Unit 1 - Using Objects and Methods Vocab

Sofware engineer

A person who desings, develops, and tests software for home, school, and business use

Algorithm

A finite set of instructions that accomplish a task

Sequencing

Defines an order for when steps in a process are completed

Class header

Consists of hte class keyword and thename of the class

comment

a text note to explain or annotate the code and is ignored when the program is run

source code

a collection of programming commands

syntax

the rules for how a programmer must write code for a computer to understand

syntax error

a mistake in the code that does not follow a programming language’s syntax

attribute

a characteristic of an object

behavior

an action that an object can perform

class

a programmer defined blueprint from which objects are created

object

an instance of a class

object oriented programming

an approach to creating and using models of physical or imagined objects

constructor

a block of code that has the same name as the class and tells the computer how to create a new object

Instantiate

to call the constructor to create an object

dot operator

used to call a method in a class

method

a named set of instructions to perform a task

argument

the specific value provided when a method or construcor is called

parameter

defines the type of value to recieve when a method or constructor is called

string literal

a sequence of characters enclosed in quotation marks ( ““ )

Inheritance

an object oriented programming principle where a subclass inherits the attributes and behaviors of a superclass

subclass

a class that extends a superclass and inherits its attributes and behaviors

superclass

a class that can be extended to create subclasses

tester class

the class that contains the main method and from where the programstarts running

method signature

consists of a name and parameter list

return

to exit a method and go back to the point in the program that called it with the requested value or information

return type

the value returned before a method completes its execution and exits

void

specifies that a method should not have a return value

code review

the process of examining code and providng feedback to improve the quality and functionality of the program

commit

an operation which saves the latest changes of the code and represents a snapshot of a project

documentation

written desciprtions of the purpose and functionality of code

postcondition

a condition that must always be true just after execution of a code segment

precondition

a condition that must always be true just before the execution of a code segment

programming style

a set of guidelines and best practices for formatting program code

data type

the format of the data that can be stored in a variable

declaration

giving a name and data type to a variable

variable

a container that stores a value in memory

constructor signature

the first line of the constructor which includes the public keyword, theconstrucor name, and any parameters

default value

a predefined value that is used by a program when the user does not provide a value

actual parameter

the value t oassing to the formal parameter

call by value

copying the value of the actual parameter to the construcotr’s formal parameter

formal parameter

the value to be passed to a constructor or method

local variable

a variable declared and accessible within a specific block of code

overloading

defining two or more constructors or methods with the sam ename but different signatures

parameterized constructor

a constructor that has a specific number of arguents to be passed to assign values to an object’s instance variables

state

the attributes of an object that are represented by its instance variables

application program interface ( API ) 

a library of preweritten classes

library

a collection of methods or reusable components of code

assignment

using the assignment operator ( = ) to initialize or change the value stores in a variable

initialization

giving a starting value to a variable using the assingment operator ( = ) . 

primitive type

a basic data type that Java predifines

reference type

a data type that contains a pointer to the memory location of an object

componud assingment operator

shortcut syntax to perform an operation on both operands and assignthe result into the variable on the left

compound expression

a combination of expressions

concatenation

when two string s are joined together

expression

a combination of data and operators that evaluates to a single value

operand

the data that is operated on

truncate

to cut off data from the end

constant

a variable whose value cannot be changed once it has been assigned