What is "programming" anyway?
"Programming" means telling a computer what to do, by writing words that it can understand. We call these words "code". They are similar to human language, and are written in a simple text file with a text editor.
That's the basic idea — of course there's a lot more to it after that: That's why they pay us the big bucks!
| ! | 1. bang 2. not |
More about ! at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: pipe, piping |
bang | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #! | shebang | More about #! at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
shuh-BANG | ||
| # | 1. hash 2. comment mark 3. Convention for prompt for root user |
More about # at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: shebang |
hash | ||
| % | 1. per cent 2. Means all lines in the vi editor |
More about % at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
per CENT | ||
| - | dash | More about - at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
dash | ||
| . | "dot" 1. source 2. Indicating here in a directory listing 3. The dot in a dot file name |
More about . at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: the three dots |
dot | ||
| / | slash | More about / at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
slash | ||
| : | colon | More about : at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
COLE-un | ||
| < > | angle brackets | More about < > at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
ANG-gul BRACK-et | ||
| @ | 1. "at" or "at the rate" - used in an email address 2. php programming: the shuddup operator |
More about @ at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
at, shud-dup | ||
| [ ] | square brackets | More about [ ] at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
SQWAR BRACK-et | ||
| \ | backslash | More about \ at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
back-slash | ||
| { } | curly brackets Also called curly braces or curlies |
More about { } at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
KUR-lee BRACK-et | ||
| abort | the abnormal termination of a program | "I hit ctrl-C to abort the program" | More about abort at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
uh-BORT | |
| absolute number | See unsigned number | More about absolute number at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
AB-so-loot NUM-ber | ||
| absolute path | The complete pathname to a file, starting at the root (/) directory. | Example:/home/myname/journal.txt The absolute path to journal.txt is /home/myname/ |
More about absolute path at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: relative filename, filesystem |
AB-so-loot PATH | |
| abstraction | Scripts that use abstraction retain the same basic flow by placing the conditional execution statements within functions. When a function is called, it makes a decision as to what commands execute for a given platform. | More about abstraction at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
ab-STRAK-shun | ||
| address | In memory: the location of a particular byte. For disk or tape: the number of a block or sector. | More about address at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
ADD-ress | ||
| address space | The area of memory available to the running program. | More about address space at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
ADD-ress space | ||
| algorithm | A defined set of actions. | More about algorithm at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
AL-go-rithum | ||
| anchoring expression | Normally anhy part of a line will be matched by a regular expression. to match expressions that either begin or end a line, you need ot anchor the regular expression. The ^ character anchors regular expressions to the beginning of a line, whereas the $character anchors regular expressions to the end of a line. |
/^foo .*/ will match all lines that have foo at the beginning of the line. |
More about anchoring expression at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
ANK-or-ing ex-PRESH-un | |
| applet | A small program, often written in java, which usually runs in a web browser, as part of a web page. | More about applet at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
APP-let | ||
| application | Another word for a program | More about application at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
ap-lih-KAY-shun | ||
| application program | A program that performs a specific task (or set of tasks) in coordination with an operating system. The task may be anything from a calculator to a word processor to a database management program. | More about application program at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
app-lih-KAY-shun pro-gram | ||
| argument | This is not about disagreements! 1. In unix, arguments are the options to a unix command, also the filenames you want the command to operate on. 2. In programming, arguments are the values you pass to a function. |
1. unix: When you type ls -l *.htmlthe -l and the *.html are arguments to the ls command. |
More about argument at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: In programming, also called parameters In shell command line, also called options or flags |
AR-gyu-ments | |
| array | An ordered arrangement of units of data; a collection of scalars. Arrays are manipulated one unit at a time by using an index; other times the address ofthe first unit is used to refer to the array as a whole. An array can be organized into any number of dimensions, limited only by the capacity of memory and the limitations of the language. An array of more than one dimension is often called a matrix. | More about array at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
uh-RAY - sometimes AIR-ray | ||
| array variable | A structure to group scalar variables together. | $myvar = array('dog', 'cat', 'horse', 'yak') |
More about array variable at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: index, key |
