Glossary
- Abandonware
- FIXME
- Absolute error
- FIXME
- Absolute import
- FIXME
- Absolute path
- Refers to the complete listing of folders between the root
folder to the last folder, if the path points to a folder, or to the parent
folder, if the path points to a file.
- Actual result
- FIXME
- Agile development
- FIXME
- Ally
- FIXME
- Append mode
- FIXME
- Assertion
- FIXME
- Authentic task
- A task which contains important elements of things that learners would do in real (non-classroom situations).
To be authentic,
a task should require learners to construct their own answers rather than choose between provided answers,
and to work with the same tools and data they would use in real life.
- Auto-completion
- Is a feature that allows the user to finish a word or code quickly through
the use of hitting the TAB key to list possible words or code that the user can
select from.
- Automatic variable (in Make)
- FIXME
- Boilerplate
- FIXME
- Branch-per-feature workflow
- FIXME https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/comparing-workflows/feature-branch-workflow
- Bug report
- Is a collection of files, logs, or related information that adequately
describes either an unexpected output of some code or program or an unexpected
error or warning. This information is used to help find and fix a bug in the
program or code.
- Bug tracker
- Is a system that tracks and manages reported bugs for a software program,
to make it easier to address and fix the bugs.
- Build manager
- FIXME https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_build_automation_software
- Byte code
- FIXME
- Call stack
- FIXME
- Camel case
- A style of writing code that involves naming variables and objects with no
space, underscore (
_), dot (.), or dash (-), with each word being capitalized.
Some examples would be: CalculateSum, findPattern, SearchFiles, or objectNumber.
- Catch (an exception)
- FIXME
- Checking-driven development (CDD)
- FIXME
- Checklist
- FIXME
- Code review
- FIXME
- Cognitive load
- FIXME
- Command argument
- FIXME
- Command flag
- FIXME
- Command history
- FIXME
- Command option
- FIXME
- Command shell
- FIXME
- Command switch
- FIXME
- Command-line interface (CLI)
- FIXME
- Comment
- Is text written in a script that is not treated as code to be run, but rather
as text that describes what the code is doing. These are usually short notes,
often beginning with a
# (in many programming languages).
- Commit
- FIXME: define both noun and verb.
- Commit message
- FIXME
- Commons
- FIXME
- Competent practitioner
- Someone who can do normal tasks with normal effort under normal circumstances.
See also novice and expert.
- Compiled language
- FIXME
- Compiler
- FIXME
- Computational notebook
- FIXME
- Conditional expression
- FIXME
- Confirmation bias
- Is the tendency to seek out or interpret information that re-affirms or
supports one’s pre-existing knowledge, beliefs, or values.
- Continuation prompt
- FIXME
- Continuous integration
- FIXME
- Coverage
- FIXME
- Creative Commons - Attribution License (CC-BY)
- FIXME
- Current working directory
- The folder or directory location that the program is operating in. Any action
taken by the program occurs relative to this directory.
- Data package
- A software package that, mostly, contains only data. Is used to make it
simpler to disseminate data for easier use.
- Default target (in Make)
- FIXME
- Defensive programming
- FIXME
- Destructuring
- FIXME
- Dictionary
- FIXME
- Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- FIXME
- Docstring
- FIXME
- Documentation generator
- FIXME
- Down-vote
- FIXME
- Entry point
- FIXME
- Exception
- FIXME
- Expected result
- FIXME
- Expert
- Someone who can diagnose and handle unusual situations,
knows when the usual rules do not apply,
and tends to recognize solutions rather than reasoning to them.
See also competent practitioner and novice.
- Explicit relative import
- FIXME
- Exploratory programming
- FIXME
- Export a variable
- FIXME
- External error
- FIXME
- False beginner
- Someone who has studied a language before but is learning it again.
False beginners start at the same point as true beginners
(i.e., a pre-test will show the same proficiency)
but can move much more quickly.
- Feature request
- Is a request to the maintainers or developers of a software program to add
a specific functionality (a feature) to that program.
- Filename extension
- FIXME
- Filename stem
- FIXME
- Filesystem
- Controls how files are stored and retrieved on disk by an operating system.
