AP CSA Unit 1 Vocabulary

software engineer

a person who designs, develops, and tests software for home, school, and business use

class header

consists of the class keyword and the name of the class

comment

a text note to explain or annotate the code

source code

a collection of programming commands

syntax

the rules for how a programmer must write code for the computer to understand

syntax error

a mistake in the code that does not follow a programming language's syntax

attribute

a characteristic of an object

behavior

an action that an object can perform

class

a programmer-defined blueprint from which objects are created

object

an instance of a class

object-oriented programming

an approach to creating and using models of physical or imagined objects

constructor

a block of code that has the same name as the class and tells the computer how to create an object

instantiate

to call the constructor to create an object

dot operator

used to call a method in a class

method

a named set of instructions to perform a task

argument

the specific value provided when a method or constructor is called

parameter

defines the type of value to receive when a method or constructor is called

string literal

a sequence of characters enclosed in quotation marks

algorithm

a finite set of instructions that accomplish a task

condition

determines whether or not to execute a block of code

iteration statement

a control structure that repeatedly executes a block of code

inheritance

an object-oriented programming principle where a subclass inherits the attributes and behaviors of a superclass

subclass

a class that extends a superclass and inherits its attributes and behaviors

superclass

a class that can be extended to create subclasses

tester class

the class that contains the main method and from where the program starts running

method signature

consists of a name and parameter list

return

to exit a method and go back to the point in the program that called it with the requested value or information

return type

the value returned before a method completes its execution and exits

void

specifies that a method should not have a return value

code review

the process of examining code and providing feedback to improve the quality and functionality of the program

commit

an operation which saves the latest changes of the code and represents a snapshot of a project

documentation

written descriptions of the purpose and functionality of code

programming style

a set of guidelines and best practices for formatting program code

selection statement

a statement that only executes when a condition is true

data type

the format of the data that can be stored in a variable

declaration

giving a name and data type to a variable

variable

a container that stores a value in memory

decomposition

the process of breaking a problem down into smaller parts to write methods for each part

efficient

getting the best outcome with the least amount of waste

pseudocode

a plain language description of the steps in an algorithm

redundant

code that is unnecessary

logical operator

an operator that returns a Boolean value

two-way selection statement

specifies a block of code to execute when the condition is true and a block of code to execute when the condition is false