arr-AY VAR-ee-ubl | |
| artifical intelligence | the ability of computers to reason in a manner similar to human beings. It is still largely a theoretical study. | More about artifical intelligence at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
ar-tih-FISH-ul in-TELL-ih-juns | ||
| ASCII | American Standard Code for Information Interchange. It is the set of binary representations ofthe standard characters (A-Z, a-z, etc.) that most computers and peripherals use. Compare to EBCDIC. | More about ASCII at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
ASK-ee | ||
| assembler | A program that converts assembly language source code to machine language. | More about assembler at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
uh-SEM-blur | ||
| assembly language | The symbolic equivalent of machine language, using meaningful mnemonics (e.g., READ, LOAD, STORE) to represent binary machine instructions. | More about assembly language at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
uh-SEM-blee LANG-widge | ||
| assignment statement | A statement that performs an operation on one or more operands and stores the result in a specified memory location. | More about assignment statement at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
uh-SINE-ment STATE-ment | ||
| asynchronous I/O | An input or output (I/O) operation that, once started, operatest independently of the starting program. Contrast with synchronous I/O | More about asynchronous I/O at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
ay-SIN-kron-us eye-oh | ||
| awk | A powerful pattern-matching language that allows you to modify input lines by manipulating the fields they contain. | More about awk at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
awk | ||
| background | A process usually runnikng at a lower priotity, and with its input disconnected from the interactive sesson. and input and output are usually directed to a file or to another process | More about background at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
bak-ground | ||
| background process | An automomous process that is running under unix without requiring user interaction. | More about background process at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
bak-ground PRAH-cess | ||
| backup | A copy of files on some storage medium, such as disk or tape. | More about backup at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
BACK-up (noun), back-UP (verb) | ||
| backwards compatibility | A quality of a new version of a language, operating system, or hardware such that programs that used to work onder the previous version will also work with this new one, | More about backwards compatibility at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
BACK-wards com-pat-ih-BIL-ih-tee | ||
| basename | The ending directory or file name in a path | The basename of /usr/home/tashi is tashi The basename of /www/site/news.html is news.html |
More about basename at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
base-name | |
| batch processing | A method of executing programs under the control of the operating system, without a human user | More about batch processing at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
batch PROH-cess-eeng | ||
| begin-end pair | The pair of keywords which mark the start and end of a code block in a high-level language | More about begin-end pair at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
be-gin-end PARE | ||
| binary | A two-digit number system (zero and one). Ultimately, all data in memory consists of binary numbers – circuits which are either ON [1] or OFF [0]. | More about binary at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
BYE-nuh-ree | ||
| binary operator | An operator which requires two operands. | More about binary operator at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
BYE-nuh-ree OP-ur-ay-tor | ||
| bit | The smallest unit of memory: zero [0] or one [1]. Eight bits make one byte. | More about bit at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
bit | ||
| block | 1. In programming code, a section of structured code which is isolated from other parts of the program. 2. In a disk, the grouping of one or more disk file records into a unit that is read or written with one I/O operation. The size of the block is related to the physical characteristics of the I/O device - often 512 bytes in size. A disk is typically composed of many tens, or hundreds, of thousands of blocks of information. |
More about block at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: i-node |
block | ||
| block I/O | Input from or ouput to a file or I/O device using groups of data. Contrast with record I/O. | More about block I/O at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
block eye-oh | ||
| body | 1. in programming, the set of commands executed by a loop is called the body of the loop. 2. In html, the body is the part of the html file between the <body> tags, containing the content that is shown on the web page. |
More about body at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
BAH-dee | ||
| boolean value | See logical value | More about boolean value at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
BOOL-ee-un VAL-you | ||
| boot | A hardware operation that takes the computer from the "power on" state to a usable condition. Its major function is to locate and read in the operating system. | More about boot at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
boot | ||
| break | A control statement which causes the program to break out of the current if-then-else, do-while, or switch construction. | More about break at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
brake | ||
| breakpoint | A software trap set by the debugger in the running program. When the breakpoint is executed, it transfers control of the computer to the debugger. | More about breakpoint at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
