Programming for Behavioral Sciences Exam Review

A comprehensive set of vocabulary cards based on an exam transcript covering Python fundamentals, OOP, data visualization, Pandas, APIs, Git, and AI-assisted programming.

Docstring

Considered the 'user manual' of a function, it describes the task, input parameters, and return values.

Design Document

A document created before writing AI prompts that defines the objectives, inputs, and outputs of a system.

Black Box (Caja Negra)

A concept where the internal implementation details and code of a function are hidden from the user, who only interacts with inputs and outputs.

Single Responsibility Principle

A design criterion suggesting that a function's logic should be segmented into independent functions if it performs multiple distinct tasks.

Flowchart

A utility used before coding to visualize the sequence of actions, decisions, and loops of algorithmic logic.

Illusion of Competence

A cognitive phenomenon where a user feels they understand a logic by reading an AI's explanation but is unable to generate the solution independently.

Modularization

The technical decision to divide code into functions to facilitate isolated testing, code reuse, and maintenance.

Decision Diamond (Rombo)

An element in a flowchart representing a bifurcation point where execution follows one of two possible logical paths, typically implemented as an if/else structure.

Prompting Context and Roles

The practice of defining a specific role (e.g., 'expert Python teacher') and technical context for the AI to adjust the tone and quality of its response.

Defensive Programming

A practice where the programmer anticipates potential errors (like invalid input) to prevent the program from failing.

Class

The abstract mold or template used in Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) to define a general structure.

Object (Instance)

A concrete entity with specific values that is created from a class.

self (parameter)

A parameter in class methods that refers to the specific instance of the object being manipulated, allowing access to its own attributes.

Protected Attribute

A variable preceded by an underscore (e.g., self._historial) to indicate by convention that it should not be modified directly from outside the class.

Inheritance

An OOP feature that allows a specific class to reuse and specialize attributes and behaviors defined in a base class.

Finally Block

A control structure in exception handling that guarantees a specific action will execute regardless of whether an error occurred or not.

Raise Statement

A command used to communicate a problem to a higher level of the program, stopping execution of the current function at the point of the error.

ValueError

An exception triggered when a function receives a value of the correct type but with an inappropriate content, such as text in a field requiring an integer.

Figure (Matplotlib)

The top-level container or canvas in Matplotlib which can host one or more individual plots.

plt.show()

The final command required to render and display the generated graphics on the screen.

plt.subplot(rows, columns, position)

A function used to create a grid of plots, where positions are numbered from left to right and top to bottom starting at 1.

plt.legend()

A command required to make the labels defined in plt.plot() visible in an informative box on the chart.

DataFrame

A two-dimensional, tabular data structure in Pandas consisting of rows and columns.

.loc

A Pandas selection method based on labels or names.

.iloc

A Pandas selection method based on numerical index positions.

.groupby()

A Pandas method used to split a dataset into groups based on a categorical variable for further analysis.

.shape

A Pandas attribute that returns a tuple representing the number of rows and columns in a DataFrame.

API (Application Programming Interface)

A set of rules that allows two different applications to communicate and exchange data in an orderly fashion.

Request and Response

The two technical moments of API communication: sending a data request (Request) and receiving a data package back from the server (Response).

JSON

A standard text-based format for data exchange that is easily mapped to Python dictionaries and lists.

Status Code 200

A technical code returned by an API indicating that the request was successful.

API Key

A credential used to identify a user making an API request to control usage and prevent abuse.

Git

A distributed Version Control System (VCS) that records changes and allows a programmer to return to previous versions of a project.

Commit

The action of officially recording specific changes into the history of a local repository with a descriptive message.

GitHub

A cloud platform that hosts remote repositories, facilitating collaboration and professional portfolio sharing.

git push

A command used to send local commits to a remote repository on a platform like GitHub.

Staged State

A Git file status indicating that the file has been marked for inclusion in the next commit.

Module

An independent .py file containing reusable code, such as functions or classes, that can be imported into other programs.

Alias (as)

Using the 'as' keyword during import to define a short name for a module to facilitate easier coding (e.g., import pandas as pd).

AI Hallucination

A technical phenomenon where an AI generates data or code that appears plausible but is actually false or non-existent.

Token

The minimal unit of text processing used by Large Language Models (LLMs).

Context Window

The technical limit of information an AI can 'remember' in a single conversation before losing consistency or forgetting earlier instructions.

Socratic Method (Tutor)

A pedagogical technique applied to AI where the user asks for clues to solve a problem rather than the direct solution.