Unit 2 Abstraction Vocabulary

lists

an ordered collection of data or items, which can be of different types (although they usually aren’t)

strings

an ordered list of characters

prototype

a simulation of how a real software product will look, work, and feel

expression

a combination of values, variables, and operators that evaluate to a single value

parameter

input to a procedure of function that is named when you define the procedure or function

argument

a value passed into the procedure of function when it’s called, AKA the “input name”

iteration

the process of repeating a set of instructions or steps multiple times

procedure

a group of programming instructions

boolean

a variable that returns true or false

abstraction

to package something complicated into a simply named case under a name that sums up all of its parts

infinite loop

a loop that continues forever or until it is forced to stop

modulus

the remainder when one number is divided by another

code segment

sections of a computer program that contain a set of instructions to be executed

operators

symbols used in programming languages to compare two values and determine their relationship

readability

the ease with which a reader can understand a written text

traverse

the process of accessing each element in a data structure one by one, usually for performing an operation on them

index

the position/location at which an individual element is stores within a data structure, such as an array

element

an individual value stored within a data structure

sublist

a list used as an item of another list

data abstraction

the process of creating a data type, usually a class, that hides the details of the data representation in order to make the data type easier to work with

selection

a decision or question

conditional

statements that allow the execution of different blocks of code based on certain criteria

nested conditional

an if or if else statement inside another if else statement

return statement

ends the execution of a function, and returns control to the calling function