CS 1301: Exam Vocabulary

1) Evaluate - To calculate the value of an expression/To simplify an expression by

performing the operations in order to yield a single value.
2) Iteration - To repeatedly execute a block of code/ Repeated executation of a set of
statements.
3) Modulo - % operator, that calculates the remainder of an integer division.
4) Proprioception - on a robot, internal sensing mechanisms. On a human, a sense of the
relative positions of different parts of ones own body. On your scribbler, getName, time
and battery voltage are examples of internal sensors.
5) Semantic error - An error that makes a program behave differently than intended by the
programmer, but does not actually generate a syntax or runtime error/ An error (in code)
that leads to unexpected behavior. The program functions correctly (does what the code
says) but the code does not actually perform the action that the programmer intended.
6) Type conversion - Deliberately changing the type of a value, using a function such as
int(), str(), or float().
7) Keyword - A reserved word that is used by the compiler to parse program; you cannot
use keywords (such as if, def, and while) as variable names
8) Runtime error - An error raised by the python runtime while the program is executing if
something goes wrong. For example, a divide by zero error
9) Parameter - A name used inside a function to refer to the value passed as an argument.
10) Boolean expression - A python statement that evaluates to either True or False. Typically
contains a comparison operator ( , <=, >=, ==, !=) and may contain boolean operators
such as AND, OR, or NOT.
11) Block - One or more program statements that share the same level of indentation
12) Float - A Python data type which stores floating-point numbers. Unlike INTs, floating
point numbers have a fractional component (value after the decimal place).
13) Nested loop - A loop inside the body of another loop.
14) Syntax error - An error in a program that makes it impossible to parse and therefore
impossible to interpret.
15) Algorithm - A finite set of unambiguous instructions performed in a prescribed sequence
to achieve a goal.
16) Conditional statement - A statement that controls the flow of execution depending on
some condition. In Python the keywords if, elif, and else are used for conditional
statements.

17) High level language - A programming language (such as Python) that is designed to be
easy for humans to read and write, while still being unambiguous so that a computer can
translate it into object code.
18) Low-level language -A programming language that is designed to be easy for a computer
to translate or execute; for example: assembly language.
19) None - A special Python value (of type NoneType) that represents a null or no result.
Functions that do not specify a return value automatically return None.
20) Argument - A value provided to a function when the function is called. This value is
assigned to the corresponding parameter in the function.
21) Local variable - A local variable is a variable that can only be seen (is visible) within the
function that defined it. Once the function returns, the local variable is lost.
22) Increment - The process of increasing a variable, typically by one. aVar = aVar + 1
23) Str (String) - In python, an immutable compound data type (specifically, a sequence)
made up of characters. Strings in python can be enclosed in single or double quotes.
24) Natural languages - the languages that people speak, such as English, Spanish, and
French. They were not designed by people (although people try to impose some order on
them); they evolved naturally.
25) Formal languages - languages that are designed by people for specific applications. For
example, the notation that mathematicians use is a formal language that is particularly good
at denoting relationships among numbers and symbols. Chemists use a formal language to
represent the chemical structure of molecules. And most importantly:
26) Interpret - To execute a program in a high-level language by translating it one line at a
time.
27) Compile - To translate a program written in a high-level language into a low-level
language all at once, in preparation for later execution.
28) Source code- A program in a high-level language before being compiled
29) Object code - The output of the compiler after it translates the program.
30) Program - A set of instructions that specifies a computation.
31) Bug an error in a program
32) Token - One of the basic elements of the syntactic structure of a program, analogous to a
word in a natural language.
33) Parse - To examine a program and analyze the syntactic structure.
34) Debugging the process of finding and removing any of the three kinds of programming
errors.
35) Exception another name for runtime error. Can be handled with try and except.
36) Portability - A property of a program that can run on more than one kind of computer.

