click below
click below
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Stack #170605
How to Think Like a Computer Scientist Chapter 1 -- The way of the program
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| algorithm | A general process for solving a category of problems. |
| bug | An error in a program. |
| byte code | An intermediate language between source code and object code. Many modern languages first compile source code into byte code and then interpret the byte code with a program called a virtual machine. |
| compile | To translate a program written in a high-level language into a low-level language all at once, in preparation for later execution. |
| debugging | The process of finding and removing any of the three kinds of programming errors. |
| exception | Another name for a runtime error. |
| executable | Another name for object code that is ready to be executed. |
| formal language | Any one of the languages that people have designed for specific purposes, such as representing mathematical ideas or computer programs; all programming languages are formal languages. |
| high-level language | A programming language like Python that is designed to be easy for humans to read and write. |
| interpret | To execute a program in a high-level language by translating it one line at a time. |
| low-level language | A programming language that is designed to be easy for a computer to execute; also called "machine language" or "assembly language." |
| natural language | Any one of the languages that people speak that evolved naturally. |
| object code | The output of the compiler after it translates the program. |
| parse | To examine a program and analyze the syntactic structure. |
| portability | A property of a program that can run on more than one kind of computer. |
| print statement | An instruction that causes the Python interpreter to display a value on the screen. |
| problem solving | The process of formulating a problem, finding a solution, and expressing |
| program | A sequence of instructions that specifies to a computer actions and computations to be performed. |
| Python shell | An interactive user interface to the Python interpreter. The user of a Python shell types commands at the prompt (>>>), and presses the return key to send these commands immediately to the interpreter for processing. |
| runtime error | An error that does not occur until the program has started to execute but that prevents the program from continuing. |
| script | A program stored in a file (usually one that will be interpreted). |
| semantic error | An error in a program that makes it do something other than what the programmer intended. |
| semantics | The meaning of a program. |
| source code | A program in a high-level language before being compiled. |
| syntax | The structure of a program. |
| syntax error | An error in a program that makes it impossible to parse (and therefore impossible to interpret). |
| token | One of the basic elements of the syntactic structure of a program, analogous to a word in a natural language. |