Introduction
Computing is full of funny words, and of ordinary words used in funny ways. We've tried not to use too much jargon in these sheets, but we haven't always succeeded. So this sheet tries to give brief descriptions of what some funny words mean. If you run across something you don't understand, it's worth taking a quick look at this sheet.
Some of this jargon is general programming jargon. Some is specific to Python.
Lots of these entries refer to other entries, so if you see a word in here that you don't understand you should look it up!
The jargon
- argument
- An object passed into a function when you call it. It appears inside the function as a local variable.
- association
- A piece of information that says
If you're given
. A dictionary is made up of associations.X, give backY - body
- The code inside a loop, or function, or other complicated thing. So a
function body
is what gets obeyed when you call a function, and aloop body
is what gets obeyed each time around a loop. - call
- To
call
a function is to use it. Calling a function is a bit like copying out its definition and doing that. - class
- Classes are kinds of object. (In the real world, things like
computer
andwoman
andbook
are classes. - character
- A letter, digit or other symbol. A string is made up of a sequence of characters.
- code
- The stuff that programs are made of. A
piece of code
is a portion of a program. - comment
- A piece of a program that doesn't do anything, but is there for people to read. Usually the purpose of a comment is to explain what the code around it is doing.
- condition
- Something that might be true or false, like
1>2. - conditional
- Something that depends on a condition, like an
ifstatement. - definition
- A bit of code that tells the computer what something is: what value a variable has, or what a function ought to do, or all about a class.
- dictionary
- A Python object a bit like a dictionary, an address book or an encyclopaedia. A dictionary is made up of associations.
- element
- An item in a sequence.
- exception
- An unusual situation in which something has gone wrong, or a Python object
describing such a situation. A pretentious way of saying
error
. - expression
- A calculation that produces a value. The simplest expressions are things
like constants (
123,'eek') and variables (my_name). They can get much more complicated:17*a[a.index(func(99))]>93 and a/(b+c)==2. - for loop
- A loop whose body gets obeyed once for each item in a sequence.
- function
- A set of instructions with a name. You can make the computer obey all the instructions by saying the name of the function.
- global varible
- A variable that exists everywhere in your program, not just inside one function.
- graphics
- Pictures drawn by a computer.
- immutable
- Not allowed to be changed.
- import
- To make the things inside a module available for use.
- instance
- An object described by a class. In the real world, computers and women and
books are instances of the classes
computer
,woman
andbook
. - iteration
- A single trip through a loop body. When the loop is obeyed, it will usually go through several iterations.
- key
- One half of an association in a dictionary: the half you can look things
up by. If you say
dict['zog']123, then the key is'zog'. - list
- An object made up of some number of other objects, in order. You can get at them by number.
- local variable
- A variable that exists only inside a particular function, not affecting anything outside the function.
- loop
- A piece of your program that might get obeyed over and over again.
- module
- A bunch of objects with names that you can
import
into your program. - object
- Any piece of information Python can work with, like a number or string or list.
- read
- To get information into a program. For instance, if you ask the person
sitting in front of the computer to type something in, that's
reading
. - return
- What a function does when it's finished. If it
returns a value
, then the function call can be used in an expression. - sequence
- A list or string or tuple. (Actually there are other kinds of sequence, but you don't need to worry about those.
- string
- A sequence of characters, usually forming a piece of text.
- subclass
- A class, all of whose instances are also instances of another class. In the
real world,
Apple Macintosh
is a subclass ofcomputer
, which is a subclass ofelectronic device
, which is a subclass ofthing
. - tuple
- A particular kind of sequence, written like this:
(1,2,3). Unlike lists, tuples are immutable. - value
- An object. The result of a calculation, or of a function call, or of
referring to a variable. Also: one half of an association in a dictionary: the
half you're looking for when you do a lookup. If you say
dict['zog']=123, then the value is123. - variable
- A name for an object. After saying
x=6,xis a name for the object usually known as6, and usingxwill usually do the same as using6would.xis called avariable
because you can change what object it names.
This document is part of the Gasp Python Course. You may modify and/or distribute this document as long as you comply with the LiveWires Documentation Licence: a copy of the licence is included as a comment within this document.
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