AP CSA - Unit 1

software engineer

a person who designs, develops, and tests software for home, school, and business use

class header

consists of the class keyword and the name of the class

integrated development environment (IDE)

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

software

a collection of instructions that is run by a computer

source code

a collection of programming commands

syntax

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

syntax error

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

attribute

a characteristic of an object

behavior

an action that an object can perform

bug

an error in the code

class

a programmer-defined blueprint from which objects are created

constructor

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

debugging

finding and fixing problems in an algorithm or program

instantiate

to call the constructor to create an object

object

an instance of a class

object-oriented programming

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

package

a collection of similar classes

state

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

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

void method

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

argument

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

dot operator

used to call a method in a class

method

a named set of instructions to perform a task

parameter

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

boolean

a primitive data type that can be either true or false

if statement

a conditional statement that only executes when the condition is true

condition

determines whether or not to execute a block of code

conditional statement

a statement that only executes when a 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

super keyword

a keyword used to refer to the superclass

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

inheritance

an object-oriented programming principle where a subclass inherits the attributes and behaviors of a superclass

sublcass

a class that extends a superclass and inherits its attributes and behaviors

superclass

a class that can be extended to create subclasses

method signature

consists of a name and parameter list

code review

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

comment

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

documentation

written descriptions of the purpose and functionality of code

programming style

a set of guidelines for formatting program code

while loop

a control structure which executes a block of code repeatedly as long as a condition is true

Algorithm

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

control structure

a conditional or iteration statement which affects the flow of a program

efficent

getting the best outcome with the least amount of waste

infinite loop

a loop where the Boolean expression always evaluates to true

iteration statement (loop)

a control structure that repeatedly executes a block of code

pseudocode

a plain language description of the steps in an algorithm

NOT (!) operator

a logical operator that returns true when the operand is false and returns false when the operand is true

if-else statement (two-way selection 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

concatenation

joining two strings together

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

redundant code

code that is unnecessary

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