IT Fundamentals Pro, Chapter 8: Programming - Vocabulary

An open-source, general-purpose programming language for creating dynamic web pages mainly on the server side. Made in 1995 by the Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf, it is used in all corners of the Internet today, including Facebook, Wikipedia, and Wordpress. It is estimated that almost 80% of all websites still use PHP in some capacity.

PHP

A way to represent code in a manner that is easier for a wide range of people to understand.

Pseudocode

A value of a method in OOP code that can be changed anywhere in the program.

Public value

A set of protocols and tools that help programmers build applications that connect or communicate with databases, operating systems, and other services.

Application Programming Interfaces (API)

An array-like object in JavaScript that contains the values passed to a certain function's parameters.

Argument

The logic in a program that tells the computer to execute a different part of the program rather than executing statements one-by-one, in order.

Branching

A low-level programming language created in 1972. It was based on an earlier programming language called B and came to be extensively used in Unix operating systems. Almost all highly-used programming languages today are based on C, such as C#, Java, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, and Python.

C

A intermediate-level, object oriented programming language created in 1983 as an extension of the C programming language. It contains more features than C, such as templates and virtual functions.

C++

A user-defined name of a program element, such as a variable or constant.

Identifier

A general-purpose, high-level programming language that was originally developed for an interactive TV project and was designed to have cross-platform functionality. It was created in 1995 by a Canadian programmer named James Gosling and is among the most widely used programming languages in the world today. It is particularly used extensively by Android apps.

Java

A programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within a web browser.

JavaScript

Programming models built from class templates that have properties, attributes, and methods.

Object

A programming paradigm based on the concept of objects which can contain both data and programming code.

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)

Something used to describe the properties of an object.

Attribute

A person whom Charles Babbage, who designed the Analytical Engine and met her in the mid-1800s, met and who is considered the first computer programmer by historians. She wrote an algorithm to calculate Bernoulli numbers using Babbage's Analytical Engine.

Ada Lovelace

Specific, step-by-step procedures that illustrate how a problem will be solved.

Algorithm

A person who creates applications for computers and mobile devices.

Application Developer

A special kind of variable that can hold on to many values at the same time.

Array

A human-readable, low-level computer language that is a symbolic representation of binary machine language. It was created in 1949 to run the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculators (EDSAC).

Assembly Language

The first compiled programming language. It first appeared in 1952.

Autocode

Programming development that handles the behind-the-scenes work of a website that's not apparent to the average user. This includes serving content to users, managing user accounts, and accessing information from databases.

Backend Development

A programming language created in 1964 by Paul Allen and Bill Gates. It became the first product made by their company, Microsoft.

Basic

A common data type that consists of exactly two values: True and False. It is especially useful when dealing with things that can only be in two states.

Boolean

A person who writes code to design, create, implement, and maintain databases.

Database Programmer

A method that focuses on instructing a program what needs to be done instead of telling how to do it. Instead of giving the computer step-by-step instructions, the code simply says what the end result must be. It does so using domain-specific language (DSL).

Declarative Programming

A computer routine or snippet of code that can be reused in a computer program.

Function

A markup language interpreted by web browsers.

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)

The logic in a program that tells the computer to repeatedly execute a sequence of instructions until a condition is reached.

Looping

In Information Technology, this is a method used to solve a problem or perform a task.

Paradigm

A high-level programming language created in 1970 developed for teaching structured programming. It was named after the French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal.

Pascal

A high-level, general-purpose programming language that was made to run on Linux systems in 1987 by an American programmer named Larry Wall. While it is still in use today, it is slowly becoming a legacy language.

Perl

A value of a method in OOP code that can only be changed by the method's class. It cannot be directly changed anywhere else in the program other than in the methods of the class itself.

Private value

A method that focuses on telling a computer what to do to reach a certain objective. It takes a linear, top-down approach to solving problems by creating routines and subroutines that perform computations.

Procedural Programming/Imperative Programming

A method a computer uses to solve a specific problem or perform a specific task.

Programming Paradigm

A general-purpose programming language made to support a variety of programming styles while still being easy to use. It was created in 1991 by a Dutch Programmer named Guido van Rossum and was named after the Monty Python comedy troupe. It is widely used today by many large companies, such as Google and Yahoo. It is also the premier programming language for developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the foreseeable future.

Python

A file associated with a web page that describes how HTML elements are to be displayed.

Cascading Style Sheet (CSS)

A common data type that is used to store a single text character.

Char (character)

In OOP, it serves as a prototype, or template, for individual objects within it. That contain properties which are the attributes and/or characteristics that an object can hold. They also contain methods, which are the behaviors that an object can perform.

Class

A computer programming language, such as C and C++, that uses a software tool called a compiler to translate the code into binary machine language.

Compiled Language

A way of giving computers precise, line-by-line instructions to follow using programming languages.

Computer Programming

An identifier that is used to store values that will never change once they are set.

Constant

A program element, such as an array or vector, that holds a set of values.

Container

An attribute attached to a value that tells the compiler or interpreter how the data should be used.

Data Type

An OOP concept that describes how data and methods are bundled together within one unit or class. It also prevents unauthorized access to those data and methods.

Encapsulation

Something that protects certain values in a program by hiding them inside of a class. This prevents them from being directly edited by programmers, ensuring that the data is accessed and changed in only intended ways.

Encapsulation

A common data type used for numbers that have decimal places. In this data type, computers store two values behind the scenes. These are the digits in the number and the location of the decimal point, which can "float" around to any location in the number.

Float

A visual representation of the logic in a program.

Flowchart

One of the oldest languages still in use today, it was created in 1957 by American programmer John Backus to take care of complex math problems.

Fortran (Formula Translation)

Programming development that creates the things users see and interact with on a website.

Frontend Development

A common data type used for whole numbers. It includes both positive and negative numbers as well as zero.

Integer

A set of programming tools that work together to make a programmer's job easier.

Integrated Development Environments (IDE)

A computer programming language, such as Python, JavaScript, and Ruby, that requires a program called an interpreter to execute the instructions written in the source code each time the application is run.

Interpreted Language

A person who makes sure the quality of a finished software application meets the standards of the company.

QA Engineer

A general-purpose, high-level programming language that was meant to teach others how to code. It was created in 1993 by a Japanese programmer named Yukihiro Matsumoto and was influenced by other languages such as Perl. It is still used today by some major websites, such as Twitter and Groupon.

Ruby

A special interpreter that translates bytecode into computer specific machine language. Bytecode is a platform independent, low-level language that is compiled from source code.

Runtime Engine

A flow chart concept that shows a series of steps or decisions.

Sequence

A common data type that is used to store more than one character, such as a word or sentence.

String

An identifier that is used to store values that can change after they are set.

Variable

A special kind of variable that provides a more dynamic and flexible alternative to arrays in some programming languages.

Vectors

Software tools that help teams manage files and source code over time.

Version Control System (VCS)

An acronym that stands for write everything twice. It is the opposite of DRY.

WET

A person who creates websites and other technologies that are delivered through the Internet.

Web Developer