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Term
Abstraction
Definition
Whatistherightlevelforthinkingaboutaparticularproblem, howtocommunicatecomplexideassimplyandhowto decomposeproblemslogically. Adescriptionofaprocessapartfromanyprogramming language. Asequenceofsteps,independentofanyprogramminglanguage thatsolvesomeproblem. Anorderedsetofdatavaluesofthesamedatatype,grouped togetherandreferredtobyasingleidentier.
Algorithm
Array
Assignment
Anoperationthatassignsavaluetoavariable.
Automation
Howtoautomateanalgorithm.
Binary
Anumbersystemthatusestwodigits,0and1.
Binaryle
Containsmostlyunprintablecharacters.
Bit
Abinarydigit(itcanbe0or1).
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Black-box testing
(functionaltesting)
Itiscarriedoutwithoutlookingattheprogramcode.
Booleandata
Canbeoneoftwopossiblevalues,TrueorFalse.
Boolean expression
ReturnsTrueorFalse.
Boolean operators
NOT,AND,OR.
Usedtochallengeassumptions,establishfactsandrulesand denetheboundariesofproblemsolving.
Byte
Agroupof8bits.
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Character
Anyletter,numeralorsymbolinthegivencharacterset,suchas theASCIIcharacterset.
Colourdepth
Thenumberofbitsusedtorepresentthecolourofasinglepixel inabitmappedimage.
Compilation error
Whenaprogramdoesnotcompilebecauseofsyntaxerrorsor lexicalerrors.
Compiler
Aprogramthattranslatessourcecodeintoexecutableobject code.
Computability
Whatcanandcannotbecomputed.
Computing machine
Anymachinethatperformedtheworkofahumancomputer.
Console application
Aprogramthatrunsinatext-basedwindowintowhichtheuser typesandwhichdisplaystextoutputfromthecomputer.
Constant
Avaluethatdoesnotchangethroughouttheprogram.
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CSVle
(Comma-separated valuesle)
Atextlewithonerecordperlineandtheeldsofeachrecord separatedbycommas.
Data compression Data compression (Lossy compression) Data compression (Run-length encoding)
Squeezesdataintoasmallernumberofbytesthanthedata wouldoccupyifuncompressed.
Lossycompressionmethodsdiscardinformationwhichisnot consideredimportant.
Asimplecompressiontechniquethattakesaccountofthefact thatsomeimageshavelongrunsofpixelsofthesamecolour.
Decisiontable
Atablethatshowstheoutcomeforagivenlogicalcondition.
Denarynumber system
Anumbersystemthatusesthedigits0to9.
Dry-runtesting
Testanalgorithmorprogramcodewithouttheuseofa computer.
Enumerated type
Anorderedsetofvalues.
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Evidenceof testing
Somethingthatshowsthedataenteredandtheresultfromthe program(e.g.screenshot).
Exception handling
Field
Avariablethatispartofarecord.
Finitestate machine
Flowchart
Adiagramthatshowsthesequenceofoperationstosolvea problem.
Function
Aroutinethatiscalledaspartofanexpressionandreturnsa value.
GIGO
(garbageingarbage out)
Theprogramcannotpossiblyproducethecorrectresultsifthe inputisinvalid.
Globalvariable
Avariabledeclaredatthebeginningoftheprogramand accessiblefromanywhereintheprogram.
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Hexadecimal numbersystem
Anumbersystemthatusesthedigit0to9andthelettersAto F.
Identier
Auniquenamegiventoavariable,aprocedure,afunction,etc.
Integer
Awholenumber.
Integerdivision
Returnsonlythewholenumberpartofadivision.
Linearsearch
Findingaparticularelementinanunorderedlist. Scanningeachelementofthelistinasequentialmanner.
Localvariables
Avariabledeclaredinaprogramblockandaccessibleonlywithin theprogramblock.
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Logicerror
Whentheprogrammerhasmadeamistakeandtheprogram outputisincorrect.
Manualsystem
Asystemthatdoesnotinvolvecomputers.
Pixel
Thesmallestaddressableareaorsmallestsolidblockofcolourin animage.
Problem
Asituationwhereitisnotimmediatelyobvioushowtoreachthe goal.
Problem(Given) Aninitialsituation.
Problem(Goal)
Adesiredoutcome(targetsituation).
Problem (Resources)
Thingscanbeusedtoreachthegoalandimposeconstraints.
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Program
Adescriptioninaprogramminglanguageofaprocessthat achievessomeresultthatisuseful.
Realnumber
Anumberwithadecimalpointandafractionalpart.
Record
Adatastructurethatgroupsanumberofvariables.
Repetitionor iteration
Asteporsequenceofstepsthatarerepeateduntilsome conditionissatisedorwhilesomeconditionissatised.
Resolutionofa VDUscreen
Aquantityexpressedasthenumberofpixelsperrowbythe numberofpixelspercolumn.
