Programming Glossary

Reviewed by Nicole T.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Other

% :

symbol that is used to mark the beginning of a comment; the comment ends with the line (there is no end comment symbol);

% comment goes here

is equivalent to

<!--Comment goes here--> in HTML

and

/* comment goes here */

A

argument:

an actual (variable, constant, or a declared constant ) of a specified datatype provided when a subprogramis called (into action) ; an argument list is an ordered set fo such vaules.

assignment operator( := ) :

an operator which instructs the computer to store the value on its right side of the variable or declared constant whose name appears on its left side; pronounced “is assigned the value” or “get”

B

C

comma: (,)

symbol used to seperate items in a list; good programming technique requires a blank space after each comma.

comment:

text written for the benefit of programmer; this text is never seen by the uses of the programmers

concatenation operator ( + )

a binary string operator whose result is the concatenation (the linking together) of the operands.

constant

a value which never changes

D

declared constant:

a special kind of variable whose value cannot be changed once initialized.(set)

dot-dot (..)

option of the put keyword; instructs computer not to move the cursor to the beginning of the next line.

E

F

function:

a subprogram which returns a value. ex. repeat

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

output field:

the horizontal space taken by data put out by the computer; if no field width is specified, the computer provides an output field whose length is exactly equal to the length of the data; string data are left-justufied and numeric data are right-justified within and output field.

output-field width:

for the character strings and integers, a single value is specified for the field width; for reals, two values can be specified: the overall field width and teh numbeer of decimal places to be displayed within that overall width; 0 is a special value which specifies a field width exactly equal to the actual width of the data (the default width)

P

parameter:

a variable of a specified datatype required for the correct execution of the subprogram; a parameter list specifies the order and datatype of the values which must be provided when a subprogram is called (into action)

procedure:

a subprogram which performs a task

put

keyword for “output”; instructs computer to output objects to the run window; once the objects are output, the cursor is moved to the beginnning of the next line

Q

R

S

sequence:

unless a program specifies otherwise, the computer will execute each instruction of a program in the sequence, from top to bottom. This type of program control is called sequence, and all programs at least one section of code which executes in sequence.

skip:

keyword used as object of put; instructs computer to move the point position to the beginning of the next line.

subprogram:

a named program fragment ( see procedure, fragment )

T

U

V

variable:

a named location in memory (RAM) suitable for the storage of data of a specified type ; the value stored in the location can be changed, hence it’s variable

W

X

Y

Z