Also used to refer to the disk that is used to store the files or the type of the filesystem.
- Filter
- FIXME
- Fixture
- FIXME
- Flag variable
- FIXME
- Folder
- Is a computer storage and organization concept that allows files to be
organized in a common location, which is the folder or directory. A folder can
store both files and other folders.
- Forge
- FIXME
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- FIXME
- Full identifier (in Git)
- FIXME
- Function (in Make)
- FIXME
- GNU Public License (GPL)
- FIXME
- Git
- Is a software program that formally tracks changes made to a collection
of files within a specific folder (and its subfolders). Technically,
Git is a “distributed version control system,” meaning that each user who has
a repository on their computer also has the entire history of
changes made to that repository, so that technically there is no central
repository (e.g. that is only accessible on a server).
- Git branch
- FIXME
- Git clone
- Copies, and usually downloads, a Git remote repository
onto the local computer.
- Git conflict
- FIXME
- Git fork
- Is a concept in GitHub that indicates a GitHub repository
has been cloned into a new GitHub repository.
- Git merge
- FIXME
- Git pull
- Downloads and synchronizes changes between a remote repository
and a local repository.
- Git push
- Uploads and synchronizes changes between a local repository
and a remote repository.
- Git stage
- FIXME
- Git
- FIXME
- Graphical user interface (GUI)
- FIXME
- Hitchhiker
- FIXME
- Home directory
- FIXME
- Governance
- FIXME
- ISO date format
- FIXME
- Impact/effort matrix
- FIXME
- Implicit relative import
- FIXME
- Impostor syndrome
- FIXME
- In-place operator
- FIXME
- Internal error
- FIXME
- Interpeter
- FIXME
- Interpreted language
- FIXME
- Interruption bingo
- FIXME
- Integration testing
- FIXME
- Invariant
- FIXME
- Issue tracking system
- Is similar to a bug tracking system in that it tracks “issues”
made to a repository, usually in the form of feature requests,
bug reports, or some other todo item.
- Issue
- FIXME
- JSON
- FIXME
- Kebab case
- FIXME
- Label (in issue tracker)
- FIXME
- Label (in issue tracker)
- FIXME
- LaTeX
- FIXME
- Linter
- FIXME
- List comprehension
- FIXME
- Logging framework
- FIXME
- Long option
- FIXME
- Loop body
- FIXME
- Loop (in Unix)
- FIXME
- Milestone
- FIXME
- MIT License
- Is a legal license that places very limited restrictions on the re-use of
software, making it a very permissive license that encourages using, modifying,
and distributing the software widely.
- Magic number
- FIXME
- Makefile
- FIXME
- Martha’s Rules
- FIXME
- Maximum likelihood extimation
- FIXME
- Mental model
- A simplified representation of the key elements and relationships of some problem domain
that is good enough to support problem solving.
- Nano
- FIXME
- Ngo
- FIXME
- Novice
- Someone who has not yet built a usable mental model of a domain.
See also competent practitioner and expert.
- Object-oriented programming
- FIXME
- Open license
- Is a legal license that encourages, rather than restricts, the use, re-use,
modification, and distribution of a copyrighted material, such as with software
or written text.
- Open science
- FIXME
- Operating system
- FIXME
- Oppression
- FIXME
- Optional argument
- FIXME
- Orthogonality
- FIXME
- Overlay configuration
- FIXME
- Pager
- FIXME
- Parent directory
- FIXME
- Patch
- FIXME
- Path coverage
- FIXME
- Path
- FIXME
- Pattern rule
- FIXME
- Phony target
- FIXME
- Pipe (in Unix)
- FIXME
- Positional argument
- FIXME
- Postcondition
- FIXME
- Pothole case
- FIXME
- Power law
- FIXME
- Precondition
- FIXME
- Prerequisite (in Make)
- FIXME
- Privilege
- FIXME
- Procedural programming
- FIXME
- Process
- FIXME
- Product manager
- FIXME
- Project manager
- FIXME
- Prompt
- FIXME
- Provenance
- FIXME
- Public domain license (CC-0)
- FIXME
- Pull request
- FIXME
- Python
- FIXME
- Raise
- FIXME
- Raster image
- FIXME
- Recursion
- FIXME
- Redirection
- FIXME
- Refactoring
- FIXME
- Regression testing
- FIXME
- Regression
- FIXME
- Regular expression
- a sequence of characters that define a pattern that can be used to find matching strings
- Relative error
- FIXME
- Relative path
- Is a reference to a folder or file that begins at the current working directory,
unlike an absolute path that starts with the root directory.
