Key Concepts in Lists and Loops in Programming

List

an ordered collection of elements

Element

an individual value in a list that is assigned a unique index

For Loop

A particular kind of looping construct provided in many languages. Typically, this loop defines a counting variable that is checked and incremented on each iteration in order to loop a specific number of times.

Index

a common method for referencing the elements in a list or string using numbers

Length of list

how many elements it contains. Lists can grow or shrink as elements are added or removed.

Iteration

a repetitive portion of an algorithm which repeats a specified number of times or until a given condition is met.

Infinite loop

occurs when the ending condition will never evaluate to true.

Traversal

the process of accessing each item in a list one at a time

Append

add elements to the end of a list

Insert

Inserts an element into a list at the index given

Remove

Removes the element in the given list at the given index

Data abstraction

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

Loops (iteration statements)

change the sequential flow of control by repeating a set of statements zero or more times, until a stopping condition is met

Logic Error

a mistake in the algorithm or program that causes it to behave incorrectly or unexpectedly.

Simulation

abstractions of more complex objects or phenomena for a specific purpose.

Substring

part of an existing string