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Glossary

algorithm
A series of steps that systematically outline how to accomplish a goal.
assembler
a piece of software that translates a specific assembly language into machine language for a specific processor.
assembly language
a set of instructions that a programmer can use to create a program for use on a specific processor. Assembly language is translated into machine language by a piece of software called an assembler
bit
The smallest possible unit of memory. A bit can store only two different values - a "0" or a "1". If a bit could store only one possible value, it would not store any information at all, because each bit would look identical. However, a bit storing one of two possible values can be combined with lots of other bits to store huge quantities of information. The term for a group of eight bits, a common occurrence, is called a byte.
byte
A small unit of memory. A byte is composed of eight bits. One bit can store two different combinations (0 or 1), two bits can store four different combinations (00, 01, 10, 11), three bits can store eight different combinations (000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110, 111); following the pattern, eight bits, or one byte, can store 256 different values.
casting
The act of viewing (and often converting) the information contained in a variable of one type as if that information was of another type.
class
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comment
These are put into source code by programmers in order to better explain what the code does. When source code is compiled into assembly language, all comments are removed. Comments only describe code, there is no action associated with them. Since comments are removed by the compiler, they can be written in plain English (or any other natural language you choose!).
compiled
Once third-generation languages have been translated into assembly code and then to machine code, they are said to have been compiled. Loosely, this could also be used to refer to any single intermediate step.
compiler
a piece of software that takes third-generation language code and translates it into a specific assembly code. Compilers can be quite complicated pieces of software.
constructor
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cout
In the C++ language, this is the name given to the standard output stream. When a buffer of characters is sent to this stream, they will appear as output on the terminal the program was ran from.
debug
the act of removing errors, logical mistakes, or flow of control problems in a program.
decimal
a number represented as a whole number and some fractional part as well. Decimal numbers either take up more memory than integers, or are accurate to less places, or both.
execute
The act of starting up and running a certain program. This involves loading the program from disk into main memory, reserving memory space for the program to work with, and sequentially executing the steps of the program as outlined by the programmer
function
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garbage
an all-encompassing term used to denote variable values that are undefined, or bad input into a program.
gcc
this is the name of the gnu C++ compiler. This free compiler is frequently used on machines running the UNIX operating system. The latest version of gcc can be downloaded via ftp.
instruction set
a set of commands that a certain CPU understands. These are very basic instructions that are wired into the logic of the CPU.
integer
a whole number value. In programming languages, integers also have a maximum value, depending on the language definition or the architecture of the machine that the code is compiled on
keyword
a word that has some sort of predefined meaning in the context of a programming language
machine language
a processor specific set of binary codes that correspond to actions to be taken by the processor of a machine.
main
In C++, this is the first function that is called when a program is executed. When a program returns from main, execution has been completed.
object
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operator
Acts on one or more subexpressions to produce a value.
parameter
a piece of data that is passed into a program, subroutine, or function call.
path
A path is used to specify where certain files can be found in a directory tree. Sometimes path is used to mean where an application looks to find certain files, such as "make sure stdio.h is in your path, or the compiler won't find it."
portable
a description of how easy it is to take code written on one machine or system and correctly compile it on another machine or system. This process is called "porting".
preprocessor directive
a command placed within a source code listing, that directs the compiler to do something before the rest of the source code is parsed and compiled.
private
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protected
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pseudo-code
a high-level abstraction of code, usually used to outline the general steps in an algorithm without having to write actual code (usually done for the reader's or programmer's benefit).
public
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public interface
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return type
specifies the type of data that is returned from a function call.
type
describes what sort of information a variable stores, as well as how much space that information takes up.
UNIX
A multi-processing, multi-user, family of operating systems that run on a variety of architechtures. A shareware version of this operating system, Linux, runs on the IBM compatible PC.
variable
a name, given by a programmer, to represent a piece of data within a certain program. This name is then used to refer to that piece of data.
Windows
A family of operating systems created by Microsoft, that run on Intel based IBM compatible machines.

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