APCSP Vocab Runestone Units 1-7

APCSP Vocab

Control Structure

Is one or more programming language statements that control the flow of a computer program.

Tactile

Touching a button or the device vibrating.

Event-Driven Programming

The program is activated by events such as button clicks.

Event handler

Block of code that reacts to an event like a button click.

Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

Software that provides comprehensive tools for programming such as UI design, code editing, and a way to interpret and run the program.

User Events

Actions by the user such as button clicks.

Boolean

A true/false condition

Pseudocode

A blend of English and code used to write down an algorithm for a program.

Flowchart

Visual notation for expressing algorithms.

Computing Innovation

Includes a program as an integral part of its function. Can be physical, non-physical computing software or non-physical computing concepts. For example, self-driving cars, picture editing software, e-commerce, a mobile app.

Byte

One byte is 8 bits

Compilation

Process of translating the entire source code into a single binary file

CPU

The part of the computer's hardware that interprets and runs the computer program

High-Level Language

The programming language that is humanly readable (App Inventor) and provides the programmer with easy to understand abstractions

Interpretation

Process of translating source code into machine language one instruction at a time and immediately executing instruction

Machine Language

The programming language that is directly readable by the computer's CPU

Special purpose computer

Computer that has a fixed program (e.g. a simple calculator, a digital watch, a cars anti lock braking system

Bit

Short for binary digit

Data

It is the distinct information that is formatted in a special way. Exists in a variety of forms, like text on paper or the bytes stored in electronic memory.

Internet

The global public network of independent and autonomous networks that are governed by the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP)

World Wide Web (WWW)

Internet application of interlinked web pages based on the HTTP protocol

Browser

Program that displays web pages and is used to navigate the WWW

Protocol

System of rules that govern the behavior of some system

TCP/IP

Protocols that determine the behavior of the internet

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol)

The set of rules that governs the WWW application

Open standard

Standard (such as TCP, HTTP) that is not owned or controlled by a private entity. It stands in contrast to proprietary materials, which are owned or controlled by a private entity. Fuel the growth of the internet

IETF

Develops and oversees open standards such as HTTP (www) and SMTP (mail)

Abstraction

Is a general representation of something, of some person, or place, or event or process. It extracts common features from specific examples in order to generalize concepts. Words, symbols, maps, and models are all examples of this

Constant

A constant such as the numeral '5', is an abstraction that represents a single thing, e.g., the value 5

Variable

Names a memory location to hold different values in your program

Data Abstraction

Provides a general way to access a collection of data

Procedural Abstraction

In computer science is the practice of organizing and encapsulating algorithms in named procedures that can then be invoked by name. An example would be the 'sqrt(x)', square root of x, which encapsulates the algorithm for calculating the square root of x

Binary Sequence

Is a sequence of 0s and 1s.

Base

The base of a number system refers to the number of distinct digits or symbols used to represent numbers in that system. Our decimal system is base-10 because it uses 10 digits, 0 through 9.

Decimal Number System

Number system that is a base-10 system that we use every day, consisting of the symbols 0 through 9.

Binary Number System

Number system in which all numbers are represented in terms of the 2 binary digits, 0 and 1.

Octal Number System

Number system that is a base-8 system, consisting of the symbols 0 through 7.

Hexadecimal Number System

Number system that is a base-16 system, consisting of the 16 symbols 0 through 9 and A through F.

Overflow Error

An error that occurs when the computer attempts to handle a number that is outside of the defined range of values that can be represented.

Transistor

A semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electronic signals and electrical power.

Logic Gate

An elementary building block of a digital circuit.

Integrated Circuit (IC)

Informally, a chip is an electronic circuit formed on a small piece of semiconducting material, that integrates billions of tiny transistors and logic gates.

AND Gate

Circuit with two inputs and one output defined such that its output is TRUE (or ON) only when both of its inputs are TRUE (or ON).

OR Gate

Circuit with two inputs and one output defined such that its output is TRUE (or ON) when either or both of its inputs are TRUE (or ON).

NOT GATE

A circuit with one input and one output defined such that its output is TRUE (or ON) when its input is FALSE (or OFF) and vice versa.

Flip Flop

A digital circuit that has two states, ON or OFF, that can be used to store a 1 or a 0.

RAM (Random Access Memory)

Stores the computer's programs and data temporarily while power is on.

CPU (Central Processing Unit)

Part of the computer's hardware that interprets and runs the computer program.

