How To Think Like a Computer Scientist C++ Edition The Pretext Interactive Version

Glossary Glossary

loop.

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A statement that executes repeatedly while a condition is true or until some condition is satisfied.

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infinite loop.

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A loop whose condition is always true.

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body.

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The statements inside the loop.

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iteration.

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One pass through (execution of) the body of the loop, including the evaluation of the condition.

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tab.

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A special character, written as \t in C++, that causes the cursor to move to the next tab stop on the current line.

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encapsulate.

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To divide a large complex program into components (like functions) and isolate the components from each other (for example, by using local variables).

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local variable.

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A variable that is declared inside a function and that exists only within that function. Local variables cannot be accessed from outside their home function, and do not interfere with any other functions.

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generalize.

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To replace something unnecessarily specific (like a constant value) with something appropriately general (like a variable or parameter). Generalization makes code more versatile, more likely to be reused, and sometimes even easier to write.

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development plan.

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A process for developing a program. In this chapter, I demonstrated a style of development based on developing code to do simple, specific things, and then encapsulating and generalizing.

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