BRAKE-point | ||
| Brian Kernighan | unix: regular expressions (grep), programming principles, typesetting, computer-aided instruction, C language, awk | More about Brian Kernighan at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
BRI-un KURN-ih-gun | ||
| buffer | A section of memory (usually defined as an array) that contains variable amount of data. The term is usually associated with I/O operations. | More about buffer at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
BUFF-ur | ||
| bug | An error in a program (from the english word for "insect"). | More about bug at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: debug, debugger |
bug | ||
| built-in | A command whose code is part of the shell, as opposed to a utility that exists in a separate disk file, which must be read into memory separately. | ls is a built-in command of most unix shells (such as bash) |
More about built-in at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
bilt-in | |
| byte | The smallest addressable unit of memory. It almost always consists of eight bits. 1024 bytes make one kilobyte (KB). | More about byte at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
bite | ||
| C | A structured language, developed by Bell Labs in the early 1980s, that is flexible enough to be used to write operating system code as well as application programs. C and its descendants (C++ and Java) are some of the most popular languages in use today. | More about C at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
see | ||
| C++ | A programming language descended from C, which is object-oriented. | More about C++ at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
see-plus-plus | ||
| call | An instruction which changes the program flow to another memory location while preserving the address of the instruction following the call. it is used to execute a subroutine, function, routine, or procedure. The return instruction changes the execution flow back to the instruction after the call. | More about call at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
kall | ||
| call by reference | A parameter passed to a subroutine as an address. The subroutine uses indirect addressing or pointer manipulation to access the data. The subroutine can also use this location as a means of passing complex data back to the caller. | More about call by reference at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
kall by REF-ur-ense | ||
| carriage return | A control character that moves the cursor back to the leftmost column on the screen, or the print head back to the left margin of the paper. Often abbreviated as CR. Represented in code by r. Usually combined with line feed. |
More about carriage return at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
KARE-rij ree-turn | ||
| central processing unit | Also called a CPU. the central circuitry whic performs the individual software instructions. Includes circuits to locate data in memory. Also includes the internal registers. | More about central processing unit at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
SEN-trul PRO-sess-eeng YUNE-it | ||
| character | A letter, digit, punctuation mark, or symbol that can be typed in from a keyboard, displayed on a monitor, or printed by the printer. Standard ASCII characters do not need any special processing, but special characters might. | More about character at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
KARE-ack-tur | ||
| child process | See subprocess | More about child process at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
CHILD PROH-sess | ||
| child shell | See subshell | More about child shell at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
child shell | ||
| chip | An integrated circuit, the successor to transistors and vacuum tubes. A CPU is made up of one or more chips, as are memory boards and most other components of a modern computer. | More about chip at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
chip | ||
| coder | A programmer. | More about coder at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
CO-dur | ||
| comma separated values | The long way to say "csv" | More about comma separated values at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
KOM-uh SEP-ur-ate-ed VAL-yous | ||
| command | 1. unix: Each program in unix is also known as a command. Same thing. 2. shell: Also, the name of a program along with any arguments you specifiy to it. The text you type in the command line 3. programming: A line of code which performs some action. |
More about command at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
kum-MAND | ||
| command separator | Some symbol to show where one command ends and another begins. | The most common command separator is the semicolon ; |
More about command separator at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
kum-MAND SEP-ur-ay-tur | |
| command substitution | The process by which the shell executes a command and substitutes in the output of the command. | More about command substitution at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
kum-mand sub-stih-TOO-shun | ||
| comment | something in the source code of a program which is not code, but is for a human to read. Usually it is description of what the code is doing. | In html, a comment is set off by the characters <-- and -->. |
More about comment at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
KOM-ment | |
| compound command | A list of commands separated by the command separator character. | More about compound command at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: simple command |
KOM-pound kum-mand | ||
| compound expresson | Consists of one or more expressions | More about compound expresson at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
KOM-pound ex-PRESH-un | ||
| computer file | A file | More about computer file at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
