Programming is evolving with every passing day and we are becoming more and more dependent on it. Because of that a lot of entrepreneurs, as well as job opportunities, are emerging in this field. According to recent research, Millions of people learn programming every year. If you are a beginner programmer this article is for you as these are the top 15 terms you would come across during your learning curve.
Important Programming Terms
1. Variable
Variable is a scalar location paired with an identifier, basically, it is an address to a memory location where we store any data and identifier being the type of data that is an integer, String, Character, Array type, object type, and much more. They are the building blocks of any program or software because they help in providing the dynamic approach.
2. Data types
The data type in simple language is the classification of data which helps in telling the compiler or the interpreter what the programmer intends to use the data and what type of data will be stored in the Variables and accordingly allocates the size. Data types may vary from language to language but some of them are int (Integer Type), char (Character Type), Boolean (True-False Type) and many more.
3. Constants
Constant is quite similar to a variable the only difference being is its value is constant that is unchangeable throughout the code which is not the case with variables as they may vary from their initialization values. There are various specific realizations of the general notion of a constant, with subtle distinctions that are often overlooked. The most significant are: compile-time (statically-valued) constants, run-time (dynamically-valued) constants.
4. Pseudocode
As a beginner you will hear this word quite often as this is considered as the best practice to reach a goal, it basically is the layout of the code in a simple mix of English language and your preferred programming language which covers all the important points of how the code will work and how it would be implemented.
5. Conditionals
As you begin you will be introduced with the conditionals these are basically he conditional statements which tell program what to do in different cases, they play a major role in providing dynamic approach to a program and are present in a huge number in any big code as program should not work in a defined manner but should be interactive to be used by the users. One can find an example of if-else switch cases all around the net, it basic working includes if this choice is true to do this if not then do this
for e.g.:
// pseudo code
if ( ThisArticle == ”Awesome”)
print (“comment what you liked”)
else
print (“comment the feedback”)
6. Loops or iterations
Suppose we want a block of code to repeat a number of times or till when a condition is matched, to write the same line again and again would not only make our code bigger and bulky but will also make it unreadable for this situation we are provided with loops, they repeat a specific block of code until some condition is reached. Most used iterations are for loop, while loop, do-while loop.
7. Functions / Methods
In programming, we often come across situations where we have to use a code that we have implemented before instead of writing that code again we could just move it under a name and call that name whenever we need that code to be implemented. This supports the modular approach which every programmer should adopt. Functions are an integrated part of any programming language and are quite useful and are recommended for usage.
8. Data Structures
Data structures are specialized ways of organizing and storing data. Some basic data structures include arrays, and some more complex ones are record, tree, list, stack, queue and much more. Any data structure is designed to organize data to suit a specific purpose so that it can be accessed and worked in inappropriate ways. In computer programming, a data structure may be selected or designed to store data for the purpose of working on it with various algorithms.
Also Read: Top Algorithms and Data Structures Used in Programming
9. Object
An object can be a variable, a data structure, a function is basically a value in a memory referenced by an identifier. In high-level languages with multiple classes, objects may have initialized to refer to those classes which form a variable with a data type of that class and let us use all features of object-oriented programming to the fullest. An important concept for objects is the design pattern. A design pattern provides a reusable template to address a common problem.
10. Scope
For any variable, an object defined there is scope which tells about the validity of their usability, the variables and objects are valid only inside a piece of code unless globally, scope is beneficial for memory management as it helps in freeing space as when code moves out of that block the memory interlinked with that block is released. Scopes are of two types local and global.
11. Algorithms
An algorithm is a step-by-step overview of how to solve a class of problems. Algorithms can perform calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning tasks. As an effective method, an algorithm can be expressed within a finite amount of space and time and in a well-defined formal language for calculating a function.
12. IDE
IDE or the Integrated Development Environment is one of the most important components of a coder’s life as it provides essential comprehensive facilities to programmers for software development. Truthfully there are no best IDE choices that would vary from one to another, so I provide you with the selection of best on basis of the most popular choices.
Also read: 10 Best IDEs For App Developers And Programmers
An IDE normally consists of a source code editor, build automation tools, debugger but is not limited only to them. IDE is more than any of these features as it provides the power to connect all of them in one place, besides it, almost all best IDEs have intelligent code auto-completion which suggests what would be possible syntax you are trying to write in real-time.
13. API
API stands for application programming interface; it is a set of predefined protocols and tools which help in developing good application software. In simple terms, API is a set of clearly defined methods that helps in communication between various components. An API is usually related to a software library. The API describes and prescribes the expected behavior (a specification) while the library is an actual implementation of this set of rules. A single API can have multiple implementations (or none, being abstract) in the form of different libraries that share the same programming interface.
14. Modularity
Modularity is the phenomenon of reusing the code or dividing the code into modules instead of writing it in one full block, this is considered as a good practice as this not only allows reusability of code but as well as lets making changes into some specific section of code without affecting other sections. Object-oriented programming is a way to support modularity by dividing works into classes.
15. Compiled and interpreted Languages:
Compiled languages are the programming languages that need to be compiled before the usage i.e., your code needs to be built into a binary file application and that file is made to run and checked for error at the compile time, this error includes incorrect syntax, improper usage of statements and much more. Examples of such languages: C. CPP, Java, Swift, etc.
Also Read: 6 New Programming Languages you should get to know
Interpreted languages are the programming languages that need not be compiled before execution rather they are interpreted on the host machine reading the code directly, and providing instructions to the system on how to execute the program. Examples of such languages: PHP, Python, JS, etc.
