AP CSP Units 1-4 (Semester 1) Vocabulary 2023

Bit

(short for binary digit) is the smallest unit of data in a computer - it has a single binary value, either 0 or 1

Byte

a unit of data that is eight binary digits long - they are often used to represent a character such as a letter, number, space

Binary

a numbering scheme in which there are only two possible values for each digit: 0 and 1.

Algorithm

a complete, well-defined sequence of steps for completing a task or solving a problem

Program

a sequence of instructions or steps, written in a language that can be understood by a computer, that will be used by the computer to complete a task or solve a problem

Blocks

Puzzle-piece shapes that are used to create code in Snap!.

Scripts

Different types of blocks linked together.

Sprites

An object in Snap! which performs functions controlled by scripts.

Stage

The background of a project, performs functions through scripting.

Logic error

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

Tracing

hand simulating the execution of program code in order to manually verify that it works correctly

Debugging

the process of identifying and removing errors from computer hardware or software

ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a character encoding standard for electronic communication

Overflow Error

an error that occurs when calculated data cannot fit within the designated field.

Roundoff Error

error that is produced when a computer is used to perform real number calculations because many real numbers can not be represented exactly on a computer.

Underflow Error

occurs in a computer or similar device when a mathematical operation results in a number which is smaller than what the device is capable of storing.

pixel

a minute area of illumination on a display screen, one of many from which an image is composed.

RGB

(red, green, and blue) refers to a system for representing the colors to be used on a computer display. Red, green, and blue can be combined in various proportions to obtain any color in the visible spectrum.

Heuristic

a problem solving approach (algorithm) to find a satisfactory solution where finding an optimal or exact solution is impractical or impossible.

Lossless Compression

a data compression algorithm that allows the original data to be perfectly reconstructed from the compressed data.

Lossy Compression

a data encoding and compression technique that deliberately discards some data in the compression process

Creative Commons

public copyright license that enables the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work. This is used when the content creator wants to give others to right to share, use and build upon the work they have created;

open source

programs that are made freely available and may be redistributed and modified;

open access

online research output free of any and all restrictions on access and free of many restrictions on use, such as copyright or license restrictions

Abstraction

a programmer hides all but the relevant data about an object in order to reduce complexity and increase efficiency

Iteration

a process wherein a set of instructions or structures are repeated in a sequence a specified number of times or until a condition is met

TCP/IP

Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, a suite of communication protocols used to interconnect network devices on the internet

HTTP

hypertext transfer protocol, the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web and this protocol defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands

Computing Device

a machine that can run a program, including computers, tablets, servers, routers, and smart sensors

Computing System

a group of computing devices and programs working together for a common purpose

Computing Network

a group of interconnected computing devices capable of sending or receiving data.

Path

the series of connections between computing devices on a network starting with a sender and ending with a receiver.

Bandwidth

the maximum amount of data that can be sent in a fixed amount of time, usually measured in bits per second.

URL

uniform resource locator

Redundant

There are multiple pathways among the physical connections of the Internet to create redundancy. Even if one pathway is unavailable, there is still another way to transmit a message from sender to receiver (as shown right).

Hierarchical

There are two hierarchical Internet addressing systems, domain names (as shown below) and IP addresses. These address hierarchies work much like the postal system, which locates people first by state, then city, then street, then house number, then apartment, and then finally person.

Protocol

An agreed-upon set of rules that specify the behavior of some system

IP Address

The unique number assigned to each device on the Internet.

Internet Protocol (IP)

a protocol for sending data across the Internet that assigns unique numbers (IP addresses) to each connected device

Fault-tolerance

the property that enables a system to continue operating properly in the event of the failure of (or one or more faults within) some of its components

Router

a device that forwards data packets along networks. It is connected to at least two networks, commonly two LANs or WANs or a LAN and its ISP's network. They are located at gateways, the places where two or more networks connect

Data stream

a sequence of digitally encoded coherent signals used in a transmission

Packet

a small amount of data sent over a network, such as a LAN or the Internet

Packet Metadata

the information about the packet is stored in the header

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)

a standard that defines how to establish and maintain a network conversation through which application programs can exchange data

User Datagram Protocol (UDP)

is used to send short messages called datagrams but overall, it is an unreliable, connectionless protocol

Scalability

the capacity for the system to change in size and scale to meet new demands

The Domain Name System (DNS)

the system responsible for translating domain names like example.com into IP addresses

World Wide Web

a system of linked pages, programs, and files

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

a protocol for computers to request and share the pages that make up the world wide web on the Internet

Digital Divide

differing access to computing devices and the Internet, based on socioeconomic, geographic, or demographic characteristics.

index

Identifies a value's unique position on a list. In SNAP and on the AP CSP exam the first item on the list is stored at index 1.

element

One data point that is stored in a list. It is a single part of a larger group.

list

data structure that stores one or more similar types of values in a single value. A collection of individual values that are related.