kom-pyoo-tur file | ||
| conditional execution | Alters the execution of some code, based on the some parameter. Usually consists of an if statement. | More about conditional execution at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
con-DISH-un-ul ek-seh-KYU-shun | ||
| conditional expression | An expression which returns true or false, usually with some kind of if statement |
if (love unix) then |
More about conditional expression at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
kun-dish-un-ul ex-PRESH-un | |
| control character | A non-printing character – a code point (a number) in a character set that does not in itself represent a written symbol. Such as BEL (intended to cause an audible signal in the receiving terminal), SYN (a synchronization signal). | More about control character at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
kun-TROL kare-uk-tur | ||
| control code | See control character | More about control code at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
kun-TROL kode | ||
| convention | A practice or procedure widely observed in a group; the usual, accepted way of doing things. | It's not a rule, nothing will break if you do it differently, but if you follow the convention, most people will understand it. | More about convention at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: default |
kun-VEN-chun | |
| core dump | When a program crashes, it can write an image of everything it has in memory at that time to the disk. This image is called a core file or core dump | More about core dump at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
KOR dump | ||
| CPU | Central Processing Unit | More about CPU at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
see-pee-you | ||
| csv | "comma separated values" A format for organising data, by separating the fields or values with commas | 'dog', 'cat', 'rat' | More about csv at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: database, tsv |
see-ess-vee | |
| data | information, in any form: numbers, words, organised or unorganised | More about data at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: database, filesystem |
DAY-tuh or DAH-tuh | ||
| debugging hook | A function or set of commands that executes only when script executes with a special argument. Debugging hooks provide a convenient method for tracing the execution of a script in order to fix problems. | More about debugging hook at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
dee-BUG-eeng hook | ||
| default | A particular setting or value for a variable that is assigned automatically by an operating system or a program. It remains in effect unless canceled or overridden by the user. | Example: I changed the default for the font in the word processing program. The default behavior of the ls command is to display all files and directories, except the dot files . |
More about default at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: default option, convention |
DEE-falt | |
| default behavior | The output that is generated when a command with no arguments, is called the default behavior of that command | The default behavior of the cp command is to copy over files without asking. |
More about default behavior at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
DEE-fawlt bee-HAYV-yur | |
| default option | An option that is selected automatically unless another one is specified. | Example: ... |
More about default option at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: default |
dee-falt OP-shun | |
| Dennis Ritchie | father of C programming language | More about Dennis Ritchie at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
DEN-nis RICH-ee | ||
| determinate loop | “A loop where the number of itmes the loop is run is known before the loop is started.” | More about determinate loop at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
dee-TUR-min-ut loop | ||
| directory tree | Unix uses a hierarchical structure for organizing files and directories. This structure is often referred to as a directory tree. The tree has a single root node, /, and all other directories are contained below it. |
More about directory tree at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
duh-REK-to-ree TREE | ||
| document | “Any specific type of file produced or edited by a specific application; usually capable of being printed.” | "HTML document"; "Word document"; "Photoshop document" | More about document at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
DOCK-yoo-munt | |
| environment variable | A variable that is available to any program. | More about environment variable at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: environment |
en-VI-run-mnt VAIR-ee-ubl | ||
| escape sequence | A special sequence of characters that represents another character. | ^C | More about escape sequence at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
ess-KAPE SEE-kwens | |
| escaping | Escaping a character means to put some other character, usually a backslash ( |
' removes the special meaning of the |
More about escaping at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: and indicates that it is just another character. n gives a special meaning to the n character |
indicating that it is means "line feed".' | |
| exclusion set | A set of characters that the pattern must not contain. | More about exclusion set at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
ecks-KLOO-zhun set | ||
| exporting | A variable is placed in the environment by exporting it using the export command | More about exporting at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
eks-PORT-eeng | ||
| expression | A command (statement) that returns a value. | More about expression at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
ex-PRESH-un | ||
| field | 1. unix, programming: A set of characters that are separated by one or more field separator characters. 2. database: ... |
