APSCP unit 3 vocab for Exams

string

a linear sequence of characters, words, or other data

dichotomous

in which something can only be one thing or another (yes or no)

binary code

code represented with the two symbols of 1 and 0

bits

the foundation for digital computing (1s and 0s) - short for binary digits

digital

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

state space

the space of potential possibilities

exponential growth

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

fixed-point numbers

numbers where the decimal point is always in the same place.

floating-point numbers

numbers where the decimal point can float because there is no fixed number 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. examples: 4 x 10³ for 4,000, 4.002 x 10³x 10 for 4,002 or 2.345E6 for 2,345,000.

binary code

code represented with the two symbols of 1 and 0.

decimal

describes the base-10 number system. The most commonly used number system.

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)

a table that outlines a common set of conventions established for converting between binary values and alphanumeric (represents 128 different characters)

alphanumeric

the characters that consist of uppercase and 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 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.

data

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

unicode

a binary encoding system that can represent much more of the world's text than ASCII can (represents 65,536 different characters)

Morse Code

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

Baudot Code

a 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 lengths to encode a character set for representation (example: Morse Code)

fixed-width encoding

using codes with a fixed width to encode a character set for representation (example: Baudot Code)

discrete

separate or divided (digital)

continuous

unbroken, without interruption (analog)

approximation

digital copies are only approximations of the natural object.

analog

non-digital signals or information represented by a continuously variable

physical quantity such as spatial position or voltage.

list

A list is an ordered sequence of elements. For example, [value1, value2, value3, …] describes a list where value1 is the first element, value 2 is the second element, value 3 is the third element, and so on.

element

An element is an individual value in a list that is assigned a unique index.

data structure

a particular way of organizing and storing data such as an array, table, etc.

data abstraction

help manage complexity in programs by giving a collection of data a name without referencing the specific details of the representation.

output

observable behaviors generated by the computer such as animation, sound, and text.

join

the "join" block in Scratch concatenates, or links two values together. Example: "hello" and "there" would result in "hellothere".

linear search

a method for finding a target value within a list (whether presorted or not) by checking each value until a match is found or until all the elements have been searched.

procedure

a group of blocks that are combined to perform a specific task.

substring

a subset of a string of alphanumeric fields or variables.