Programming Revision: Key Terms

You could be asked the definition of any of the following terms (often worth multiple marks). You should aim to include this
terminology in your programming answers, where appropriate.

Programming Fundamentals
Key Term Student Definition Official Definition
PROGRAM An algorithm translated into a
programming language.

SEQUENCE The idea that the order statements

appear in a program matters.
Statements are executed in order.

SELECTION Techniques that allow a program to

take different paths on different runs
(Eg IF).

ITERATION Techniques that allow sections of

code to be repeated within a
program.

VALIDATION Checking user inputs as they are

entered. Displaying an error
message when appropriate and
giving the user a chance to change.
PROGRAM A piece of text meant to explain the
COMMENT script to another human. These are
ignored by the computer.

PROGRAM SCRIPT A piece of code that has been

written in a high level language and
has not yet been translated for the
computer.
EXECUTABLE CODE A piece of code that has been
translated into machine code (1’s
and 0’s) for the computer to
execute.
HIGH-LEVEL A written programming language
LANGUAGE who’s keywords are similar to
human language. (Eg. PYTHON,
VB.NET, C, etc.)

Trent College GCSE Computer Science: 3.2 Programming Revision

Program Data Storage
Key Term Student Definition Official Definition
VARIABLE A named space in computer
memory. The value stored inside can
change during the program run.

IDENTIFIER The name given to a variable by the

programmer.

DATA TYPE Describes the way in which the

binary code stored within a variable
should be read.

DATA STRUCTURE A structure that stores multiple

values, under one identifier, in an
organised and usable fashion.

1D ARRAY A structure with one index only (so

one dimension only)

INDEX The designation (address) of each

element with the structure.

ELEMENT The name given to each of the

‘spaces’ within the structure.

2D ARRAY A structure with two indices (two

dimensions). This could be visualised
as a grid or a list within a list.

Trent College GCSE Computer Science: 3.2 Programming Revision

Sub-Routines
Key Term Student Definition Official Definition
SUB-ROUTINE A section of code that is designed to
do a very specific job within a larger
section of code. (This links to
decomposition of algorithms)
FUNCTION A sub-routine that returns a single
value to the routine that called it
(usually the main program).

PROCEDURE A sub-routine that returns zero, or

more than one value to the routine
that called it (usually the main
program).
PARAMETER An input given to a sub-routine.
(These are listed in the sub-routine
header and separated by commas).

LOCAL VARIABLE A variable that only has scope (is

accessible) in one sub-routine.

GLOBAL VARIABLE A variable that has scope (is

accessible) in all routines with the
program.

SUB-ROUTINE The piece of code that contains the

DEFINITION instructions for the
function/procedure to carry out.

SUB-ROUTINE The first line in a sub-routine

HEADER definition. This contains the name of
the sub-routine and defines the
parameters needed for the sub.
SUB-ROUTINE CALL A line of code used to activate a sub-
routine. It contains the name of the
routine and supplies values (in
brackets) for its parameters.

Trent College GCSE Computer Science: 3.2 Programming Revision

Programming Errors/Testing
Key Term Student Definition Official Definition
SYNTAX ERROR An error in the grammar of the
coding language (Eg. spelling error,
capitalisation error, missing symbol).
Program will not run.
LOGIC ERROR The program runs with no error
messages or crashes, however it
produces incorrect/undesired
results.
RUN-TIME ERROR The program runs but does not (or
may not) complete.

INTEGRATED A program designed to assist

DEVELOPMENT programmers in writing other
ENVIRONMENT (IDE) programs. (Eg. Visual Studio, IDLE,
Pycharm, etc.)
UNIT TESTING Testing one section/sub-routine of a
code at once.

INTEGRATION Testing multiple routines working

TESTING together.

SYSTEM TESTING Testing an entire product from start

to finish.

USER ACCCEPTANCE Giving a product to the end-user to

TESTING test and give feedback.

BLACK BOX TESTING Giving a piece of code input and

analysing the output to check it is
correct. It doesn’t matter about
what the code did in between.
WHITE BOX TESTING Testing the code and paying
attention to exactly how it works,
checking values are correct as the
code executes.
TRACE Following the code instructions by
hand to check the values that
variables should hold at certain
times.
BREAKPOINT A ‘pause’ point in the code that
allows us to check the value of
variables in the code at that point.

Trent College GCSE Computer Science: 3.2 Programming Revision

Program Translation
Key Term Student Definition Official Definition
SOURCE CODE A piece of high level code that has
been translated into machine code
for the computer to execute.

HIGH-LEVEL A written programming language

LANGUAGE who’s keywords are similar to
human language. (Eg. PYTHON,
VB.NET, C, etc.)

COMPILER This translates the entire code script,

all at once, producing a full source
code before it is run.

INTERPRETER An interpreter translates one line of

code at a time, it does not produce a
source code.

ASSEMBLY A low-level language composed of

LANGUAGE mnemonics. It is a much more basic
coding form than a high-level
language. It gives greater control of
hardware, but is much less
convenient to use.
ASSEMBLER Translates assembly language into
executable machine code
instructions (0’s and 1’s) for the
computer to process.

Trent College GCSE Computer Science: 3.2 Programming Revision