Unit 1-3 Flowchart, Algorithm, and C Programming Overview

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering key definitions, symbols, program structure, and operators from Unit 1, Unit 2, and Unit 3 lecture notes.

Flowchart

A pictorial or graphical representation of an algorithm, process, or step-by-step solution to a problem.

Algorithm

A finite sequence of well-defined steps for solving a problem.

Flowchart Symbols

Standard geometric shapes used to represent different steps in a flowchart, such as ovals for start/end, parallelograms for input/output, rectangles for processing, and diamonds for decision making.

Pseudo Code

An informal text or language using phrases of the English language to describe logical steps of a program without standard programming syntax.

Entry Controlled Loop

A loop structure in which the test condition is evaluated before execution of the body of the loop, such as a $For$ loop.

Exit Controlled Loop

A loop structure in which the test condition is evaluated after execution of the body of the loop, such as a $Do\text{-}while$ loop.

Definiteness

A characteristic of an algorithm requiring that each step must be clear, well-defined, and free of ambiguity.

Finiteness

A characteristic of an algorithm stating that it must consist of a finite number of steps.

Machine Language

A low-level language consisting of binary numbers ($0$ and $1$) that electronic components of a computer directly understand.

Assembly Language

A programming language that uses mnemonic symbolic codes (such as $ADD$ or $SUB$) to represent binary combinations.

Assembler

A program that translates assembly language mnemonic codes into machine language instructions.

Compiler

A translator that checks an entire user program for errors and translates the whole program into machine language (object program) before execution.

Interpreter

A translator that converts and executes a program line by line, stopping immediately when an error is encountered.

ALGOL

A computer language developed in $1960$ by an International group, considered the root of modern programming languages and the first to use block structure.

BCPL

Basic Combined Programming Language, developed by Martin Richards in $1967$ for writing software, which was a typeless language.

C Tokens

The basic building blocks of C programs, categorized into keywords, identifiers, constants, strings, special symbols, and operators.

Keywords

Reserved words in C that have fixed, unchangeable meanings and cannot be used as identifiers or variable names.

Identifiers

User-defined names given to program components such as variables, constants, structures, unions, arrays, or functions.

Variable

An identifier used to name a data location in memory that stores values that can change during program execution.

Constant

An entity used in C programming whose fixed value remains unchanged throughout program execution.

Volatile Variable

A variable declared with the keyword $volatile$ whose value is changeable and gets updated dynamically.

Type Modifiers

Keywords (such as $signed$, $unsigned$, $short$, and $long$) used as prefixes to built-in data types to modify their storage size or range.

Operator

A symbol that instructs the compiler to perform specific mathematical, logical, relational, or bitwise operations on operands.

Integer Arithmetic

An arithmetic operation performed when both operands in an expression are integers.

Real Arithmetic

An arithmetic operation performed when operands are real numbers in decimal or exponential notation.

Mixed Mode Arithmetic

An arithmetic expression involving one real operand and one integer operand.

Relational Operators

Symbols used to test or compare values between two operands, returning $0$ for false and non-zero (typically $1$) for true.

Conditional Operator

A ternary operator ($?:$) in C that evaluates a condition and processes one value if true and another if false.

Bitwise Operators

Operators used to manipulate data directly at the bit level ($0$ and $1$) for numerical computations.

C Program Structure

The standard layout of a C program comprising Documentation, Link, Definition, Global Declaration, main(), and Subprogram sections.