37) Statement - an instruction that the Python interpreter can execute. So far we have only
seen the assignment statement, but we will soon meet the import statement and
the for statement.
38) Composition - The ability to combine simple expressions and statements into compound
statements and expressions in order to represent complex computations concisely.
39) Assignment token = sign
40) State snapshot - A graphical representation of a set of variables and the values to which
they refer, taken at a particular instant during the programs execution
41) Compound Statement- A statement that consists of two parts:
Header - which begins with a keyword determining the statement type, and ends with a
colon.
Body - containing one or more statements indented the same amount from the header.
42) Body - The second part of a compound statement. The body consists of a sequence of
statements all indented the same amount from the beginning of the header. The standard
amount of indentation used within the Python community is 4 spaces.
43) Function - A named sequence of statements that performs some useful operation.
Functions may or may not take parameters and may or may not produce a result.
44) Function call - A statement that executes a function. It consists of the name of the function
followed by a list of arguments enclosed in parentheses.
45) Function definition - A statement that creates a new function, specifying its name,
parameters, and the statements it executes.
46) Fruitful function A function that returns a value when called
47) Void function- A function that does not return a value
48) Function composition - Using the output from one function call as the input to another.
49) Logical operator and, or, not. Combines Boolean expressions.
50) Nesting - one program structure within another
51) Return value - The value provided as the result of a function call.
52) Counter - A variable used to count something, usually initialized to zero and incremented
in the body of a loop.
53) Infinite loop - A loop in which the terminating condition is never satisfied.
54) Loop - The construct that allows allows us to repeatedly execute a statement or a group of
statements until a terminating condition is satisfied.
55) Flow of execution The order in which statements are executed when a program runs.
Function calls, return statements, conditionals and loops all modify the standard top to
bottom flow of execution.

56) Global variables- variables which can be seen throughout the program- even inside
functions. Usually defined outside functions
57) Immutable - data which cannot be modified (like Strings and Tuples in Python)
58) Mutable- A data value which can be modified. All mutable types are compound types.
Lists are mutable data types; strings are not.
59) Operator - A special symbol that represents a simple computation like addition,
multiplication, or string concatenation.
60) Robot - A machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically.
Guided by automated Control i.e. any mechanism that is guided by automated control.
61) Slice - A subsequence copied from a sequence specified by a range of indices. The slice
operator is: sequence [start:stop].
62) Traverse - To iterate through the elements of a collection, performing a similar operation
on each.
63) Variable - A name that refers to a value.
64) Dictionary - A mutable compound data type that associates keys with values.
65) Decrement - The process of decreasing a variable, typically by one. aVar = aVar 1
66) Recursion - The process of calling the function that is currently executing.
67) Compound Data Type - A data type that can hold primitive data types, such as a list,
tuple, or dictionary.
68) Sequence - Any of the data types that consist of an ordered set of elements, such as
strings, lists or tuples.
69) Pixel - An image (when stored in a computer) is made up of tiny elements called Pixels.
Each pixel contains color information (Red, Green and Blue) values for a small point in
the image, and is located at a specific X/Y location within the overall image.
i.e. Small elements that make up an image. Contain color information.
70) Tuple - An immutable data value that contains related elements. Tuples are used to group
together related data, such as a persons name, their age, and their gender.
71) Index - A variable or value used to select a member of an ordered collection, such as a
character from a string, or an element from a list.
72) Whitespace - Any of the characters that move the cursor without printing visible characters.
The constant string.whitespace contains all the white-space characters.
73) Aliases - Multiple variables that contain references to the same object.

74) Clone - To create a new object that has the same value as an existing object. Copying a
reference to an object creates an alias but doesnt clone the object.
75) List - A collection of values, each in a fixed position within the list. Like other
types str, int, float, etc. there is also a list type-converter function that tries to turn whatever
argument you give it into a list.
76) Delimiter - A character or string used to indicate where a string should be split.
77) Volatile Memory - The main memory or RAM of a computer is volatile. Information stored
in RAM is lost when the computer is turned off. Non- Volatile is the opposite.
78) Handle - An object in our program that is connected to an underlying resource (e.g. a file).
The file handle lets our program manipulate/read/write/close the actual file that is on our disk.