Section 1.8 Glossary
Glossary Glossary
- algorithm.
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A general step by step process for solving a problem.
- byte code.
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An intermediate language between source code and object code. Many modern languages first compile source code into byte code and then interpret the byte code with a program called a virtual machine.
- compile.
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To translate a program written in a high-level language into a low-level language all at once, in preparation for later execution.
- executable.
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Another name for object code that is ready to be executed.
- formal language.
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Any one of the languages that people have designed for specific purposes, such as representing mathematical ideas or computer programs; all programming languages are formal languages.
- high-level language.
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A programming language like Python that is designed to be easy for humans to read and write.
- interpret.
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To execute a program in a high-level language by translating it one line at a time.
- low-level language.
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A programming language that is designed to be easy for a computer to execute; also called machine language or assembly language.
- natural language.
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Any one of the languages that people speak that evolved naturally.
- object code.
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The output of the compiler after it translates the program.
- parse.
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To examine a program and analyze the syntactic structure.
- portability.
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A property of a program that can run on more than one kind of computer.
- problem solving.
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The process of formulating a problem, finding a solution, and expressing the solution.
- program.
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A sequence of instructions that specifies to a computer actions and computations to be performed.
- programming language.
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A formal notation for representing solutions.
- Python shell.
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An interactive user interface to the Python interpreter. The user of a Python shell types commands at the prompt (>>>), and presses the return key to send these commands immediately to the interpreter for processing.
- shell mode.
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A style of using Python where we type expressions at the command prompt, and the results are shown immediately. Contrast with source code, and see the entry under Python shell.
- source code.
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A program, stored in a file, in a high-level language before being compiled or interpreted.
- syntax.
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The structure of a program.
- token.
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One of the basic elements of the syntactic structure of a program, analogous to a word in a natural language.
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