Glossary of C terms.doc

8/14/2019 Glossary of C terms.doc

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Glossary of C terms.

Address.

Reference to a memory location. In Cpointersare used to holdaddresses.

ANSI

American

API

Application Programming Interface

Argument.

A value passed to a function(seeparameter).

Base Class

See C glossary.

Bloc!.A se"uence of definitions# declarationsand statements#enclosed $ithin

%races &'.

Character Array.

A set of elements of type char. (Can %e used to store a string).

Class

See C glossary.

Compilation error.

rror $hich occurs during the translation of source code into machine

code.

Compiler.A program $hich converts source code into machine code.

Compound Statement.

A se"uence of simple statements.

Constant(common all garden)

An item that represents a value that cannot %e changed. or *ample+

123 'x'

Constant (sym%olic)

A sym%ol defined in a ,definepreprocessor directive to represent aconstant value.

-ata type.

-efinition of the data. int, char, float.

-eclaration.

A construct $hich associates attri%utes to a varia%le name or function.

No storage is reserved.
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or e*ample+

extrn int a;

extrn char c;

varia%le declaration

A structure decleration could loo! li!e+

struct per_rec

{ int age;

char *surname; char *firstname;

};

-efinition.

. /aria%le definition is a declaration $ith storage allocation.2. int a;

3. char c;4. struct per_rec person;

0. A construct $hich specifies the name#parameters and return type of a

function.

or e*ample a function definition $ould %e+6. long sqrint num!

". {

#. returnnum*num!;

$. }

-erived Class

See C glossary.

ncapsulation.

1he C concept of grouping related varia%les and controlling the

operations performed apon them. 1he encapsulated varia%les can %e

considered to %e contained in their o$n environment.

scape se"uence.

Control codes comprising com%inations of a %ac!slash follo$ed %y

letters or digits $hich represent non printing characters.

*ecuta%le program.

Program $hich $ill run in the environment of the operating system or

$ithin an appropriate run time environment.

*ecuta%le (stand2alone) program.

Program $hich $ill run $ithin the environment of the operating system

$ithout additional utilities or support.

*pression.

A se"uence of operators and operands $hich may yield a single value.

ile.

-ata stored as an electronic file.

ile descriptor.
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1his is used in lo$ level I34(open3read3$rite3close functions) to identify

a file. It is an integer num%er assigned to a file name %y open and then

used as a uni"ue identifier %y read3$rite and close.

loating2point Num%er.

Num%er having a decimal place or e*ponent.

ormat specification.

A string $hich controls ho$ input or output shall %e presented.

Identifier.

1he names used to refer to stored data values such as constants,

variablesorfunctions.

Integer.

A num%er $ithout a fractional part.

5ey$ord.

A $ord $hich has a predefined meaning to a 6C6 compiler and therefore

must not %e used for any other purpose.

li%rary file.

1he file $hich contains compiled versions of commonly used functions

$hich can %e lin!ed to an o%7ect file to ma!e an e*ecuta%le program.

8i%rary function.

A function $hose code is contained in the e*ternal library file.

8ine.

4ne line of input from the standard input device (!ey%oard) $hich is

terminated $ith a ne$line character. 1he ne$line character is replaced

%y a null character.

8iteral.Characters# letters or strings$hich are to %e ta!en literally and used as

constants rather than identifiers.

9ethod.

C tal! meaning a mem%er function of a class.

4%7ect

See C glossary.

4%7ect Code.

Code $hich is directly understanda%le %y the machine (machine code).

4perand.

An e*pression acted on %y an operator. or e*ample+ % & a (;

aand bare %oth operands of the +operator.

Parameter.

A value received %y afunction.

Pointer.

/aria%le containing an address.
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Polymorphism

See C glossary.

P4SI:

Porta%le 4perating System Interface.

Precedence(of operators)

1he order in $hich operators are dealt $ith during the evaluation of an

e*pression.

Preprocessor.

A processor $hich manipulates the initial directives of the source file

$hich contains instructions a%out ho$ the source file shall %e processed

and compiled.

Preprocessor directive.

Source file instruction a%out ho$ the file shall %e processed and

compiled.

Program.

A te*t file comprising code $hich can %e compiled.

Run time error.

An error $hich occurs $hen a program is e*ecuted.

Reserved $ord. (!ey$ord)

A $ord $hich has a predefined meaning to a 6C6 compiler and therefore

must not %e used for any other purpose.

Scope.

Source code.

A te*t file comprising code $hich can %e compiled.

Statement.A simple statement is an expressionfollo$ed %y a semicolon. (See

compound statement and%loc!).

String.

A string in 6C6 is an array of characters terminated %y aNullcharacter

(6;


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1he traditional method of spa$ning processes (for!) could only

communicate $ith other for!ed processes via pipes and and =shared

memory=. 1he result is threads can communicate easily and have a lo$

CP> overhead.

/aria%le.An identifier (and storage) for a data type and for $hich the data value is

allo$ed to change as the program runs.

1op 9aster Inde* 5ey$ords unctions

Martin Leslie
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