongst other things
Router
A networking device that forwards data packets between computer networks and may also be used to connect computers to a network.
Syntax
The grammar for a language or the rules to decide if a statement is in the language but not the meaning.
Syntax error
Creating a illegal program in the language by making an error such as a typo, insertion, deletion, or misuse of an element of the language. E.g. leaving off a trailing semicolon in Processing or misspelling a key word.
Tera
A prefix for a trillion (1012) as in a terabyte.
Text
a) just the set of bits that represents a stream of symbols in a language. It does not include any formatting
information such as font or color. b) any representation of a set of symbols. c) text encoded in ASCII
Thread
A thread is a “lightweight” subunit of execution of a process that can run in parallel with other threads in the process. It is a way to have parts of a process run simultaneously.
Time sharing
Fairly splitting up time between running processes
Type
The kind of data that can be stored or referred to and has a specific set of operations that apply to it such as addition is an operation that is used on integers. Popular types are int, float, boolean. Processing supports types like color and string as well.
Unicode
A method for encoding a string of symbols as bits. This set of schemes can be used to represent nearly any symbol including Chinese. However, Klingon (plqaD) is not currently in the standard. However: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConScript Unicode Registry.