Blacklist

A generic term for a list of email addresses or IP addresses for organizations that are known to be spammers.

Character

Any symbol that requires one byte of storage.

Intellectual Property

Refers to any property that is created using original thought.

Moore's Law

The projection that the number of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits will roughly double every two years since the integrated circuit was invented.

Network

A group of two or more computers that are linked together.

Whitelist

A generic name for a list of email addresses or IP addresses that are considered to be spam free.

Expression

A mathematical expression involves values, variables, and operators for example (a+b)/2

Operator

Symbols like +,-,*,/ used for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division.

ASCII

A code for representing English characters as numbers, with each letter assigned a number from 0 to 127.

Pixel

Short for a picture element, a single point in a graphic image.

Lossless Compression

A data compression technique in which no data is lost.

Lossy Compression

A data compression technique in which some amount of data is lost.

Run Length Encoding

A compression algorithm that represents an image in terms of the length of runs of identical pixels

Analog

Refers to data with values that change continuously, or smoothly, over time like sound and music files

Sampling

Refers to measuring values of the analog signal at regular intervals (usually in time or space) called samples in order to digitize it into a binary representation.

Refactoring

The process of restructuring program code without changing its basic behavior.

Debugging

The process of removing errors from computer hardware and software

Data Type

The type of data stored in a variable, for example number, string, boolean or list

Abstract Data Type (ADT)

Defines a general data type like list that describes a collection of data without worrying about the specific implementation

Database

One way to store persistent data. Examples include tinyDB and firebase

Cloud Computing

Relies on sharing resources online on the Internet rather than having data and process located on a personal computer

Cryptography

Literally means secret writing. The art and science of writing secret messages

Digital

A digital system is any based on discontinuous data or events.

Megabyte (MB)

Unit for characterizing the amount of data. It is roughly 1 million bytes or, more precisely 2^20 bytes, which is 1,048,576 bytes.

Megapixel

One million pixels, used in reference to the resolution of a graphics device.

Render

Refers to the process of adding realism to computer graphics by adding 3-D qualities. Such as shadows and variations in color and shade.

Upload

Means to transmit data from a computer to an online repository or service such as a bulletin board service, or dropbox, or network.

PRNG (Pseudo Random Number Generator)

An algorithm that generates a sequence of numbers that appears to be random but is completely determined by the algorithm.

Fair Coin

A coin that when flipped would come up heads 50% of the time over a large number of coin flips.

Mod Operator

Gives the remainder when one number is divided by another.

Assembly Language

Low level language that uses symbolic names, rather than binary sequences of 0s and 1s, to represent the machine language instructions

Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

Information about an individual that identifies, links, relates, is unique to, or describes them. Examples include your social security number, age, race, phone number(s), and biometric data

Cookies

Small files or bits of data that are stored on your computer

Parameters

Input Variables for a procedure

Arguments

Specify the value of the parameters when a procedure is called

Binary Search

Search algorithm that repeatedly divides a sorted list to narrow in on the searched-for item

Linear or Sequential Search

Search algorithm that checks every element in a list from start to the end of the list to find and item

Parallel Lists

Two or more lists that are setup to correspond based on the index location of the data in the lists allowing the data in the lists to be processed at the same time.

Insert

Adds a value into a list at index I, moving down all other items at and after I in the list

Append

Adds a value to the end of a list

Brute Force Attack

Solve by trial and error, trying every possible option.

Decidable Problems

Problems in which an algorithm can be constructed to answer 'yes' or 'no' for all inputs (e.g., 'is the number even?').

Undecidable Problems

Have no algorithm that can be constructed that always leads to a correct yes-or-no answer.

Intractable Problems

Problems that are practically impossible to solve in a reasonable time. There are known algorithmic solutions, but the algorithms are too inefficient to solve the problem when the number of inputs grows large.

Reasonable Time

Polynomial time. Examples are n² or n³

Unreasonable Time

Exponential time.

Heuristic Algorithm

An algorithm that finds an approximate solution for a hard problem; helpful for finding a solution in a reasonable amount of time.

Optimization Problem

Problem with the goal of finding the best (optimal) solution among many.

Sequential Computing

A computational model in which operations are performed in order - one at a time - on one processor or computer.

Parallel Computing

A computational model where a problem or program is broken into multiple smaller sequential computing operations, some of which are performed simultaneously in parallel.

Distributed Computing

A computational model in which multiple networked computers are used to run a program.

Client

Computer or software application that requests services from a server located on the internet eg., a Web browser is an example