compsci

software engineer

A person who designs, develops, and tests software for home, school, and buisness use.

algorithm

a set of step by step instructions that accomplish a task

sequencing

putting steps in order

class header

consists of the class keyword and the name of the class must be same as file name

comment

text notes to explain the code or provide instructions and is ignored when the program is run

source code

a collection of programming commands

syntax

the rules for how a programmer must write code for a 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 / field

behavior

an action that an object can perform / method

class

a programmer-designed blueprint from which objects are created

IDE

integrated development environment, and environment design to assist programmers in creating, editing, and managing code efficiently

runtime error

something went wrong in the program as it runs

logic error

won’t break the code

object

an instance of a class

object-oriented programming

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

constructor

a block of code that hass the same names as the class and tells the computer how to create a new object

instantiate

to call the constructor to create an object

dot operator

used to call a method in 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 recieve when a method or constructor is called

string literal

a sequence of characters enclosed in quotation marks

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 behavior

super class

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

abstraction

simpler version of what is going on

methos 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 info

return type

the value returned before a mehtod 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 fuctionality of the program

commit

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

documentation

written descriptions of the purpose and fuctionality of code

programming style

a set of guidelines and best practices for formatting program code

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

constructor signature

the first line of the constructor which includes the public keyword, the constructor name, and any parameters

default value

a predefined value that is used by a program when the user does not provide a value

no-argument constructor

a constructor with no parameters

actual parameter

the value to assign to the formal parameter

call by value

copying the value of the actual parameter to the constructor’s formal parameter

formal parameter

the value passed to a constructor or method

local variable

a variable declared and accessible within a specific block of code

overloading

defining two or more constructors or methods wiht the same name but different signatures

parameterized constructor

a constructor that has a specific number of arguments to be passed to assign values to an object’s instance values

state

the attributes of an object that are represented by its instance variables

apprication program interface

a library of prewritten classes

library

a collection of methods of reusable components of code