AP Computer Science Principles Vocabulary Questions and Correct Answers

AP Computer Science Principles Vocabulary
Questions and Correct Answers
AlgorithmA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
AtAitsAcore,AanAalgorithmAisAreallyAjustAaAgeneralized,AconceptualAsolutionAtoAaAproblemA
thatAcanAlaterAbeAimplementedAinAsomeAreal-worldAformAlikeAaAcomputerAprogram.
ApplicationAProgramAInterfaceA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
ApplicationAprogramAinterfaceA(API)AisAaAsetAofAroutines,Aprotocols,AandAtoolsAforAconstruct
ingAsoftwareAapplications.AAnAAPIAspecifiesAhowAsoftwareAcomponentsAshouldAinteract.AIn
Aaddition,AAPIsAareAusedAwhenAprogrammingAgraphicalAuserAinterfaceA(GUI)Acomponents.

BinaryA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
AAnumericAsystemAofAbaseA2AthatAonlyAusesAcombinationsAofAtheAdigitsAzeroAandAone;AthisA
isAusedAinAoneAofAtheAlowestAlevelsAofAabstraction.AComputersAoperateAinAbinary,AasAtheyAs
toreAdataAandAperformAcalculationsAusingAonlyAzerosAandAones.AWhileAaAsingleAbinaryAdigit
AcanAbeAusedAtoArepresentATrueA(1)AorAFalseA(0)AinAbooleanAlogic,AmultipleAbinaryAdigitsA

canAbeAusedAinAconjunctionAtoAstoreAlargeAnumbersAandAperformAcomplexAfunctions.A
ComputersAtranslateAbetweenAbinaryAandAwhatAyouAactuallyAworkAwithAsuchAasAnumbersA
andAtext.
BinaryASearchA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
AAsearchAalgorithmAthatAlocatesAtheApositionAofAaAtargetAvalueAwithinAaAsortedAarrayAbyArep
eatedlyAdividingAtheAsearchAintervalAinAhalf;AcanAonlyAbeAusedAwhenAtheAlistAisAsorted.ABec
auseAofAitsAdivide-and-
conquerAapproach,AtheAamountAofAworkArequiredAtoAfindAanAitemAgrowsAmuchAmoreAslowly
AwithABinaryASearchAthanAwithASequentialASearch.AInAfact,AwithAthisAlogarithmicAbehavior

BooleanAFunction*A-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
AnyAfunctionAbasedAonAtheAoperationsAAND,AOR,AandANOT,AandAwhoseAelementsAareAfro
mAtheAdomainAofABooleanAalgebra.AAAfunctionAwhoseAarguments,AasAwellAasAtheAfunctionAi
tself,AassumeAvaluesAfromAaAtwo-elementAsetA(usuallyA{0,1})
CentralAProcessingAUnitA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
CPU,AorAprocessor,AisAtheAbrainsAofAtheAcomputerAwhereAmostAcalculationsAtakeAplace.AC
ontainsAtheAcircuitryAnecessaryAtoAinterpretAandAexecuteAprogramAinstructions.
ComputationalAArtifactA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
SomethingAcreatedAbyAaAhumanAusingAaAcomputerAandAcanAbe,AbutAisAnotAlimitedAto,AaApro
gram,AanAimage,AanAaudio,AaAvideo,AaApresentation,AorAwebApageAfile
CryptographyA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
TheAscienceAofAcodingAandAdecodingAmessagesAinAorderAtoAkeepAthemAsecure.ACodingAta
kesAplaceAusingAaAkeyAthatAideallyAisAknownAonlyAbyAtheAsenderAandAintendedArecipientAofA
theAmessage.
FloatingAPointANumbersA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
AsAtheAnameAimplies,AfloatingApointAnumbersAareAnumbersAthatAcontainAfloatingAdecimalAp
oints.AExamplesAinclude,AtheAnumbersA5.5,A0.001,AandA-
2,345.6789.ANumbersAwithoutAdecimalAplacesAareAcalledAintegers.AComputersArecognizeA
realAnumbersAthatAcontainAfractionsAasAfloatingApointAnumbers.

