AP COMP SCI PRINCIPLES

Study for May 15th!!

Logic Error

Error in program that makes it do something it’s not supposed to

Pair Programming

A collaborative programming technique where two programmers work together at one workstation, with one writing code while the other reviews each line.

Runtime Error

An error that occurs during the execution of a program, causing it to terminate unexpectedly.

Syntax Error

An error in the source code of a program that violates the syntax rules of the programming language, preventing it from being compiled or interpreted.

Open Source

Software with source code that is freely available for anyone to modify, use, and distribute.

Ethics

A set of moral principles that guide behavior and decision-making, influencing how individuals and organizations conduct themselves in various situations.

Infinite Loop

A programming construct where a sequence of instructions continues to execute indefinitely without a terminating condition.

Sequential Operation

A process in computing where operations are performed in a specific, ordered sequence, one after another, without interruption.

Conditional Statements

A programming construct that allows the execution of specific code blocks based on whether a condition evaluates to true or false. They are essential for implementing decision-making in programs. (same as selection, if-else)

Input

Data provided to a program for processing or operation.

Iteration

The repetitive execution of a block of code based on a condition.

Output

Data produced by a program as a result of processing input.

Pseudocode

A simplified, informal way of programming that uses human-readable language to outline logical steps in an algorithm. This cannot be executed by any coding environment.

Sorting

The process of arranging data in a specific order, typically ascending or descending.

Boolean Expressions

Statements that evaluate to either true or false, often used in programming to control flow or decision making.

Program

A set of instructions (or an algorithm) written in a programming language that tells a computer how to perform specific tasks or solve problems.

Event Driven Programming

A programming approach where the flow of the program is determined by events such as user actions (mouse clicks, key presses) or sensor outputs.

Hardware

The physical components of a computer system, including the computer itself and peripheral devices.

Software

A collection of programs and related data that enables a computer to function and perform specific tasks.

Abstraction

The concept of simplifying complex systems or concepts by hiding unnecessary details and focusing on relevant aspects

Binary Number

A number represented in the base-2 numeral system, using only digits 0 and 1.

Data

distinct information formatted in a specific way such as text on paper or bytes in electronic memory.

Intellectual Property

Refers to any property created using original thought. Includes patents, copyrights, and trademarks.

Network

Group of two or more computer systems linked together

Social Networking

Use of dedicated websites and applications to interact with other users or find people with similar interests to oneself

Analog

device or system that represents changing values as continuously variable physical quantities

ASCII

a code for representing english characters as numbers, each letter is assigned a number from 0 to 127

Cloud Computing

practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer

Cryptography

art of protecting information by transforming it into an unreadable format called cipher text

Digital

any system based on discontinuous data or events

Spam

electronic junk mail or junk newsgroup postings

Bit

single unit of information on a computer represented as a 0 or 1

Bit Rate

number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time

Latency

time it takes for a signal to arrive (lag)

WiFi

wireless networking technology that utilizes radio waves to transmit information/data

Bandwidth

maximum amount of data that can be transmitted over a network in a given amount of time

IP Address

number assigned to any item that is connected to the internet

Packets

Small chunks of information that have been carefully formed from larger chunks of information

Router

device that forwards data packets between computer networks

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)

Provides reliable, ordered, and error-checked delivery of a stream of packets on the internet

Domain Name System (DNS)

internets system for converting alphabetic names into numeric IP addresses

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

Protocol used by world wide web (www). it describes how messages are formatted and interchanged and how web servers respond to commands

Server

computing device that awaits and responds to requests for data

client

computing device that requests data stored on a server

Net Neutrality

principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites

Internet Censorship

The control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet, often imposed by governments or organizations.

Routing table

A data table stored in a router that lists the routes to particular network destinations.

Algorithm

A sequential procedure or formula for solving a problem or completing a task that is executed by a computer.

Function/Procedure

Piece of code you can easily call over and over.

Application Programming Interface (API)

A collection of commands made available by programmers.

Documentation

Description of the behavior of a command, functin, library, API, etc.

Parameter

Variables defined in the heading of the function/procedure, if required, that allow input values to be sent into the function in its calling statement.

