Software Design

Stack

a region of memory available to a running program. It

stores information about methods that are currently being executed

along with the values of their local variables.

Heap

a region of memory available to a running program that is

set aside for dynamic allocation.

Logic error

an error that causes a program to do the wrong thing

Run time error

an error that is identified by the Java Virtual

Machine (JVM) during the execution of a program

Compile time error

an error in the syntax of the program that is

identified by the compiler

Bug

a problem in a computer program

exception

a special type of object in Java that represents an

unexpected or unwanted event

file

a persistent record of data on a computer system

file system

a layer of abstraction used by the operating system to

manage and organize the data and instructions on the computer

file path

provides a way to identify a file by traversing the file

system. Components of a path are separated with a special path

separator character

absolute path

provides a (unique) way to identify a file by

traversing the file system starting from the root.

relative path

provides a way to identify a file relative to a working

directory (location)

text file

a file whose contents should be interpreted as text

binary file

a computer file whose contents should be interpreted as

something other than text

Inheritance

a mechanism that allows for writing common code in one

class and sharing it across several related classes

method overriding

when a child class replaces a method that it

inherited from a parent with its own implementation

method overloading

when the same method name is used for several

methods that differ in their parameter lists

Polymorphism

the occurrence of something (e.g., a method) in

several different forms

data structure

a programming construct that is used to store and

organize information in some way

class method

a method in a class that has the static modifier

class variable

a variable declared at class scope with the static modifier; because the variable has class scope, it cna be used anywhere within the class

class constant

a class variable whose declaration includes the final modifier, which indicates that the variable can only be assigned to once

algorithm

is a step by step procedure that is used to solve a specific problem

pseudo code

a simplified programming language that is used to provide a high level description of an algorithm

object

a container that stores related pieces of information of potentially different types

class

a container for related data and methods

instance variable

a non-static varible declared at class scope

constructor

a method that is used to instantiate (build, create) a new instance (object) of the class

encapsulation

the idea or restricting access to internal components

array

a contiguous segment of memory used to store multiple elements of the same type

control structure

a programming construct that can modify the control flow, typically by selecting one of the several possible paths to follow or repeating a sequence of statements

search

the process of looking for an element within a collection of elements

linear search

a search process that inspects each element in a collection in a sequential fashion, one at a time

control flow

is the order in which individual statements in a program are executed

method

a named block of instructions. the block can be run by using the name of the method in a method invocation

void method

a method whose returnType is the keyword void. Such methods do not produce any output, and instead are typically called for their effects (ex. printing a message)

non-void method

is a method whose returnType is an actual data type (ex. int, string). Such methods produce (return) an output when called

scope

the region of code in which the variable may be used

javadoc comment

a special block comment associated with a method that describes the inputs to and/or outputs from the method

method overloading

when the same method name is used for several methods that differ in their parameter lists

while loop

allows for the repeated execution of a group of statements while a specified condition is true, with execution stopping once the condition is false

definite loop

a loop in which the number of repetitions is known by the programmer prior to execution of the loop

indefinite loop

is a loop where the programmer does not know the number of repetitions prior to the execution

infinite loop

a loop that runs forever

one way conditional statement

allows for the execution of a group of clause statements if a specified condition is true

two way conditional statement

allows for the execution of one group of statements if a condition is true, and another group of statement if the condition is false

nested conditional

a conditional that includes additional conditional statements inside of its if and/or else bodies