More about field at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: csv, tsv |
feeld | ||
| field separator | Controls the manner in which in input line is broken into fields. | In the shell, the field separator is stored in the variable IFS. In awk the field separator is stored in the awk variable FS. Both the shell and awk use the default values of space and tab for the field separator. |
More about field separator at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
FEELD SEP-er-ay-tur | |
| file | A stream of bytes treated and stored by the operating system as one thing. Or, more accurately, an element of a filesystem. | More about file at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: computer file |
file | ||
| file descriptor | An integer that is associated with a file. Allow you to read and write from a file with your code, using the integer instead of the filename. | More about file descriptor at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
file di-SKRIP-tor | ||
| file format | “A particular way to encode information for storage in a computer file” | More about file format at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
FILE for-tum | ||
| filter | A particular type of unix program that expects to work either with file redirection or as part of a pipeline. These programs read input from standard input, write to standard output, and often don't have any starting arguments. | More about filter at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
FIL-tur | ||
| function | A piece of code in a program that is given a name so that it can be called multiple times. | More about function at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
FUNK-shun | ||
| Grace Hopper | Legendary programmer; discovered the first physical bug in a computer: a moth that got caught in the vacuum tubes. | More about Grace Hopper at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
grase HOP-pur | ||
| hacker | A programmer who enjoys coding and solving problems. | More about hacker at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
HACK-ur | ||
| hierarchy | “An organisation with few things, or one thing, at the top and with several things below each other thing.” | The unix filesystem is hierarchical: Each directory may contain files or other directories | More about hierarchy at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
HI-ur-ar-kee | |
| inclusion range | A range of characters that the pattern must include. | More about inclusion range at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
in-KLOO-zhun range | ||
| indeterminate loop | “A loop where the number of itmes the loop is run is not known before the loop is started.” | More about indeterminate loop at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
in-duh-TUR-min-ut loop | ||
| infinite loop | A loop that executes forever without terminating. | More about infinite loop at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
in-fih-nit LOOP | ||
| interactive mode | In interactive mode, the shell gets input from the user and executes the commands that the user specifies. The shell is interacting with the user. | More about interactive mode at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
in-tur-AK-tiv mode | ||
| interactive program | An application that expects the user to enter information and then responds. | The ls command is not interactive, but the more program, which responds to your keypress, is interactive. |
More about interactive program at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
in-tur-AK-tiv PRO-gram | |
| interface | A program or display that gives a human a way to talk to the computer, and the computer a way to talk to the human. | interpreter, shell | More about interface at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
in TUR face | |
| interpreter | A program that interprets, or translates, from one thing to another thing. | interface, shell | More about interpreter at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
in TUR pruh tur | |
| interrupt | A signal to a program that tells the program to do something that is not in the usual flow of control. | SIG_HUP | More about interrupt at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
noun: IN-tur-rupt verb: in-tur-RUPT |
|
| iteration | A single execution of the body of a loop. | More about iteration at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
it-ur-AY-shun | ||
| jargon | foo | More about jargon at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: Eric Raymond |
JAR-gun | ||
| language | A sequence of "tokens" such as words, characters, or other symbols , which is used to communicate. A language has a syntax and vocabulary. | More about language at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: program, perl, shell, php, C |
LANG-widge | ||
| Larry Wall | Esteemed programmer/hacker - Inventor of unix patch utility, the perl language, rn network news reader |
More about Larry Wall at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
LARE-ee WALL | ||
| left rooted | Patterns that must occur at the beginning of a line | More about left rooted at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
left ROO-ted | ||
| library | A file used by another program. It usually contains only functions, and not main code. | More about library at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
LEYE-brair-ee | ||
| literal character | A character with no special meaning, so which causes no special action to be taken. Quoting causes the shell or program code to treat a wildcard as a literal character. | a, 1, X are literal characters.* usually has special meaning, but if we put it in hard quotes: '*', it will lose its special meaning and merely display as *. |
More about literal character at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
LIT-ur-ul KARE-uk-tur | |