Traversing (a list)

performing the same operation on each item of the list, sequentially

append

add an element to the end of a list

remove/delete

remove an element from a list

insert

add an element to a list at a certain index

replace

update the contents of an element

for each loop

control structure designed to iterate over each element of a list and repeat the same operation on each element

Loop

The action of doing something over and over again

linear search

An algorithm that iterates through each item in a list until it finds the target value.

Sequential search

synonym for linear search

return statement

terminates the execution of a procedure and returns to the calling procedure. May or may not return a value. Execution resumes in the calling procedure at the point immediately following the call.

Temporary variable

has a short lifetime, usually to hold data that will soon be discarded, or before it can be placed at a more permanent memory location.

Binary Search

An algorithm that searches a sorted list for a value by repeatedly splitting the list in half

Algorithmic Efficiency

a measure of execution time and memory usage while still yielding a correct answer.

Array

A type of list or data structure that stores a collection of data

Undecidable problem

a problem that may have some instances that have an algorithmic solution, but there is no algorithmic solution that could solve all instances of the problem.

Decidable problem

a decision problem for which an algorithm can be written to produce a correct output for all inputs

Library

A software library contains existing procedures that may be used in creating new programs

API

Application Program Interfaces (API) provide details or specifications on how the procedures behave and can be used

Expression

a combination of operators and values that evaluates to a single value.

Variable

an abstraction inside the program that can hold a value. Each variable has associated data storage that represents one value at a time.

Assignment operator

allows a program to change the value represented by a variable.

Increment

add one to a number

Assignment

storing or updating a value in a named variable

Polygon

a geometric shape where all sides are of an equal length and all angles have equivalent values

Statement

a line of executable code

Sequential

execution of an algorithm or program, step by step, from top to bottom, where one line of code finishes before the one below it begins. One of the 3 fundamental algorithms or programming structures.

Operators

are used to script math equations and string handling

Pseudocode

a high level textual algorithm written in informative text that mimics a programming language but cannot be executed by a computer.

Debug

to identify and remove errors from a computer program or code

High-Level Programming Language

a programming language that is easier to use, may incorporate natural language and hide or automate some processes. High-level of abstraction.

Natural Language

language that is spoken and understood by humans but cannot be processed by the computer. (i.e. English)

Machine Language

is a collection of binary digits or bits that the computer reads and interprets. Machine language is the only language a computer is capable of understanding, directly.

Compiler

a software program that translates a programming language to machine language so a computer can understand

Procedure

reusable collection of statements, also referred to as methods, functions, or methods. They can be created by the programmer or defined within a library.

Parameters

or formal arguments, are values that are passed into a procedure as input. They allow for the same procedure to be called but to produce different outcomes for different inputs.

Logic Error

a mistake in the algorithm, not the language syntax, that causes it to behave incorrectly

Nested Iteration

a loop inside of another loop

Modular Math

The operation of integer division produces two results. The quotient and the remainder. For these cases there is an operator called the modulo operator (abbreviated as mod). Students will be most familiar with this as "clock arithmetic" where in military time of 14:00 evaluates to 2:00 PM on the clock.

Random Numbers

Programming languages and libraries provide procedures to generate pseudo-random numbers. RANDOM (1,10) will produce any integer between 1 and 10 (inclusive)..which means that 1 and 10 are possible answers.

Order of Operations

operator precedence in an expression. For mathematical operators the precedence is the same as mathematics Parentheses, exponents, and roots. Multiplication and Division.Addition and subtraction. - from left to right Note: as we learn about relational and logical operators they will have a corresponding precedence.

Unicode

an international encoding standard for use with different languages and scripts, by which each letter, digit, or symbol is assigned a unique numeric value that applies across different platforms and programs.

Boolean Operators

AND, OR: operators that can be used to combine logical expressions; NOT: operator used to indicate the opposite of a logical expression

Predicate function

a function that returns True or False

Conditional Statement or Expression

a statement or expression that is evaluated to determine an outcome repeat until, if, while, forever if

Selection

An algorithm can select between two alternative paths based on some condition.

Relational Operator

determine different relationships between values, especially numbers <, =, >, <=, =>,!= these evaluate relationships between two values as either true or false