Program Design and Analysis Vocabulary

software development

software development

Writing a program that performs a specific task

object-oriented program

The idea of using interacting object that work with each other to achieve a goal

program specification

Given description of a task

program design

A written plan, an overview of the solution

program implementation

The actual writing of the code

test data

The input that is used to test the code

program maintenance

The action of keeping the program running and up-to-date as time goes by

top-down development

The strategy of implementing main classes first, and subsidiary classes later

independent class

A class that doesn’t rely on others in its code in order to perform its task

bottom-up development

Implement lowest level, independent classes first before the main classes

driver class

A main method classes that are used to test other classes

inheritance relationship

is-a relationship between classes

composition relationship

has-a relationship between classes

inheritance hierarchy

Inheritance relationship shown in a tree-like diagram (usually an UML diagram)

UML diagram

Tree-like representation of a relationship between classes

data structure

Java construct for storing a data field (Array, int, boolean)

data encapsulation

Hiding data field and methods in a class by making them private

stepwise refinement

Breaking large methods into smaller methods by using helpers

procedural abstraction

Using separate methods to encapsulate each task

algorithm

Step-by-step process that solves a problem

stub method

Dummy method called by another method being tested, to test if it works

debugging

Fixing errors within the code

robust program

A program that screens out bad inputs

compile-time error

An error that prevents programs form compiling, usually a syntax error.

syntax error

Bad language usage (missing braces)

run-time error

Error that occurs during execution (int division by zero, index out of bounds)

exception

A run-time error thrown by Java method

logic error

Program runs but does the wrong thing (incorrect writing of code)