- Remote login
- FIXME
- Remote login server
- FIXME
- Remote repository
- FIXME
- Repl
- FIXME
- Repository
- FIXME
- Reproducible example (reprex)
- A way of showing a code example that demonstrates the usage of the code
or to highlight an error or bug that easily allows another user to re-create
(“reproduce”) the same output or error.
- Reproducible research
- A central pillar of rigorous research that involves describing and documenting
the research results in such a way that another researcher or person can re-run
the analysis code on the exact data to obtain the same result, to “reproduce”
the findings.
- Research software engineer (RSE)
- FIXME
- Restructured Text (reST)
- A plain text markup language used by much Python documentation and documentation tooling.
- Revision
- FIXME
- Root directory
- The root folder is the folder that contains all folders and files on the
computer. It is the starting point to all files and is essentially referring to
the hard drive itself. An analogy to the root directory would be that it is
the trunk of a tree and all other folders are branches from that trunk.
- Rotating file
- FIXME
- Rule (in Make)
- FIXME
- Secure Shell (SSH)
- FIXME
- SSH daemon
- FIXME
- SSH key
- FIXME
- SSH protocol
- FIXME
- Script
- FIXME
- Search path
- FIXME
- Semantic versioning
- FIXME https://semver.org/
- Sense vote
- FIXME
- Shebang
- FIXME
- Shell script
- FIXME
- Short circuit test
- FIXME
- Short identifier (in Git)
- FIXME
- Short option
- FIXME
- Snake case
- FIXME
- Source distribution
- FIXME
- Sprint
- FIXME
- Standard error
- FIXME
- Standard input
- FIXME
- Standard input
- FIXME
- Standard output
- FIXME
- Standard output
- FIXME
- Stop word
- FIXME
- Subcommand
- FIXME
- Subdirectory
- FIXME
- Sustainable software
- FIXME
- Tab completion
- FIXME
- Tag
- FIXME
- Target
- FIXME
- Target (in Make)
- FIXME
- Ternary expression
- FIXME
- Test framework
- FIXME
- Test runner
- FIXME
- Test-driven development
- FIXME
- Three stickies
- FIXME
- Ticket
- FIXME
- Ticketing system
- FIXME
- Tidy data
- As defined in Wickham (2014), tabular data is tidy if (1) each variable is in one column,
(2) each different observation of that variable is in a different row,
(3) there is one table for each kind of variable, and
(4) if there are multiple tables, each includes a key so that related data can be linked.
- Timestamp (on a file)
- FIXME
- Tolerance
- FIXME
- Transitive dependency
- FIXME
- Triage
- FIXME
- Tuple
- FIXME
- Unit test
- FIXME
- Unix shell
- FIXME
- Up-vote
- FIXME
- Update operator
- See in-place operator.
- Validation
- FIXME
- Variable (in Make)
- FIXME
- Verification
- FIXME
- Version control system
- FIXME
- Virtual environment
- In Python, the
virtualenv package allows you to create virtual, disposable, Python software environments
containing only the packages and versions of packages you want to use for a particular project or task,
and to install new packages into the environment
without affecting other virtual environments or the system-wide default environment.
- Virtual machine
- A program that pretends to be a computer.
This may seem a bit redundant,
but VMs are quick to create and start up,
and changes made inside the virtual machine are contained within that VM
so we can install new packages or run a completely different operating system
without affecting the underlying computer.
- Whitespace
- FIXME
- Wildcard
- FIXME
- Working memory
- FIXME
- Wrap code
- FIXME