COMP SCI MIDTERM

Hardware

The physical components of a computer, such as the CPU, memory, and storage.

Software

The collection of programs that control hardware and execute tasks.

Programming Language

A formal set of instructions that a computer can execute.

JAVA Programming Language

A high-level, object-oriented language that is platform-independent due to the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

Identifiers

Names used for variables, methods, classes, etc.

Legal Identifiers

Must start with a letter, underscore, or dollar sign and cannot be a Java keyword.

White Space

Spaces, tabs, and newlines that improve readability but do not affect execution.

Program Development

The process of designing, writing, testing, and maintaining a program.

Compilation

Converting Java source code into bytecode using the Java compiler.

Java Translation

The process where Java source code is compiled into bytecode and then interpreted by the JVM.

Development Environments

Tools used for Java programming (e.g., Eclipse, IntelliJ, NetBeans).

Syntax

The rules governing the structure of valid Java code.

Semantics

The meaning of Java statements.

Syntax Errors

Violations of Java's rules (e.g., missing semicolons).

Runtime Errors

Errors occurring during execution (e.g., division by zero).

Logical Errors

Incorrect logic leading to undesired output.

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)

A programming paradigm based on objects and classes.

Classes

Blueprints for creating objects.

Objects

Instances of a class containing attributes (fields) and behaviors (methods).

Character Strings

Sequences of characters handled by the String class.

String Concatenation

Combining strings using +: 'Hello' + ' World' results in 'Hello World'.

Escape Sequences

Special characters such as \n, \t, \\, etc.

Variables

Named storage locations in memory.

Assignment

Assigning values using =.

Constants

Immutable values declared with final.

Primitive Data Types

byte, short, int, long, float, double, char, boolean.

Increment and Decrement Operators

++ and -- increase or decrease a variable by 1.

Scanner Class

Used for input reading (Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);).

Reading Input

Methods like nextInt(), nextDouble(), nextLine().

Binding

The association of a method call with its definition.

Polymorphism

The ability of a method to take different forms.

Visibility Revisited

public, private, protected.

Abstract Classes

Cannot be instantiated; contains abstract methods.

Array

A collection of elements of the same type.

Two-Dimensional Arrays

Arrays that store data in a grid format (e.g., int[][] matrix = new int[3][3];).

Inheritance

A subclass inherits attributes and methods from a superclass.

The super Reference

Used to call superclass constructor/methods.

Java API/Packages

Predefined Java libraries.

Random Class

Generates random numbers (Random rand = new Random();).

Wrapper Classes

Convert primitives to objects (e.g., Integer, Double, etc.).

Method Overloading

Same method name, different parameters.

Method Overriding

Redefining superclass methods in a subclass.