AP CSA Study

Software Engineer

Designs, develops, and tests software for home, school, and business use

IDE (Integrated Development Environment)

A software application for writing, compiling, testing, and debugging program code

Source Code

A collection of programming commands

Syntax

The rules for how a programmer must write code for a computer to understand

Class Header

Consists of the keyword class and the name of the class

Syntax Error

A mistake in the code that does not follow a programming language's syntax

Attribute

Characteristic of an object

Behavior

Action an object can do

Instantiate

Call the constructor to create the object

Constructor

A block of code that has the same name as the class and tells the computer how to create a new object

object-oriented programming

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

Object

An instance of a class

Class

A programmer-defined blueprint from which objects are created

State

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

Package

A collection of similar classes

Bug

An error in the code

Debugging

Finding and fixing problems in your algorithm or program

Method

A named set of instructions to perform a task

Dot operator

Used to call a method in a class

void method

A method that performs an action but does not return a value

Procedural Abstraction

allows a programmer to use a method by knowing what the method does even if they do not know how the method was written

Parameter

A variable in the method or constructor signature that defines the type of value to receive when the method or constructor is called

Argument

A value passed to a method or constructor when the method or constructor is called

Boolean

A primitive data type that represents either true or false.

Conditional Statement

A statement that only executes when a condition is true

Condition

determines whether or not to execute a block of code

If statement

A conditional statement that only executes when the condition is true.

Logic error

An error that occurs when the code runs but does not do what was expected

Return

To exit a method and go back to the point in the program that called it with the requested value or information

Constructor Signature

The first line of the constructor which includes the public keyword, the constructor name, and the values to specify when an object is created

Super Keyword

A keyword used to refer to the superclass

Method Signature

Consists of a name and parameter list

Comment

Text note that is ignored by the compiler to explain or annotate the code

Programming style

Set of guidelines for formatting program code

Code review

The process of examining code and providing feedback to improve the quality and functionality of the program

Documentation

Written descriptions of the purpose and functionality of code

Algorithm

A set of instructions to solve a problem or accomplish a task

Pseudocode

A plain language description of the steps in an algorithm

Efficient

Getting the best outcome with the least amount of waste

If-Else-Statement

Specifies a block of code to execute when the condition is true and a block of code to execute when the condition is false

Logical operator

An operator that returns a Boolean value

Not (!) operator

Returns true when false and false when true

Method Decomposition

The process of breaking a problem down into smaller parts to write methods for each part

Edge Case

A bug that occurs at the highest or lowest end of a range of possible values or in extreme situations

Inheritance Hierarchy

Where a class serves as a superclass for more than one subclass

Open Source Code

Code that is freely available for anyone to use, study, change, and distribute

Expression

A combination of data and operators that evaluates to a single value

Operand

The data that is operated on

Compound expression

A combination of expressions

Compound assignment operator

Shortcut syntax ( +\=. -\=, *\=, /\=, %\= ) to perform an operation on both operands and store the result into the variable on the left

ArithmeticException

An error caused by dividing by zero

Truncate

To cut off data from the end

Instance Variable

A variable defined in a class that represents an attribute of an object

Encapsulation

An object-oriented programming concept where the instance variables of a class are hidden from other classes and can be accessed only through the methods of the class

Access modifier

A keyword used to set the visibility of classes, variables, constructors, and methods

No-argument constructor

A constructor with no parameters

Default Value

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

Parameterized constructor

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

Overloading

Defining two or more constructors or methods

Actual Parameter

The value given to an attribute when initializing an object

Formal parameter

The values to be passed t a constructor or method

Local variable

A variable declared and accessible within a specific block of code

Call by value

Copying the value of the actual parameter to the constructors formal parameter

Null

The variable does not refer to any object

NullPointerException

An error that occurs when a reference does not point to an object

Application Programming Interface (API)

A library of prewritten classes

Library

A collection of methods or reusable components of code

DRY Principle

Don't repeat yourself: try to simplify your code and avoid repeating code unnecessarily.

Refactor

To improve the readability, reusability, or structure of program code without altering its functionality

Mutator method

Changes the value stored in an instance variable

Relational operator

An operator used to compare values or expressions

Boolean expression

A logical statement that gives either a true or false value

Sentinel value

A special value used to notify the program to stop accepting input

Scope

Where a variable can be used

This keyword

A keyword used to refer to the current object in a method or constructor

Data Structure

a structure for organizing, processing, retrieving, and storing data

one-dimensional array

A data structure that holds multiple values of the same data type

Immutable

An object whose state cannot be modified after it is created

Element

A single value or object in a data structure

Index

An integer value that indicates the position of a value in a data structure

Initializer list

A comma-separated list of values or objects for an array given inside curly braces ({})

ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException

An error that occurs when attempting to access an index that is negative, greater than, or equal to the size of the array

Precondition

A condition that must always be true just before the execution of a code segment

Postcondition

a condition that must always be true just after the execution of a code segment

Static Variable

Variable that is shared by all instances of a class

Constant

Variable whose value cannot be changed once it has been assigned

Text file

A file that contains letters, numbers, and/or symbols but has no special formatting

Off-by-one error

an error that occurs when we try to access an index value that is greater than the length of the array

Aliasing

When two Reference variables point to the same object

Truth Table

A table used to determine the truth values of a Boolean expression

Compound Boolean Expression

An expressions using logical operators that evaluates to a Boolean value

Short-circuited evaluation

A process in which the evaluation of a logical expressions exits when the result is clear, even before the complete evaluation of the expression

final class

a class that cannot be extended

Math class

a class that contains methods for performing basic numeric operations

Cast

Assign a value of one type to another

Widen

Automatically cast from a smaller type to a larger type

Multi-selection statement

a statement that selects a single action from three or more conditional statements based on which Boolean expression is true

column-major order

traversing a 2D array by accessing each column from left to right

row-major order

traversing a 2D array by accessing each row from top to bottom

Pixel

The smallest unit of information in an image