APCSP VOCAB 3

String

a sequence of keyboard characters (unicode & ASCII)

Dichotomous

only two possible answers (yes or no)

Binary code

code represented with the two symbols 1 and 0

Bits

foundation for digital computing, represents the individual 1s and 0s

Digital

how information is stored, accessed, transformed and used by computers

State space

the space of potential possibilities for binary code

Exponential growth

the rate of growth that rapidly increases in proportion to the growing total number of size

Fixed-point number

the decimal point is in the same place

Floating-point numbers

numbers where the decimal point can float because there are no fixed numbers of digits before and after the decimal point. AKA real numbers

Real numbers

numbers approximated by floating-point representations that do not necessarily have infinite precision.

Scientific notation

the mathematical representation of a decimal number in floating-point form.

Decimal

Describes the base-10 number system.

ASCII

Table outlines common set of conventions established for converting between binary values & alphanumeric (represents 128 different characters).

Alphanumeric

characters that consist of uppercase & lowercase letters in addition to numerals 0-9.

Digital noise

Irrelevant or meaningless data that has found its way into otherwise meaningful code.

Abstraction

the process of removing or suppressing details to create a manageable level of complexity

Bit string

A sequence of bits (1 & 0) that can be used to represent sets or to manipulate binary data

Mapping

associating each element of a given set with one or more elements of a second set. Helps find where fixed-width encoding ends.

Data

characters, symbols or quantities on which operations are performed, stored and/or transmitted by a computer

Unicode

Binary encoding system that represents much more of the world’s text than ASCII can (represents 65,536 different characters)

Morse code

Code where letters are represented by combinations of long and short signals of light or sound.

Baudot Code

Binary code invented by Emile Baudot in 1870 that uses crosses and dots in order to encode 2^5 or 32 characters.

Variable-width encoding

Using codes of different length characters (Morse Code). Easy to spot where code starts & ends, but delimiters(commas)add to the size of each symbol.

Fixed-width encoding

Using codes of same length characters (Baudot Code). UTF-32 (4 bytes).

Discrete

separate or divided (digital), can be perfectly copied.

Continuous

unbroken, without interruption (analog)

Approximation

Digital copies are only approximations of the natural object.

Digital

Finite, discrete, represented by bits (0s & 1s).

Analog

Non-digital signals or information represented by a continuously variable physical quantity such as spatial position or voltage. Continuous, represents real world, infinitely detailed.