Questions tagged [terminology]
Questions about the definition of software-engineering terms, and about the right terms to use to refer to commonly known concepts, practices or patterns related to software and systems development life cycle. Using the right terms correctly is a core practice of the scientific and engineering reasoning.
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Tree impurity of a call graph
In his "Software Engineering. Principles and Practice," H. van Vliet mentions "tree impurity of a call graph." However, the term tree impurity is not used in this meaning anywhere ...
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If a function mutates outer state during execution but reverts the outer state into original state after execution, does it still contain side effect?
According to What is a "side effect?", I know the side effect means changing outside world. But what if a function that changes the outside state during execution, but reverts the state to ...
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Broadly accepted term for a "thick wrapper"? [closed]
A wrapper is often explained as modification of an interface to another function with very little added functionality, if any. I've seen scarce reference to a "thick wrapper" that does add ...
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Why is the term "string" so often abbreviated as "sz"?
A pattern I have noticed in many big C and C++ programs - including Microsoft Windows (REG_SZ type in Registry) and Valve's Source SDK (names of practically every string variable) - is that "sz&...
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How are windows at program startup called?
Often, when a program is starting it shows a modal window which has program logo, copyright information etc. For example, NetBeans shows the following window at startup:
Could anyone say how such ...
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How input side effects could be called?
According to Wikipedia, "an operation, function or expression is said to have a side effect if it modifies some state variable value(s) outside its local environment, which is to say if it has ...
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Can you explain what MAJOR and MINOR version is? [closed]
I'm trying to understand what they really are, but I can't understand how to use them.
MAJOR version when you make incompatible API changes.
What is incompatible API changes?
MINOR version when you ...
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Is there a term that describes the property of being synchronous vs asynchronous?
Is there a term that describes the property of being synchronous vs asynchronous?
The term that most naturally comes to mind is "synchronicity", however I only see this term being use in ...
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Definition of "collaborators" (of an object) in Software Design?
I have seen Martin Fowler using the term "collaborators" as some sort of synonym of "dependencies". Unfortunately, Martin Fowler does not seem to define the term anywhere, so it is ...
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Is there a common term for a fixed-length, fifo, "push through" array or list?
Here's a ubiquitous data structure in, say, game and UX programming:
there're a fixed number of items (say, "5")
they're all "zero" to begin with
you can put one in on the "...
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What is the term used to describe the number of times a pointer can be dereferenced?
For example, which term completes the sentence "p has 5 ____" in order to describe a situation like int *****p?
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Difference between API and protocol?
What's the difference between an API and a protocol?
To use a specific example: Is Coinbase's choice to refer to its WebSocket client specification as an "API" appropriate? It seems that ...
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If you run a function in a different thread, but you wait for it to finish in your main thread, is that function asynchronous?
Backstory
Probably a stupid question, but I just have a sneaking suspicion that "asynchronous" is the wrong terminology to us for naming my template function here:
template <class T>
...
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Disambiguating Python terms, what is the difference between "type hint" vs "type annotations"?
Colloquially, type hint and annotations are used interchangeably in Python. After reading PEP 484, I was unable to disambiguate the terms "type hint" vs "type annotations" from the ...
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Can I assume "Perf" is a commonly understood abbreviation for "Performance" in the context of Software Engineering? [closed]
I have been using "Perf" when writing about performance of some pieces of software (in tools, pull requests, etc.) but was wondering recently if this was an appropriate practice.
Can I ...
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What does "legacy signature" mean?
I see the term legacy signature a lot in the documentation of programming languages. For example in the php documentation :
Passing the separator after the array (i.e. using the legacy signature) ...
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If an object x is an instance of a type T, then what is a type T for a concept C?
In concept-based programming (as in C++ concepts), I am wondering if there is a noun to say that:
A type T is an XXXX of a concept C.
in the same way we can say that:
An object x is an instance of ...
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How do I describe a hierarchical relationship between software objects? [closed]
I'm trying to express a particular relationship between two software resources available in an API. The relationship is such that one of the resources is the "main" or "original" ...
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What does "OOM-safe" mean?
(In the context of reading about the systemd D-bus implementation called sdbus (full sdbus API here)):
What does "OOM-safe" mean?
From this blog post, by Lennart Poettering, the author of ...
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What does it mean if an algorithm converges?
I’m considering following sentence in a document:
Lastly, a xxx algorithm is performed to improve the convergence speed (speed it takes for the individuals in the population to get closer to the ...
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What does "set" mean in programming languages like C#?
I've been reading a book about C#. What does the word 'set' mean in the following excerpt?
Pattern matching with the switch statement: Like the if statement, the switch statement supports pattern ...
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What is the proper term for separating code into their own files? [closed]
Just curious on how to better explain this with the right terminology. For instance in React, this would kind of be like breaking down a large component into multiple smaller components. But that is ...
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What do you call a function that properly remains undefined?
Backstory:
I have subclasses that are supposed to override and define various functions, but not neccessarily all of them. They can't remain purely virtual though for obvious reasons, and so I am ...
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What to call tests that check that output has not changed?
This is a question about terminology, not about method.
Our application consists of physical simulations. Results have been validated in various ways, but we have no oracle that guarantees correctness....
