AP CSP Unit 6: Lists, Loops, Traversals Vocabulary

List

an ordered collection of elements

Element

an individual value in a list that is assigned a unique index

For Loop

a particular kind of looping construct provided in many languages; typically defines a counting variable that is checked and incremented on each iteration in order to loop a specific number of times

Loops (Iteration Statements)

change the sequential flow of control by repeating a set of statements zero or more times until a stopping condition is met

Index

a common method for referencing the elements in a list or string using numbers

Length of List

how many elements it contains; can grow or shrink as elements are added or removed

Iteration

a repetitive portion of an algorithm which repeats a specified number of times or until a given condition is met

Infinite Loop

occurs when the ending condition will never evaluate to true

Traversal

the process of accessing each item in a list one at a time

Append

adds an element to the end of a list

Insert

inserts an element into a list at the index given

Remove

removes the element in the given list at the given index

Data Abstraction

manages complexity in programs by giving a collection of data a name without referencing the specific details of the representation

Logic Error

a mistake in the algorithm or program that causes it to behave incorrectly or unexpectedly

Run-Time Error

a mistake in the program that occurs during the execution of it

Syntax Error

a mistake in the program where the rules of the programming language are not followed

Ways to Find and Correct Errors

test cases, hand tracing, visualizations, watchers, adding extra output statements (console.logs)

Simulation

abstractions of more complex objects or phenomena for a specific purpose; most useful when real-world events are impractical for experiments

Substring

part of an existing string