Algorithms and Programming

A graphical method of representing an algorithm or process

FLOW CHART

A notation resembling a simplified programming language, used to describe algorithms

PSEUDOCODE

A series of steps designed to solve a problem

ALGORITHM

A type of programming construct in which a group of statements is executed repeatedly

ITERATION

A type of programming construct in which an option of statements is provided

SELECTION

A type of programming construct where a set of instructions is executed in order

SEQUENCE

Graphical device used to manually work out what variable values should be throughout the code

TRACE TABLE

Testing/checking an algorithm or code without using a computer

DRY RUN

A name given to a variable, function or class to aid human understanding of a program

IDENTIFIER

A type of error that occurs due to incorrect algorithm design

LOGICAL

A value stored in memory that cannot change while a program runs

CONSTANT

A variable stored in a known format in a known location

STATIC

A variable which is either declared within the function or is an argument passed to a function

LOCAL

Binary instructions used by the CPU

MACHINE CODE

Data type used for positive and negative whole numbers

INTEGER

Data type used for storing a single alphabetic or numeric character

CHARACTER

Error that can occur when a compiled program is linked to library routines

LINKING

Error that occurs due to exact numbers being approximated to a lower number of significant figures

ROUNDING

Error that occurs when a number becomes too large to fit into the number of bits allocated

OVERFLOW

Name for any utility which converts one programming language into another

TRANSLATOR

Programming construct used to repeat a statement(s) a specified number of times

FOR LOOP

Programming construct which checks to see if a statement is true or false before acting accordingly

IF STATEMENT

The main markup language used for displaying web pages in a browser

HTML

The term used to describe the range in which a function or variable can act

SCOPE

Utility which coverts high level code into low level code, whole blocks of code at a time

COMPILER

Visual programming environment; commonly used by new programmers to produce animations and games

SCRATCH

A series of instructions used to perform specific tasks and return a value to the program

FUNCTION

A signal that tells the debugger to temporarily stop execution of a program at a certain point

BREAKPOINT

A type of error that occurs due to incorrect spelling or grammar in a program

SYNTAX

A type of error that occurs during the execution of a program

RUN-TIME

A value stored in memory that can change while a program runs

VARIABLE

A variable which is accessible in multiple scopes

GLOBAL

A variable which stores data in an efficient way by using a pointer to locate data stored in a different location

DYNAMIC

Client-side scripting language commonly used to enhance website user interfaces

JAVASCRIPT

Data structure used to store multiple values in a single variable

ARRAY

Data type that can be used to store any combination of alphanumeric data

STRING

Data type that only stores one of two values

BOOLEAN

Error that results from executing a finite number of steps to approximate an infinite process

TRUNCATION

Pattern to store data in a computer program so that it can be used efficiently

DATA STRUCTURE

Problem-based programming languages which are similar to natural languages

HIGH LEVEL

Programming construct used to repeat a statement(s) until a specific event occurs

WHILE LOOP

Server-side scripting language used to create database driven websites

PHP

Utility which converts low level code into machine code

ASSEMBLER

Utility which coverts high level code into low level code, one line at a time

INTERPRETER

Examples of a syntax error

Incorrect indentation in Python
Missing punctuation
Key words spelt incorrectly

Examples of a run time error

Division by zero
Reading past the end of file
Stack overflow / request more memory than available
Overflow of data type (for example, integer too big)
Trying to access out of range array

Examples of a logical error

Branch to the wrong statement
Call the wrong sub-routine/function
A = B + C instead of A = B - C,
GrossPrice = NetPrice - VAT
Looping too many times