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Term for a map of constants [closed]
Considering there's a map of string constants, most commonly with a key and a value being equal, e.g. in TypeScript:
const itemTypes = {
FOO_BAR: 'FOO_BAR',
BAZ_QUX: 'BAZ_QUX',
} as const;
They ...
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How do the contexts of the terms "Databank" and "Database" differ? Where did the terms originate from?
Suppose I were to make two classes:
class Databank { ... }
class Dababase { ... }
Based upon the chosen terminology, could one infer how one class would behave different compared to the other?
And ...
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lambda function vs anonymous function vs callback function
I'm writing a introductory JavaScript tutorial series, I have a question about terminology.
When explaining the Array.prototype methods, I've given an example of some code like:
const letters = ['a', '...
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What do you call a routine that contains a smaller routine?
Just a question about general terminology. A subroutine as I understand it is basically a packaged subset of instructions that a routine runs to obtain a specific result that it needs for a larger ...
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Best practice or patterns to couple complex custom objects to custom logic
In many project that grow more complex at a certain moment business rule editors, workflow editors, custom taxonomies and such enter the arena.
In all of these a coupling is made between a complex ...
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What is the term for replacing a literal with a changeable symbol?
Is there a designated term for replacing hard constants (literals of any type) peppered throughout code with changeable constructs (can be a variable or #define or any similar mechanism)?
Basically, ...
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Name of the relationship between a child object and parent interface?
If Pet is a class that implements the interface INameable, and dog is an instance of Pet, what is the name of the relationship between dog and INameable?
In casual conversation and while talking with ...
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Adjective for being okay to send via an unreliable protocol?
UDP is an example of an unreliable protocol. Is there a single word that means "okay to send via an unreliable protocol?" Sort of like "unimportant", but that's too strong a word.
...
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Opposite verb to "inherits"
What's the name of the relationship opposite to "inherits"?
Subclass inherits from superclass
Superclass ______ subclass
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Difference between Algorithm and Code
A few days ago I had a conversation with a Civil Engineer with a background in Pascal and BASIC, and we talked about programming in Python. When I was talking, I used the term "code" to ...
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General term to describe the anti-pattern where the same concept is described in different ways?
Our codebase is old and very large. Over the years, many developers have worked on the code and frequently refered to the same concept inconsistently.
For example, we have a "number that uniquely ...
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Code reference symbols in documentation, comments and pull requests?
I've seen method references in PRs and comments and documentation but it's unclear what the specific symbology means.
E.g. ClassName#myMethod or ClassName::myMethod or what about ClassName::CONSTANT
...
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What's the name of the principle that a method should EITHER orchestrate OR do?
I recall a principle that a professor talked about while I was in school (back in the mists of time) that went something along the lines of "A method/function should either orchestrate other ...
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What is the name of this pattern / style?
We have a "workflow orchestration" system at work.
It works something like this:
You configure what to run (in a database table), such as:
NameOfStepATHingToRun ="weather_data"
...
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Am I using the correct terminology for my project?
I'm currently the sole programmer for a project. We are creating a handheld device that includes a screen to display live data and video feed, push buttons to control the program's functionalities, ...
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What do you call a dependency that "leaks" to client code? What do you call one that doesn't?
Let's say you have a library StuffDoer which calls an external library MagicWizard to do its stuff. Then you add a reference to StuffDoer in UsefulApp.
In some scenarios, referencing StuffDoer ...
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What is the technical terminology for the practice of checking for null and edge cases in programming?
I took a PHP test for NASA recently and thought I should have done better. I believe the issue is something I used to know about, but need a refresher in. I can't remember what it is called though. It ...
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Definition of "functor"; Haskell vs. C++
I'm trying to understand whether the Haskell and C++ communities mean different things by the word "functor", or if there's some underlying concept that unifies the two meanings.
My ...
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What is the relation between edges in a dependency graph and the program call to create a vertex?
A Makefile is a representation of a depency graph. The files are the vertices, for example somefunctions.h, somefunctions.c and myprogram.c are the "input" vertices (is there a formal word ...
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What is the meaning of fan-out
I see this word in many places but don't get it.
From the Wikipedia,
In message-oriented middleware solutions, fan-out is a messaging pattern used to model an information exchange that implies the ...
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Is it called "composition" if we are using primitive data types?
The following is an example of "composition":
public class Car
{
Engine engine; // Engine is a class
}
But is it still called "composition" if we are using primitive data ...
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Where's the interpolation in "string interpolation"?
In most contexts, the concept of "interpolation" seems to be related to estimating unknown states from known ones, like video frames or data points.
From the Wikipedia entry on interpolation:...
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Is there a single word for a "non-empty" string?
Take a simple example:
string1 = ""
string2 = "foo"
string1 is empty or null, which is clear.
But what about string2? I wouldn't call it "full". "Non-empty" or ...
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Is there a term for "shift towards zero"?
In pseudo code: given numbers x and y, if x is greater than zero, subtract the magnitude of y from x, otherwise add the magnitude of y to x. It's ok if x goes from being positive to negative or vice ...
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Does accepting a handler instead of returning a result have a name?
def create() -> socket.socket:
...
return sock
def create_(func: callable)-> None:
...
func(sock)
return
What are the names of those two interfaces between* a socket ...
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Sign Extension, When to stop?
Today, we learnt about sign extension to solve the problem where adding positive number to another positive one gives a negative.
But my professor didn't mention at all when we should use it and how ...
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