| local variable | A variable that is present within the current block of code, or within the current instance of the shell. It is not available outside the block, or to programs that are started by that shell. | More about local variable at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
LO-kul VAIR-ee-ubl | ||
| logic | reasoning | More about logic at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
LOJ ik | ||
| loop | One or more commands that are executed repeatedly (while a condition is true. Enables the program to execute one or a series of commands multiple times. | Two main types of loops are the while and for loops. |
More about loop at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
loop | |
| main code | All the commands in a program that are not contained within functions. usually contain the main logic of the program. | More about main code at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
mane code | ||
| meta | Means, "something about itself". | We might have a meeting to discuss where and when to have our meetings. That would be a "meeting about meetings" – a meta-meeting. Meta-data is information (or data) about data. |
More about meta at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
MEH-tuh | |
| metacharacter | In a regular expression, a metacharacter is a special character that is expanded to match patterns. | More about metacharacter at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
MET-uh KARE-uk-tur | ||
| minimal constraint | "The principle of minimal contstraint": The idea that designs (such as engineering or programming designs) should define or lmit only what they have to. They should leave other aspects of the system as unconstrained as possible. | More about minimal constraint at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
min-ih-mul con-STRAINT | ||
| MIT | Common abbreviation for Massachusetts Institute of Technology | More about MIT at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
em eye tee | ||
| modulus function | See remainder function | More about modulus function at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
MOD-you-lus FUNK-shun | ||
| nested loop | When a loop is located inside the body of another loop, it is said to be nested within another loop. | More about nested loop at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
NEST-ed LOOP | ||
| newline character | Literally, the linefeed character whose ASCII value is 10. In some programming languages, the newline character is a special character that indicates the end of , and that it may now be executed. |
In unix, the newline character is represented by n, in mswindows by rn, and on macintosh by r |
More about newline character at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
NOO-line KAR-uk-tur | |
| no-op | A command that does nothing, and thus can be used as a dummy command, or placeholder, where syntax requires a command. | More about no-op at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
no-awp | ||
| node | A thing that is joined by links. In the web, a node is a web page – or technically, any resource with a URI. | More about node at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
node | ||
| noninteractive mode | In noninteractive mode, the shell or operating system does not interact with the user. Rather, it reads commands stored in a file and executes them. When it reaches the end of the file, the shell exits. | More about noninteractive mode at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
NON-in-tur-AK-tiv MODE | ||
| null character | Each character in unix has a specific value (in unix only?). Any character with a numeric value of zero (0) is known as a null or null character. | More about null character at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
null KAR-uk-tur | ||
| numeric expression | A command used to add, subtract, multiply, and divide two numbers. Numeric expressions are constructed using the numeric operators">. | More about numeric expression at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
noo-MAIR-ik eks-PRESH-un | ||
| numeric operator | The symbols used in numeric expressions: + (add), - (subtract), * (multiply), / (divide), and % (modulo). |
More about numeric operator at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
noo-MAIR-ik OP-ur-ay-tur | ||
| object-oriented programming | (OOP) A kind of programming which uses the concept of an object, which contains methods. | More about object-oriented programming at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
pronounce | ||
| open source | Software whose source code is freely distributed and can by viewed (and modified) by anyone. open source is a trademark of opensource.org. Open Source Software, abbreviated as OSS | linux, perl, php, internet | More about open source at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: Intellectual Property, FLOSS, Richard Stallman, Larry Wall, Tim O'Reilly |
OH-pen SORSE | |
| ordinary file | A file on the filesystem that contains data, text, or program instructions. | More about ordinary file at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: block special file, character special file |
OR-din-air-ee file | ||
| output redirection | In unix, the process of capturing the output of a command and storing it in a file, sending it to another program (via a pipe), etc. The output is redirected from the default, the screen. | More about output redirection at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
OUT-put ree-duh-REK-shun | ||
| parent process | A process that controls another (referred to as the child process or subprocess). | More about parent process at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
PAIR-unt pro-sess | ||
| parent process identifier | The process identifier of the parent process. | More about parent process identifier at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
PAIR-unt pro-sess eye-DEN-tih-feye-ur | ||
