This post is a kind of different one. I want to draw some differences between the meaning of words that software developers encounter when reading computer languages books.
BRACE (noun) one of a pair of signs { } used to wrap the body of a function, of a class, etc.
Example:- A JavaScript function expression can have a body which is wrapped in curly braces, containing zero or more statements.
- In a Java program curly braces enclose meaningful units of code.
BRACKET (noun) one of the pair of signs put around words to invoke functions or to access array elements: ( ), [ ], < >
- ( ) round brakets
- [ ] square brakets
- < > angle brakets or sharp brakets
- A JavaScript array literal is a pair of square brackets surrounding zero or more values separated by commas.
- Round brackets is the British word for the American parenthesis.
- In the HTML syntax, most elements are written with a start tag and an end tag, with the content in between. Tags are composed of the name of the element, surrounded by angle brackets.
CHARACTER /ˈkariktər/ (noun) A character is a unit of information that corresponds to a grapheme, or symbol, such as in an alphabet in the written form of a natural language. [WikiPedia]
Examples:- A character encoding system consists of a code that pairs each character, from a given set, with numerical values, in order to facilitate the transmission of data or for data storage.
- Examples of characters include letters, digits, punctuation marks and control characters.
DIGIT (noun) one of the written signs that represent the numbers 0 to 9.
Examples:- The year is a four digits number.
EXPRESSION (noun) A combination of variables, constants, and functions linked by operation symbols that describe a rule for calculating a value.
Example:The simplest expressions in JavaScript language are a literal value (such as a string or number), a variable or a built-in value.
IDENTIFIER OR NAME (noun) An identifier is the name of a statements, variable, function, property, parameters and labels.
Example:- In JavaScript a name is a letter optionally followed by one or more letters, digits, or underbars. A name cannot be a language reserved word.
LETTER (noun) a sign in writing or printing that represents a speech sound.
Examples:- The English alphabet has 26 letters.
- It's not polite to use capital letters when you write on internet forums or message boards.
PACKET
In telecommunications, packet switching is a method of transmitted data over a digital network. Packet switching send data into small blocks called packets rather than as a continuous stream. Sending data in this way helps to improve the robustness and efficiency of networks. Packets are made of a header and a payload. Data in the header is used by networking hardware to direct the packet to its destination, where the payload is extracted and used by an operating system, application software or higher layer protocols. Network PacketPOUND or HASH SIGN: # The # symbol is commonly called the pound, number sign, hash sign or hashtag, (read more).
Examples:- You can specify any color in CSS using the color property and hex codes. These are six-digit codes that represent the amount of red, green and blue in a color, preceded by a pound or hash # sign. For example: #ee3e80.
SCOPE (noun) the range of things that a subject, activity, book etc deals with
Examples:-The scope of a variable is the region of your program source code in which it is defined.
SCRIPTING (noun) An interpreted language (JavaScript, Perl, PHP, etc) used to write simple programs,
called scripts.
- Scripting is the name given to a method of inserting little bits of "program" into a web page to make it more active.
- The use of scripts done on the web server is called server-side scripting. If your ISPs don't let you run server-side scripts, you have to make do with client-side scripting.
STATEMENT (noun) An instruction or other elementary component in a high-level programming language, that can be executed.
Example:Statements are executed in order from top to bottom. The sequence of execution can be changed by the conditional statements (if and switch), by the looping statements (while, for, and do), by the disruptive statements (break, return, and throw).
Links to IT vocabulary
Free OnLine Dictionary of Computing
Cornell University's vocabulary about IT security
