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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If class B extends A, can we say that B depends on A?
Let's say we have 2 (Java) classes:
class A {}
class B extends A {}
To me, saying B extends A and B is dependent on A are both true (but not equivalent) in this situation. My colleague, OTOH, says ...
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Terminology to indicate that a software component does not seem to belong inside a library
What is the standard or commonly used terminology used in software engineering circles for this scenario that uses "widgets" and "FFT" as a fictitious concrete example:
I have a ...
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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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