Java Computer Science Mid-Term Exam – Key Terms and Definitions for Foundational Programming Concepts

  BLANK PAGE   "Random Access Memory - CORRECT ANSWER Circuits in a computer that store data of running programs." "register - CORRECT ANSWER Holds the operands and completed result of an arithmetic operator" "scope - CORRECT ANSWER part of the program in which the variable is defined" "software - CORRECT ANSWER A program that gives directions to the computer." "stored program concept - CORRECT ANSWER instructions that are represented as binary values and stored in memory" "syntax - CORRECT ANSWER rules of how instructions in a particular programming language are formed" "terabyte - CORRECT ANSWER a trillion bytes" "transistor - CORRECT ANSWER Device that switches electronic signals off and on" "truth table - CORRECT ANSWER method for organizing the truth values of statements" "Von Neumann architecture - CORRECT ANSWER Computer model that includes a CPU, RAM, secondary storage, and input/output devices" "white space - CORRECT ANSWER tab, space, and newline characters" "constructor - CORRECT ANSWER a method that initializes a new object" "control unit - CORRECT ANSWER Component of a processor that coordinates operations in a computer." "encapsulation - CORRECT ANSWER Hiding and restricting access to details of a data structure." "explicit parameter - CORRECT ANSWER parameter of a method" "flops - CORRECT ANSWER Floating point operations per second. Measures number of mathematical operations per second." "gigabyte - CORRECT ANSWER One billion bytes or 1024 megabytes" "I/0 buffer - CORRECT ANSWER Part of the I/O controller with small amount of memory" "I/O controller - CORRECT ANSWER controls input/output and compensates for any speed differences between I/O devices and other parts of the computer" "IDE - CORRECT ANSWER integrated development environment; piece of software that provides a text editor and menu commands to write, compile, and run a computer program" "implicit parameter - CORRECT ANSWER object the method belongs to" "initialize - CORRECT ANSWER to assign a value to a variable" "instance - CORRECT ANSWER One object created as detailed in the class" "instance variable - CORRECT ANSWER a variable defined in a class for which every object of the class has its own value" "instantiation - CORRECT ANSWER the process of creating a specific object" "instruction set - CORRECT ANSWER set of all operations that can be executed by a processor" "kilobyte - CORRECT ANSWER a unit of information equal to one thousand (1024) bytes" "local variable - CORRECT ANSWER a variable whose scope is a block" "logic gate - CORRECT ANSWER An electronic circuit that performs a Boolean algebraic function." "loop - CORRECT ANSWER a sequence of instructions that is executed repeatedly" "machine language - CORRECT ANSWER instructions that can be executed directly by the cpu" "mass storage - CORRECT ANSWER storage of large amount of data in machine readable form for access by a computer system" "megabyte - CORRECT ANSWER a unit of information equal to one million (1,048,576) bytes" "memory - CORRECT ANSWER A unit of a computer that preserves data for retrieval" "Memory Address Register (MAR) - CORRECT ANSWER Stores the address of the memory location in use." "Memory Data Register (MDR) - CORRECT ANSWER Holds data being stored in RAM" "method - CORRECT ANSWER a sequence of statements that has a name, may have formal parameters, and may return a value" "mutator method - CORRECT ANSWER changes the state of an object by modifying at least one of its instance variables" "object - CORRECT ANSWER a value of a class type" "object reference - CORRECT ANSWER a value that denotes the location of the object in memory" "object-oriented programming - CORRECT ANSWER Designing a program by discovering objects, their properties, and their relationships" “Accessor Method - CORRECT ANSWER Accesses an object but does not change it" "Actual Parameter - CORRECT ANSWER Information that is passed" "Formal Parameter - CORRECT ANSWER placeholder for information" "Address - CORRECT ANSWER Location of stored information" "Algorithm - CORRECT ANSWER A well-ordered collection of unambiguous and effectively computable operations that, when executed, produces a result and halts in a finite amount of time." "Argument - CORRECT ANSWER passed by reference or value to a function, procedure, subroutine, command, or program" "ALU - CORRECT ANSWER Compares equality of arithmetic and logic operations" "ASCII - CORRECT ANSWER Represents characters for information exchange" "binary - CORRECT ANSWER Base two number system used to represent information" "bit - CORRECT ANSWER A unit of information expressed as either a 0 or 1 in binary notation." "boolean - CORRECT ANSWER Data type used to represent a single true or false value" "boolean expression - CORRECT ANSWER An expression whose value is either true or false" "boolean operator - CORRECT ANSWER logical operator. && || !=" "byte - CORRECT ANSWER 8 bits processed as a single unit of information" "cache memory - CORRECT ANSWER Memory that a processor can access faster than main memory" "cast - CORRECT ANSWER converting one data type to another" "class - CORRECT ANSWER Blue print for objects" "computer science - CORRECT ANSWER The study of Algorithms including formal and mathematical properties, hardware realizations, linguistic realizations, and their applications." "parameter - CORRECT ANSWER an item of information that is specified to a method when the method is called" "parameter passing - CORRECT ANSWER specifying expressions to be actual parameter values for a method when it is called" "primitive data type - CORRECT ANSWER a number type or boolean" "pseudocode - CORRECT ANSWER Algorithm written in both English and informal program code." "