Loop

A sequence of instructions is executed repeatedly until a specified condition is met. (The action of doing something over and over again.)

Byte

Technical term for 8 bits of data

Heuristic Problem Solving

a problem solving approach (algorithm) to find a satisfactory solution where finding an optimal or exact solution is impractical or impossible.

Metadata

Data that discribes other data. (e.g. Image size)

Pixel

The smallest unit of a digital image, representing a single point in the graphic.

Lossless compression

Every bit of original data can be recovered after compression.

Lossy compression

Compression where useless or unimportant data is thrown out. All original data cannot be recovered after compression.

RGB

Red, Green, Blue. Basic colors that make up every color in a pixel

Heuristic

Problem that cannot be solved in a reasonable amount of time. Usually ends in approximations

Innovation

A novel or improved idea, device, product, etc.

Big data

Broad term for datasets so big that traditional computing can’t process them adequately.

Cipher

the generic term for a technique (or algorithm) that performs encryption

Decryption

a process that reverses encryption, taking a secret message and reproducing the original plain text

Encryption

a process of encoding messages to keep them secret, so only "authorized" parties can read it.

Public Key Encryption

An asymmetric encryption scheme in which the encryption key is made public, but the decryption key is kept private.

Digital Divide

the gulf between those who have ready access to computers and the Internet, and those who do not.

Filter

tool/technique using dynamic parameters for reducing a data set to viewing only similar items in a row or column.

Protocol

A set of rules governing the exchange or transmission of data between devices.

ASCII

The universally recognized raw text format for all English characters, numbers, and punctuation. Any computer can run this.

Redundancy

repetition of information or the inclusion of additional information to reduce errors in transmission.

URL

an easy to remember address for calling a web page

Decimal

Traditional number system using digits 0-9.

Creative Commons

One of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work. Right to share, use, and build upon established work.

High Level Programming Language

A programming language that enables a programmer to write programs that are more or less independent of a particular type of computer. Closer to human language. E.g, Java, JavaScript, FORTRAN

Low Level Programming Language

A programming language that provides little or no abstraction from a computer's instruction set architecture—commands or functions in the language map closely to processor instructions. Machine code/assembly language

Fault tolerance network

Ability to route around broken servers on the internet

Global variable

A variable whose scope is "global" to the program; can be used and updated by any part of the code. Declared outside of any function, object, or method.

If Statement

The common programming structure that implements "conditional statements".

Local Variable

A variable with local scope is one that can only be seen, used and updated by code within the same scope. Typically this means the variable was declared (created) inside a function; includes function parameter variables.

User Interface

The visual elements of an program through which a user controls or communications the application. Often abbreviated UI.

Data Type

(ex: Number, Boolean, or String) a value's property that dictates how the computer will interpret it.

Variable

A placeholder for a piece of information that can change.

Debugging

Finding and fixing problems in your algorithm or program.

Conditionals

statements that run under only certain conditions

Selection

uses a Boolean condition to determine which of two or more parts of an algorithm are to be executed.

Concatentate

to link together or join. Typically used when joining together text Strings in programming (e.g. "Hello, "+name)

Binary Search

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

Linear Search

a search algorithm which checks each element of a list, in order, until the desired value is found or all elements in the list have been checked.

Cleaning Data

a process that makes the data uniform without changing its meaning (replacing all equivalent abbreviations, spellings, and capitalizations with the same word).

Transforming Data

editing or modifying data (doubling every number/graphing data points)

Data mining

the application of statistical techniques to find patterns and relationships among data for classification and prediction

Sampling

A process for creating a digital representation of analog data by measuring the analog data at regular intervals called samples.

Base 2

The name given to the counting system for Binary (0-1)

Base 10

The name given to the counting system for Decimal Values (0 - 9)

Citizen Science

scientific research conducted in whole or part by distributed individuals, many of whom may not be scientists, who contribute relevant data to research using their own computing devices.

Crowd Sourcing

A subfield of computer science that attempts to solve problems by using the ability of many humans to solve small subproblems and then using computers to combine those solutions into some meaningful results.

Open Access

online research output free of any and all restrictions on access and free of many restrictions on use, such as copyright or license restrictions

Symmetric Key Encryption

Uses the same key for performing the encryption and decryption