Resolutionofan image
Aquantityexpressedasthenumberofdots/inch/centimetre.
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Requirements specication
Asetofsystemobjectives.
Run-timeerror
Whentheprogramcrashesorgetsstuckinaloop.
Selection
Adecision-makingstep.
Sequence
Consecutivestepsorgroupsofstepsprocessedoneafter anotherintheorderthattheyarise.
Set
Acollectionofvaluesofthesameordinaltypewithnoassociated order.
Software maintenance
Updatingaprogramtocorrectfaultsorimprovefeatures.
Solution (Module)
Aself-containedentitythatresultswhenaproblemisdivided intosubproblems.Eachmodulecorrespondstoasubproblem.
Theprocessofbreakingaproblemdownthroughsuccessive stepsintosmallerproblems.
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(Conqueror functional decomposition))
Breaksaproblemintosmallerproblemsthatareeasiertowork on.
Sound (ADC)
Analogue-to-digitalconvertor Convertsananaloguesignalintoanequivalentdigitalsignal.
Sound (DAC)
Digtal-to-anlogueconvertor. Convertsadigitalsignalintoanequivalentsignal.
Sound (Digitaldata)
Datathattakestheformofdiscretevalues.
Sound (MIDI)
MusicalInformationDigitalInterface. Awayofrepresentingthesoundsmadebyaninstrument.
Sampleatafrequencyatleasttwicetherateofthehighest frequencyinthesampledsignal.
Sound (PCM)
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Aprocessthatsamplesanaloguesignalsatregulartimeintervals originalsignal'samplitudeattheinstantofsampling.
(Pulseamplitude andproduceselectricalpulsesofheightproportionaltothe
Thedierencebetweentheoriginalamplitudeanditssampled value.
Usedigitalmeanstogenerateaudiosignalsresembling instrumentsoundsorthehumanvoice.
Sound (Analoguedata)
Datathatvariesinacontinuousmanner.
Sound (Digitalsignal)
String
Asequenceofzeroormorecharacters.
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Structurechart
Ahierarchychartwithinterfacesandcontrolinformation.
Structuretable
Anindented,numberedlistofstepsproducedbystepwise renement.
Structured English
AveryrestrictedsubsetoftheEnglishlanguage.
System
Awholecomposedofpartsinorderlyarrangement.
Systemsanalysis Thestudyofacomplexprocessinordertoimproveitseciency.
Testdata (Erroneousdata)
Valuewhichisnotabletopassthevalidationcheck.
Testdata
Aboundaryvalueisavaluewheretheprocessingisdierentfor
(Boundarydata) valuesbelowandabovethisvalue.
Testdata (Normaldata)
Largenumberofvaluesexceptboundaryanderroneousdata.
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Testplan
Alistofplannedtestswiththeirdataorreferringtoasetoftest data.
Textle
Itconsistsofasequenceofprintablecharactersorganisedinto lines,eachofwhichisterminatedbyanend-of-linemarker.
Two's complement
Asystemforrepresentingnegativenumbers.
Validationcheck
Acheckmadebyaprogramtoseethatthedataenteredis reasonable.
Validationcheck (Formatcheck)
Aformatcheckcanensurethecodeconformstocertainrules.
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Validationcheck (Rangecheck)
Thevalueenteredmustbewithinacertainrange.
Validationcheck (Typecheck)
Ensuretheuserisenteringtheexpectedtypeofdata.
Variable
Alocationinmemorythatcontainsoneormoredatavalues.
VariableRole (Fixedvalue)
Avariableinitialisedwithoutanycalculationandnotchanged thereafter.
VariableRole (Follower)
Avariablethatgetsitsnewvaluefromtheoldvalueofsome otherdataitem.
VariableRole (Gatherer)
Avariableaccumulatingtheeectofindividualvalues.
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Avariableholdingthemostappropriatevalueencounteredso far.
VariableRole (Stepper)
Avariablesteppingthroughasystematic,predictablesuccession ofvalues.
VariableRole (Temporary)
Avariableholdingsomevalueforashorttimeonly.
VariableRole
Avariablethatalwaysgetitsnewvaluefromaxedcalculation
(Transformation) ofvaluesofothervariables.
Vectorgraphic
Recordsgeometricandotherinformationabouttheobjectsthat makeupanimage.
Vectorgraphic (Drawinglist)
Thelistofdrawingcommandsthatrecreateavectorgraphic.
Vectorgraphic (Object)
Acomponentofavectorgraphic(suchasaline,arectangleora circle).
Vectorgraphic (Property)
Propertyofavectorgraphicobjectdescribesthingssuchasthe size,direction,thickness,shading,fontsizeortypeface.
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White-box testing
(structuraltesting)
Testsaredevisedtocheckeachpossiblepaththroughthe programcode.
Word
Agroupofbytes.
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