3: Expressions and Interactivity

arithmetic assignment operator

An operator that combines the assignment operator with a mathematical operator.

associativity

When all operators in an expression have the same precedence, they are executed according to their _________. Either left to right, or right to left).

call

A statement that causes a function to execute. E.g. x()

combined assignment operator

An operator that combines the assignment operator with a mathematical operator. (ca)

compound operator

An operator that combines the assignment operator with a mathematical operator. (c)

concatenate

Joining two strings together by appending one string to the end of another string.

demotion

The conversion of a value to a lower ranking data type.

distribution object

An object that reads the random bits generated by a random number engine and produces random numbers of a specified data type, within a specified range.

expression

A programming statement that has a value.

field width

The minimum number of character positions in which to print a value.

fixed-point notation

Notation in which a floating-point number is displayed with a fixed number of digits after the decimal point.

Hand tracing

A debugging technique in which the programmer pretends that he or she is the computer, stepping through each of the program's statements one by one.

keyboard buffer

An area in memory that temporarily stores characters typed on the keyboard.

library function

A specialized function that is part of the C++ Standard Library.

overflow

The result of assigning a variable a value that is too large for the variable's data type.

precedence

The order in which operators are executed in an expression.

precision

The total number of digits that appear before and after the decimal point in a floating-point number.

promotion

The conversion of a value to a higher ranking data type.

prompt

A message that is displayed, telling the user what data he or she is to enter.

random number engine

An object that generates a random sequence of bits.

right-justified

To align a value along the right side of its field, with blank spaces padded in front of the value, if needed.

significant digits

The total number of digits that appear before and after the decimal point in a floating-point number. (s)

stream extraction operator

An operator that gets data from a stream object and stores the data in a variable, e.g. >>

type cast expression

An expression that manually promotes or demotes a value to a specific data type.

type coercion

The automatic conversion of operands to the same data type.

underflow

The result of assigning a variable a value that is too small for the variable's data type.

whitespace character

Spaces, tabs, and line breaks.