Terminology / Vocabulary

Design (a program)

Develop a plan for how to accomplish the program specification or requirements. 

Implement/Write (code)

Recognize and use proper syntax to execute the program design.

Capture

Select a portion of program code that addresses the prompt(s).

Demonstrate

Provide sufficient evidence for an answer or point being made.

Consider

Reference your code in the PPR.

Explain

Provide information about how or why a relationship, situation, or outcome occurs, listing detailed steps of the algorithm or using evidence and/or reasoning.

Input

Program input is data that are sent to a computer for processing by a program. Input can come in a variety of forms, such as tactile (through touch), audible, visual, or text. An event is associated with an action and supplies input data to a program.

TClark hint: i.e. how a user interacts with your program.

Output

Program output is any data that are sent from a program to a device. Program output can come in a variety of forms, such as tactile, audible, visual, movement, or text. 

TClark hint: what happens in response to user input.

Purpose

The problem being solved or creative interest being pursued through the program.

Program functionality

The behavior of a program during execution and is often described by how a user interacts with it.

List

A list is an ordered sequence of elements. The use of lists allows multiple related items to be represented using a single variable. Lists are referred to by different terms, such as arrays or arraylists, depending on the programming language.

Data has been stored in this list

Input into the list can be through an initialization or through some computation on other variables or list elements. 

List being used

Using a list means the program is creating new data from existing data or accessing multiple elements in the list.

Collection Type

Aggregates elements in a single structure. Some examples include: databases, hash tables, dictionaries, sets, or any other type that aggregates elements in a single structure. 

(TClark hint: a CMU Group is considered a collection type)

Data Abstraction

The data abstraction must make the program easier to develop (alternatives would be more complex) or easier to maintain (future changes to the size of the list would otherwise require significant modifications to the program code).

Procedure

A procedure is a named group of programming instructions that may have parameters and return values. Procedures are referred to by different names, such as method, function, or constructor, depending on the programming language. 

Student-developed procedure / algorithm

Program code that is student developed has been written (individually or collaboratively) by the student who submitted the response. Calls to existing program code or libraries can be included but are not considered student developed. Event handlers are built in abstractions in some languages and will therefore not be considered student-developed. In some block-based programming languages, event handlers begin with "when."

Built-in or existing procedures and language structures, such as event handlers and main methods, are not considered student developed. 

Parameter

A parameter is an input variable of a procedure.

Explicit parameters are defined in the procedure header.

Implicit parameters are those that are assigned in anticipation of a call to the procedure. For example, an implicit parameter can be set through interaction with a graphical user interface.

Argument(s)

The value(s) of the parameter(s) when a procedure is called.

Algorithm

An algorithm is a finite set of instructions that accomplish a specific task. Every algorithm can be constructed using combinations of sequencing, selection, and iteration.

Sequencing

The application of each step of an algorithm in the order in which the code statements are given.

Selection

Selection determines which parts of an algorithm are executed based on a condition being true or false.

Note: The use of try / exception statements is a form of selection statements.

Iteration

Iteration is a repetitive portion of an algorithm. Iteration repeats until a given condition is met or for a specified number of times. The use of recursion is a form of iteration. 

Conditional Statements

Conditional statements or "if-statements," affect the sequential flow of control by executing different statements based on the value of a Boolean expression.

Boolean Expression

A relational operation (=, ≠, >, <, ≥, ≤), and/or a logical operation (NOT, AND, OR) which results in a Boolean value (True/False).

• 3 < 5 will result in False

• 7 ≥ 10 OR 5 ≤ 5 will result in True

Syntax Error

A mistake in the program where the rules of the programming language are not followed.

TClark hint - program does not start

For example: missing parenthesis, incorrect indentation, misspelling name of function calls

Run-time Error

A mistake in the program that occurs during the execution of a program. Programming languages define their own runtime errors. 

TClark hint - program crashes

For example: divide by 0, accessing out-of-bounds index of a list, stack overflow or other memory problem

Logic Error

A mistake in the algorithm or program that causes it to behave incorrectly or unexpectedly. 

TClark hint - program gets wrong solution

For example: printing the sum when it should print the product, moving left when the right key is pressed, turns blue when it should be red, infinite loop

Overflow Error

An error that occurs when a computer attempts to handle a number that is outside of the defined range of values.

TClark hint - program gets wacky wrong numbers

For example: it should be a huge number, but it is now negative or a small number