Glossary

Wiki 1010 Table of Contents

Chapter # This page contains a glossary of terms used within the wiki along with definitions.
	Write a Program a Day	Case Studies

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	Table of Contents

Glossary

- A -

• Argument - A value passed to a method's parameter during a method call.
• Array- An object that can contain many values of the same type. [ABU]
• Array Length - Array length means the maximum size of the array. [ABU]

- B -

• Binary - A numbering system that uses only the digits 0 and 1. Any number can be represented in binary: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ... = 1, 10, 11, 100, 101, ...

• Binary Search - A binary search finds a search value in a sorted array by checking the middle element, determining if our search value is less than or greater than the middle element, and discarding the half that our search value is not in. If our middle element value is our search value, the binary search is complete. If the left or right bounds overlap, the element is not in the array.

• Bit - The smallest unit of information in a computer, with a value of either 0 or 1.

- C -

• Control Statement - A statement that returns a boolean value usually used to denote conditions for an if statement or the end case of a loop.

- H -

• Hexadecimal - (sometimes abbreviated to hex) A numbering system that uses a total of 16 digits: 0-9, A-F. A-F represent the decimal values 10-15, with the hex value 10 representing 16, hex 11 representing 17, and so on.

- I -

• If - A Java keyword that is used to perform a conditional test and execute a block of statements if the test evaluates to true.

- K -

• Keyword - In Java programming language, some words are set aside as keywords - these words are reserved by the language itself and therefore are not available as names for variables or methods.

- L -

• Linear Search - A linear search checks each element in sequence until the search value is found, or we have searched the whole array.

- M -

• Main Method - The method which Java runs when it is told to execute a class.

- N -

• Nested Method Call - A method call in which another method call is used as an argument.

- P -

• Parameter - An input value which that a method expects.
• Primitive Data Type - A primitive data type is a basic variable type that computer itself can understand. In Java char, int, float and double are all primitive data types.
• Parallel Array - Parallel arrays are used to create create connected lists of data. See Parallel Arrays

- R -

• Return Value - A value that a method which is finished running passes to its caller.
• Reference Variable - A variable that is used as a pointer (or an address) to an object. [ABU]

- S -

• String - A String is an array of characters that Java treats in a special way, allowing you to mainpulate it more easily.

• Sequential - Sequential refers to doing one thing at a time; in order. An example would be when searching an array, we would check element 0, then element 1, then element 2, ..., element n.

- U -

• User - The person who is giving input to and interpreting output from your program.
• User-Defined Method - A section of code which is declared once in a program, then used by other code sections.