| parent shell | The shell identifier (typically the login shell) that controls another (often referred to as child shell or subshell). | More about parent shell at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: parent process |
PAIR-unt shell | ||
| perl | A fourth-generation programming language, developed especially for powerful manipulatiion of strings and files. "the Golden Swiss Army Chainsaw" (cfeaver) | Larry Wall | More about perl at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
purl | |
| php | A fourth-generation programming language, developed especially for the web. | More about php at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
pee-aitch-pee | ||
| pipeline | A series of unix commands chained by | - the pipe character. The output of a command is passed to the next command. |
ls | wc -l counts the number of files in the file listing. echo `who | awk '{print $1}' | sort | uniq` | sed 's/ /,/g' list the unique names of current users on a single line, separated by commas. |
More about pipeline at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
pipe-line | |
| piping | The process used to redirect the output of one command into the input of another command. | Piping in the unix shell is done with the | (pipe) character. |
More about piping at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
PIPE-eeng | |
| process | 1. "program": A program that is running. It also could be stopped, sleeping, wedged, or a zombie. In all cases, it is taking up memory, and the attention of the operating system, and it will be shown in the ps command. |
The user's interactive session is a process. A process can invoke (run) and control another program, that is then referred to as a subprocess. Ultimately, everything a user does is the subprocess of the operating system | More about process at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
PROH-sess | |
| process identifier | The unique number assigned to every process running in the system. Shown in the heading of the ps command as pid. |
More about process identifier at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
PRO-sess eye-DEN-tih-feye-ur | ||
| program | One or more commands in a file, written in one of the many programming languages. | In the unix shell a program would be run as a command. In a graphical interface (GUI) it would be run by clicking on an icon or select from a menu. On the web it might be run by clicking on a link or typing in a url. | More about program at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
PRO-gram | |
| programmer | A person who writes code, as programs or scripts. | More about programmer at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: coder |
PRO-gram-ur | ||
| programming | Telling a computer what to do, by writing words that it can understand. We call these words "code". They are similar to human language, and are written in a simple text file with a text editor. | More about programming at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
PROH-gram-eeng | ||
| programming language | C, C++, Perl, PHP, shell, ... | More about programming language at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
PRO-gram-eeng LANG-wij | ||
| protocol | "language"; also "rules of behavior". The language and set of rules that define how computers will interact. | Examples of protocols are FTP and HTTP. | More about protocol at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
PRO-to-kol | |
| quoting | Literally, to enclose selected text within some type of quotation marks. In programming, quoting means to use double (") or single (') quotes to tell the programming language whether or not to interpret the values inside the quotes. |
$this = 'cat'; |
More about quoting at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
KWO-teeng | |
| recursive command | A command that calls, or invokes, itself | More about recursive command at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
ree-KUR-siv kum-mand | ||
| redirection | Most unix programs expect to read their input the from user (standard input and write (send) their output to the screen (standard output). By use of redirection, however, input can come from a previously created file, and output can be saved to a file instead of being displayed on the screen. | > and >> are used to redirect the input, output, and error. $ls -l > filelist.txt |
More about redirection at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
file ree-di-REK-shun | |
| regular expression | A convenient notation for specifying complex patterns | Examples: ^ to match the beginnning of the line $ to match the end of the line. |
More about regular expression at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
REG-you-lar ex-PRESH-un | |
| regular file | The most common type of file. Regular files store any kind of data. It may be stored in plain text, an application-specific format, or a special binary format that the system can execute. | More about regular file at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
REG-you-lur file | ||
| remainder function | The remainder of a division operation: the amount that is left over, and not evenly divisible. Also called modulus function | The remainder (modulo) of 5 / 2 is 1 |
More about remainder function at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
ree-MAIN-dur FUNK-shun | |
| reserved word | A non-quoted word that is used in grouping commands or selectively executing them. | if, then, else, case, for, while, etc. |
More about reserved word at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
ree-ZURVD WORD | |
| scalar | A variable that can hold only one value at a time. | More about scalar at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: array |
skail-ur | ||
| script | A program which does not need to be compiled before being run., | A program written in perl is called a script | More about script at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: scripting language, php, shell |
