2.2 Problem solving and programming

IDE

Program which provides a set of tools for programmers to write develop and debug code.

Performance modelling

Mathematical methods used to test various loads on different operating systems.

Recursion

Subroutine calls itself and has a stopping condition.
+
Less lines of code
Easier to make
-
Risk of stack overflow
Difficult to trace

Local variables

Have local scope within the subroutine they were defined in.

Global variables

Can be accessed across the whole program.

Passing by value

A copy of the value is passed to the subroutine and discarded at the end.

Passing by reference

Address of parameter is given to the subroutine and the value will be updated.

OOP

Classes are templates for an object they have attributes and methods.

Encapsulation

Where attributes cannot be directly edited need get/set methods.

Object

A instance of a class.

Divide and conquer

Splits problem down into single sub-problems, solves them all and then merges them all together to make the solution.

Backtracking

Methodically builds a solution based on visited paths found to be correct.

Data mining

Large sets of data collected from a variety of sources which is used to spot trends to make predictions about the future, is often used in business marketing.

Heuristics

Used to find an approximate solution when the standard solution takes too long to find. Not perfectly accurate.

Pipelining

Where different tasks are being developed in parallel.

Visulisation

Making data easier to understand.