APCSP Unit 1 Vocabulary

Script

A bunch of blocks clicked together

Event

Something that happens, such as clicking on the sprite, pressing a key, or clicking the green flag button

Hat Blocks

Blocks can sit only on top of a script (as a way to start the script)

Event-Driven Programming

Using events to control a program

Sprites

Like an actor on the stage who knows how to do many different things, such as walk around the stage and speak the lines of the play

Costumes

Pictures that can be 'worn' by a sprite

Transparency

How much you can see what's behind it

Opaque

not transparent, visible

Collaboration

working together to accomplish a common goal

Driver

controls the computer

Navigator

helps catch errors and keeps track of how the code being written fits into the overall plan; in charge of reading the lab pages out loud

Abstraction

give a name to something in a program

Procedural Abstraction

use a procedure (a block) to name the idea

List

ordered sequence of items

String

a sequence of characters (letters, digits, punctuation, etc.)

Substring

a piece of some existing string

Empty String

sequence of characters that contains no characters

Concatenate

make a bigger string by connecting two or more smaller strings

Edith Windsor

Edith Windsor (1929-2017) was an American LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) rights activist and a technology manager at IBM known for her top notching debugging skills as well as the 2013 Supreme Court case United States v. Windsor

Debugging

The process of testing, finding problems, and fixing them

Procedure

named sequence of instructions that may take inputs and may report a value

Reporters

report a value

Commands

tell the computer to do something without reporting a value

Value of Procedure

value the procedure returns when called

Expression

either a constant value (such as '4' or 'winter') or a call to a reporter block including its inputs

Value

a value can be a number, a string, a sprite, a costume, a script, a list—anything

Algorithm

a sequence of steps that are usually performed by a computer

Pseudocode

algorithm written in human language

Parameter

(or formal parameter) is the input name, such as number of branches. The input name is set in the block definition. It never changes.

Argument

(or actual argument) is the input value, such as 6 for a hexagonal pinwheel. The input value is given each time the block is run; it can be a different value each time.

Abstraction by Generalization

 taking specific, detailed problems or steps and combining them into a more general idea or reusable solution.