PCEP – Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer Study Cards | Flashcards &
Exam Prep Guide 2026
Alphabet - ✔✔a set of symbols used to build words of a certain language (e.g., the Latin
alphabet for English, the Cyrillic alphabet for Russian, Kanji for Japanese, and so on)
Lexis - ✔✔(aka a dictionary) a set of words the language offers its users (e.g., the word
"computer" comes from the English language dictionary, while "cmoptrue" doesn't; the word
"chat" is present both in English and French dictionaries, but their meanings are different)
Syntax - ✔✔a set of rules (formal or informal, written or felt intuitively) used to determine if a
certain string of words forms a valid sentence (e.g., "I am a python" is a syntactically correct
phrase, while "I a python am" isn't)
Semantics - ✔✔a set of rules determining if a certain phrase makes sense (e.g., "I ate a
doughnut" makes sense, but "A doughnut ate me" doesn't)
Source code - ✔✔A program written in a high-level programming language (in contrast to the
machine code executed by computers)
Source file - ✔✔the file containing the source code
What compositions must a computer program have to make sense? - ✔✔A computer program
must make sense:
alphabetically - a program needs to be written in a recognizable script, such as Roman, Cyrillic,
etc.
,lexically - each programming language has its dictionary and you need to master it; thankfully,
it's much simpler and smaller than the dictionary of any natural language;
syntactically - each language has its rules and they must be obeyed;
semantically - the program has to make sense.
What are two different ways of transforming a program from a high-level programming
language into machine language? - ✔✔Compilation and Interpretation
What is compilation? - ✔✔The translation of source code into machine code.
What is interpretation? - ✔✔you (or any user of the code) can translate the source program
each time it has to be run; the program performing this kind of transformation is called an
interpreter.
How is source code stored and what requirements must it meet? - ✔✔Source code is stored in
a computer file, typically a text file. The text file must be a pure text file without any decorations
like different fonts, colors, embedded images or other media.
Advantages to compilation? - ✔✔- the execution of the translated code is usually faster;
- only the user has to have the compiler - the end-user may use the code without it;
-the translated code is stored using machine language - as it is very hard to understand it, your
own inventions and programming tricks are likely to remain your secret.
Advantages to interpretation? - ✔✔- you can run the code as soon as you complete it - there
are no additional phases of translation;
, - the code is stored using programming language, not machine language - this means that it can
be run on computers using different machine languages; you don't compile your code
separately for each different architecture.
Disadvantages to compilation? - ✔✔- the compilation itself may be a very time-consuming
process - you may not be able to run your code immediately after making an amendment;
- you have to have as many compilers as hardware platforms you want your code to be run on.
Disadvantages to interpretation? - ✔✔-don't expect interpretation to ramp up your code to
high speed - your code will share the computer's power with the interpreter, so it can't be really
fast;
-both you and the end user have to have the interpreter to run your code.
What are scripting languages? - ✔✔languages designed to be utilized in the interpretation
manner.
What is an instruction list? - ✔✔a complete set of known commands.
What is an interpreter? - ✔✔a computer program that directly executes instructions written in
a programming language.
A function is able to... - ✔✔cause some effect (e.g., send text to the terminal, create a file,
draw an image, play a sound, etc.); this is something completely unheard of in the world of
mathematics;
Exam Prep Guide 2026
Alphabet - ✔✔a set of symbols used to build words of a certain language (e.g., the Latin
alphabet for English, the Cyrillic alphabet for Russian, Kanji for Japanese, and so on)
Lexis - ✔✔(aka a dictionary) a set of words the language offers its users (e.g., the word
"computer" comes from the English language dictionary, while "cmoptrue" doesn't; the word
"chat" is present both in English and French dictionaries, but their meanings are different)
Syntax - ✔✔a set of rules (formal or informal, written or felt intuitively) used to determine if a
certain string of words forms a valid sentence (e.g., "I am a python" is a syntactically correct
phrase, while "I a python am" isn't)
Semantics - ✔✔a set of rules determining if a certain phrase makes sense (e.g., "I ate a
doughnut" makes sense, but "A doughnut ate me" doesn't)
Source code - ✔✔A program written in a high-level programming language (in contrast to the
machine code executed by computers)
Source file - ✔✔the file containing the source code
What compositions must a computer program have to make sense? - ✔✔A computer program
must make sense:
alphabetically - a program needs to be written in a recognizable script, such as Roman, Cyrillic,
etc.
,lexically - each programming language has its dictionary and you need to master it; thankfully,
it's much simpler and smaller than the dictionary of any natural language;
syntactically - each language has its rules and they must be obeyed;
semantically - the program has to make sense.
What are two different ways of transforming a program from a high-level programming
language into machine language? - ✔✔Compilation and Interpretation
What is compilation? - ✔✔The translation of source code into machine code.
What is interpretation? - ✔✔you (or any user of the code) can translate the source program
each time it has to be run; the program performing this kind of transformation is called an
interpreter.
How is source code stored and what requirements must it meet? - ✔✔Source code is stored in
a computer file, typically a text file. The text file must be a pure text file without any decorations
like different fonts, colors, embedded images or other media.
Advantages to compilation? - ✔✔- the execution of the translated code is usually faster;
- only the user has to have the compiler - the end-user may use the code without it;
-the translated code is stored using machine language - as it is very hard to understand it, your
own inventions and programming tricks are likely to remain your secret.
Advantages to interpretation? - ✔✔- you can run the code as soon as you complete it - there
are no additional phases of translation;
, - the code is stored using programming language, not machine language - this means that it can
be run on computers using different machine languages; you don't compile your code
separately for each different architecture.
Disadvantages to compilation? - ✔✔- the compilation itself may be a very time-consuming
process - you may not be able to run your code immediately after making an amendment;
- you have to have as many compilers as hardware platforms you want your code to be run on.
Disadvantages to interpretation? - ✔✔-don't expect interpretation to ramp up your code to
high speed - your code will share the computer's power with the interpreter, so it can't be really
fast;
-both you and the end user have to have the interpreter to run your code.
What are scripting languages? - ✔✔languages designed to be utilized in the interpretation
manner.
What is an instruction list? - ✔✔a complete set of known commands.
What is an interpreter? - ✔✔a computer program that directly executes instructions written in
a programming language.
A function is able to... - ✔✔cause some effect (e.g., send text to the terminal, create a file,
draw an image, play a sound, etc.); this is something completely unheard of in the world of
mathematics;
