apcompsci unit 1

strong password

password that is easy for a user to remember but would be difficult for someone else to guess based on knowledge of that user

alghorithm

a finite set of instructions that accomplish a specific task

abstraction

the process of reducing complexity by focusing on the main idea

sequencing

application of each step of an algorithm in the order in which the code statements are given

selection

determines which parts of an algorithm are executed based on a condition being true or false

iteration

a repeating portion of an algorithm

encryption

the process of encoding data to prevent unauthorized access

decryption

the process of decoding the data

programming languages

used to implement algorithms executed by programs

problem

a general description of a task that can (or cannot) be solved algorithmically

instance of a problem

a specific task that needs to be solved with specific input

decision problem

a problem with a yes/no answer

optimization problen

a problem with the goal of finding the “best” solution among many

decidable problem

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

undecidable problem

one in which no algorithm can be constructed that always leads to a correct yes-or-no answer

scalability

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

efficiency

an estimation of the amount of computational resources used by an algorithm

linear or sequential search

search algorithms that check each element of a list, in order, until the desired value is found or all elements in the list have been checked

binary search

a search algorithm that starts at the middle of a sorted data set of numbers and eliminates half of the data; this process repeats until the desired value is found or all elements have been eliminated

heuristic

an approach to a problem that produces a solution that is not guaranteed to be optimal but may be used when techniques that are guaranteed to always find an optimal solution are impractical

algorithmic bias

bias embedded into algorithms and any level of software development