C++ ch1 terms – Flashcards

computers can do many different jobs because they can be

fetches instructions, carries out the operations commanded by the instructions, and produces some outcome or resultant information

internally, the CPU consists of

an example of a secondary storage device

the two general categories of software are

a set of instructions

since computers can't be programmed in natural human language algorithms must be written in

the only language computers really process

language close to the level of humans in terms of readability

language close to the level of the computer

a program's ability to run on several different types of computer systems

words that have special meaning in a programming language

words or names defined by the programmer

characters or symbols that perform operations on one or more operands

characters or symbols that mark the beginning or ending of a program statement or separate items in a list

the rules that must be followed when constructing a program

a named storage location

a variable must be _______ before it can be used in a program

the three primary activities of a program

information a program gathers from the outside world

information a program sends to the outside world

a diagram that graphically illustrates the structure of a program

volatile - erased when the program terminates or the computer is turned off

non-volatile - data is retained when the program is not running or the computer is turned off; used as a backup

programs that manage computer hardware and programs that run on the computer

programs that provide services to the user

illegal use of key words, operators, punctuation, and other language elements

mistake that causes a program to produce erroneous results (i.e. using the wrong variable's value in a computation or performing order-dependent actions in the wrong order)

the five major hardware components of a computer system

get the next program instruction from main memory

interpret the instruction and generate a signal

route the signal to the appropriate component to perform an operation

unique number assigned to each word

a set of well-defined steps for performing a task or solving a problem; steps are sequentially ordered

reads source code; searches for special lines that begin with the # symbol

steps through the preprocessed source code, translating each source code instruction into the appropriate machine language instruction

last phase of the translation process; combines the object file with the necessary library routines to create the executable file

statements written by the programmer saved in this file

translated machine language instructions stored by the compiler in this file

contains machine language instructions that are ready to run on the computer

consists of a text editor, compiler, debugger, and other utilities integrated into a package with a single set of menus