skript | |
| scripting language | A programming language in which the program does not need to be compiled before being run. | shell, perl, php are scripting languages | More about scripting language at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: script |
SKRIP-ting lang-gwidge | |
| separation of form from content | The principle that one should work separately, with the content of a document and with the style in which it is presented. This was an important factor in the decision to use SGML in the web's language, by the web's creator Tim Berners-Lee. | More about separation of form from content at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: CSS, style sheet |
sep-uh-ray-shun uv FORM frum KON-tent | ||
| set group ID | "SGID". The SGID permission causes a script or program to run with its group set to the group of the script, rather than the group of the user who started it. | More about set group ID at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
set grup eye-dee | ||
| set user ID | "SUID". The SUID permission causes a script or program to run as the user who is the owner of the script, rather than the user who started it. | More about set user ID at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
set you-zur eye-dee | ||
| shebang | #! Programmer's way of saying the two characters # (haSH or SHarp), and ! (bang). Usually used in talking about "the shebang line" |
More about shebang at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Shebang_%28Unix%29 Also called hash-bang |
shuh-BANG | ||
| shebang line | Programmer's way of describing the first line, beginning with shebang (#!), that must appear in a file of code written in an interpreted language on unix. |
#!/usr/bin/perl |
More about shebang line at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Shebang_%28Unix%29 |
shuh-BANG | |
| signal handler | A function that executes when a signal is received by a program. Usually signal handlers clean up temporary files and then exit | More about signal handler at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
SIG-nul HAND-ler | ||
| simple command | A command that you can execute by just giving its name at the prompt | More about simple command at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: compound command |
SIM-pul kum-mand | ||
| standard error | A special type of output used for error messages. The file descriptor for STDERR is 2. |
More about standard error at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
STAN-durd err-or | ||
| standard in | See standard input | More about standard in at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: standard out, standard error |
STAN-durd in | ||
| STDERR | See standard error | More about STDERR at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: STDIN, STDOUT |
STAN-durd err-or | ||
| STDIN | See standard input | More about STDIN at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: STDERR, STDOUT |
STAN-durd in | ||
| STDOUT | See standard output | More about STDOUT at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: STDERR, STDIN |
STAN-durd out | ||
| string | Sequences of various simple objects. Usually these "simple objects" will be printable characters and the control codes that are used with them, but they may also be binary code. | string as related to computers, at Wikipedia | More about string at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
string | |
| subset | More about subset at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
SUB-set | |||
| superset | More about superset at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
SOO-per-set | |||
| syntax | The structure of a language: the order of the words, special use of words, etc. | In the syntax of the Tibetan language, the verb comes before the subject. In the syntax of the English language, the verb comes after the subject. In the syntax of command line shell, the verb comes first | More about syntax at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
SIN-taks | |
| tab separated values | The long way to say "tsv" | More about tab separated values at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
TAB SEP-ur-ate-ed VAL-yous | ||
| text | One or more characters | Character as related to computers, and plain text, at Wikipedia | More about text at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
text | |
| transpose case | To switch uppercase letters to lowercase, or lowercase to uppercase | ABC -> abc | More about transpose case at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
trans-POZ case | |
| tsv | "tab separated values" A format for organising data, by separating the fields or values with tabs | 'dog' 'cat' 'rat' | More about tsv at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: database, csv |
tee-ess-vee | |
| value | Some kind of data in a variable. | More about value at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
VAL-yoo | ||
| variable | A name for a piece of data. | More about variable at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia See also: constant |
VAIR-ee-uh-bul | ||
| variable substitution | The process of replacing the value of a variable for the variable's name. | More about variable substitution at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
VAIR-ee-uh-bul sub-stih-TOO-shun | ||
| wildcard | A special character that is interpreted to have a meanng other than the character itself. | Example: * is a shell wildcard and creates a pattern that matches zero or more characters. When prefaced, for example, with the letter d – d* – this shell pattern will match all files beginning with d – like this: ls d* |
More about wildcard at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
WILD-card | |
| zero-length variable | A variable that does not have a value assigned to it. | More about zero-length variable at foldoc.org techweb dictionary.com wikipedia |
zee-ro-length VAIR-ee-uh-bul |