,HexadecimalA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-HexadecimalAdescribesAaAbase-
16AnumberAsystem.AThatAis,AitAdescribesAaAnumberingAsystemAcontainingA16AsequentialAn
umbersAasAbaseAunitsA(includingA0)AbeforeAaddingAaAnewApositionAforAtheAnextAnumber.ATh
eAhexadecimalAnumbersAareA0-9AandAthenAuseAtheAlettersAA-
F.AUsedAtoArepresentAdigitalAdataAbecauseAitAutilizesAfewerAdigitsAthanAbinary.
IntegersA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
AnAintegerAisAaAwholeAnumberA(notAaAfraction)AthatAcanAbeApositive,Anegative,AorAzero.AInAc
omputerAscience,AanAintegerAisAaAdatumAofAintegralAdataAtype,AaAdataAtypeAthatArepresents
AsomeAfiniteAsubsetAofAtheAmathematicalAintegers.AIntegralAdataAtypesAmayAbeAofAdifferentA

sizesAandAmayAorAmayAnotAbeAallowedAtoAcontainAnegativeAvalues.
IterationsA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
IterationAisAtheArepetitionAofApartAofAanAalgorithmAuntilAaAconditionAisAmetAorAforAaAspecifiedA
numberAofAtimes.AThisAisAoftenAcalledAaA'loop'.ARecursiveAfunctionsArepeatedlyAexecuteAth
emselvesAasApartAofAtheirAoperation.AUponAcompletingAallAinstructionsAandAresettingAtoAthe
AfirstAoneAiterationAhasAbeenAcompleted.

LibrariesA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-InAcomputerAscience,AaAlibraryAisAaAcollectionAofAnon-
volatileAresourcesAthatAaAprogramAcanAuseAoftenAtoAdevelopAsoftware.ALibrariesAareApartic
ularlyAusefulAforAstoringAfrequentlyAusedAroutinesAbecauseAyouAdoAnotAneedAtoAexplicitlyAlin
kAthemAtoAeveryAprogramAthatAusesAthem.ATheAlinkerAautomaticallyAlooksAinAlibrariesAforAro
utinesAthatAitAdoesAnotAfindAelsewhere.AResourcesAwhichAmayAbeAfoundAinAlibrariesAinclud
eAdata,Adocumentation,AmessageAtemplates,Apre-writtenAcode,Aclasses,AorAvalues.
Linear/SequentialASearchA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
AAprocessAthatAchecksAeveryAelementAinAtheAlistAsequentiallyAuntilAtheAdesiredAelementAisAf
oundAorAallAelementsAhaveAbeenAsearched.ACanAbeAusedAinAanyAtypeAofAlist.AHasAlinearApe
rformance.
LosslessADataACompressionA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
WithAlosslessAcompression,AeveryAsingleAbitAofAdataAthatAwasAoriginallyAinAtheAfileAremainsA
afterAtheAfileAisAuncompressed.AAllAofAtheAinformationAisAcompletelyArestored.AThisAisAgene
rallyAtheAtechniqueAofAchoiceAforAtextAorAspreadsheetAfiles,AwhereAtheAlossAofAwordsAorAfina
ncialAdataAcouldAposeAaAproblem.APNGAisAanAimageAformatAthatAprovidesAlosslessAcompre
ssion.
LossyADataACompressionA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
LossyAcompressionAreducesAaAfileAbyApermanentlyAeliminatingAcertainAinformation,Aespeci
allyAredundantAinformation.AWhenAtheAfileAisAuncompressed,AonlyAaApartAofAtheAoriginalAinf
ormationAisAstillAthereA(althoughAtheAuserAmayAnotAnoticeAit).ALossyAcompressionAisAgenera
llyAusedAforAvideoAandAsound,AwhereAaAcertainAamountAofAinformationAlossAwillAnotAbeAdete
ctedAbyAmostAusers.AJPEGAprovidesAlossyAcompression.
MetadataA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
MetadataAisAdataAthatAdescribesAotherAdata.AMetadataAsummarizesAbasicAinformationAabo
utAdata,AwhichAcanAmakeAfindingAandAworkingAwithAparticularAinstancesAofAdataAeasier.AItAp
rovidesAinformationAconcerningAanAitem'sAcontentAsuchAasAimageAresolutionAandAsize.
Parameters*A-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
InAcomputerAprogramming,AaAparameterAorA"argument"AisAaAvalueAthatAisApassedAintoAaAfu
nction.AMostAmodernAprogrammingAlanguagesAallowAfunctionsAtoAhaveAmultipleAparamete
rs.AWhileAtheAsyntaxAofAaAfunctionAdeclarationAvariesAbetweenAprogrammingAlanguages,Aa
AtypicalAfunctionAwithAtwoAparametersAmayAlookAsomethingAlikeAthis:

