1.17. Glossary
- abstraction
- focusing on desired behaviors and properties while disregarding what is irrelevant/unimportant
- access keywords
- keywords such as ‘’public’‘, private’‘, and ‘’protected’’ that indicates what class properties/behaviors a user can change
- address-of
- The address-of operator (
&) is used to access the address of a C++ variable.
- argument
- data passed to a parameter.
- array
- a data structure consisting of an ordered collection of data elements of identical type in which each element can be identified by an array index.
- atomic data type
- basic data type that cannot be broken down into any simpler data elements.
bool- keyword for Boolean data type.
char- keyword for character data type that stores a single character.
- class
- a template for creating (instantiating) objects, for providing initial values for state via member variables, and for implementations of behavior via member functions or methods
- class methods
- the functions and methods that belong to a class that describe what the class can do
- collection
- a grouping of a number of data items (possibly only zero or one) that have some shared significance or need to be operated upon together.
const- keyword that makes a variable or value immutable. i.e. constant and unchanging.
- constructor
- an class’ special function that initializes an object of that class
- dereference
- follow a pointer to its referenced memory location and read the data there.
double- keyword for double-precision floating point data type.
- encapsulation
- hiding the contents of a class except when absolutely necessary
float- keyword for floating point data type.
- friend
- an operator or function that can access the private data members of a class of which it is designated as a friend.
- friend function
- a function defined outside that class’ scope but has access to private and protected members of the class
- function
- A section of code that performs a procedure and is usually named.
- hash table
- a collection consisting of key-value pairs with an associated hash function that maps the key to the associated value.
- immutable
- unable to be modified.
- inheritance
- sharing/gaining the same behavior as another class
- instance
- an occurrence of an object
int- keyword for integer data type.
- mutability
- able to be modified.
- object
- an abstraction of that can contain data as well as manipulate data
- object attribute
- a property of an object that describes what it “looks like”
- object-oriented programming language
- programming language that uses objects to represent data and methods such as C++ and Java
- overloading
- specifying more than one definition for the same function name or the same operator within the same scope.
- parameter
- a variable in a function or method definition that accepts data passed from an argument.
- pointer
- a variable that stores and manipulates memory addresses.
- polymorphism
- the ability to process objects or methods differently depending on their data type, class, number of arguments, etc.
- reference
- a value that indicates a place in a computer’s memory.
- set
- an unordered data structure consisting of unique, immutable data values.
- string
- a sequential data structure consisting of zero or more characters.
- vector
- sequence container storing data of a single type that is stored in a dynamically allocated array which can change in size.
void- keyword indicating a function has no return value.
- word
- unit of data used by a particular processor design.
Next Section - 2. Analysis