, functionAgraphXY(x,Ay)
{
A...

}A

generalizeAaAsolutionAbyAallowingAaAprocedureAtoAbeAusedAinsteadAofAduplicateAcode;Aprov
ideAdifferentAvaluesAasAinputAtoAproceduresAwhenAtheyAareAcalledAinAaAprogram.
PseudocodeA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
PseudocodeAisAaAdetailedAyetAreadableAdescriptionAofAwhatAaAcomputerAprogramAorAalgori
thmAmustAdo.AItAmayAalsoAdescribeAanAoperatingAprinciple.AItAisAexpressedAinAaAformally-
styledAnaturalAlanguageAratherAthanAinAaAprogrammingAlanguageAintendedAforAhumans.AT
heAconventionsAofAnormalAprogrammingAcontinue.
SequencingA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
TheAexecutionAofAeachAstep/actionAofAanAalgorithmAinAtheApreciseAorderAinAwhichAtheAstate
mentsAareAgiven.

OneAofAtheAthreeAbuildingAblocksAofAalgorithms.ATheAotherAtwoAlogicAstructuresAareAselecti
onAandAiteration.AInAaAsequenceAstructure,AanAaction,AorAevent,AleadsAtoAtheAnextAorderedA
actionAinAaApredeterminedAorder.ATheAsequenceAcanAcontainAanyAnumberAofAactions,AbutA
noAactionsAcanAbeAskippedAinAtheAsequence.ATheAprogram,AwhenArun,AmustAperformAeach
AactionAinAorderAwithAnoApossibilityAofAskippingAanAactionAorAbranchingAoff AtoAanotherAactio

n.

TheAtermAsequenceAisAoftenAappliedAtoAvideoAandAaudio.
SimulationsA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
TheAuseAofAaAcomputerAtoArepresentAtheAdynamicAresponsesAofAoneAsystemAbyAtheAbehavi
orAofAanotherAsystemAmodeledAafterAit.AAAsimulationAusesAaAmathematicalAdescription,AorA
model,AofAaArealAsystemAinAtheAformAofAaAcomputerAprogram.
StringsA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
AAstringAisAaAdataAtypeAusedAinAprogramming,AsuchAasAanAintegerAandAfloatingApointAunit,Ab
utAisAusedAtoArepresentAtextAratherAthanAnumbers.AItAisAcomprisedAofAaAsetAofAcharactersAth
atAcanAalsoAcontainAspacesAandAnumbers.AForAexample,AtheAwordA"hamburger"AandAtheAp
hraseA"IAateA3Ahamburgers"AareAbothAstrings.ATheAlengthAisAanAimportantAstringAcharacteri
stic.
RepetitionA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-AAsynonymAforAloopAandAiteration.
Selection/ConditionalA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
OneAofAtheAthreeAbuildingAblocksAofAalgorithmsAwhichAaddsAconditions.AAllowsAforAstateme
ntsAsuchAasAif-
elseAwhichAcanAsendAanAalgorithmAdownAoneAofAtwoApathsAdependingAonAifAaAconditionAisAt
rueAorAfalse.
If-ElseA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
AAstructureArelatedAtoAselectionAwhichAstatesAthatA"if"AoneAthingAisAtrueAthenAthisAshouldAha
ppen,AelseAthatAshouldAhappen.AOnlyAoperatesAwithAYes/NoAquestions.
CommunicationA-ACORRECTAANSWERSA-
TheAtransmissionAofAdataAfromAoneAcomputerAtoAanother,AorAfromAoneAdeviceAtoAanother.