Glossary

Tip

We will build a glossary as the semester goes on. When you encounter a term you do not know, create an issue to ask for help, or contribute a PR after you find the answer.

absolute path

the path defined from the root of the system

add (new files in a repository)

the step that stages/prepares files to be committed to a repository from a local branch

bitwise operator

an operation that happens on a bit string (sequence of 1s and 0s). They are typically faster than operations on whole integers.

bitwise operator

an operation that happens on a bit string (sequence of 1s and 0s). They are typically faster than operations on whole integers.

Compiled Code

code that is put through a compiler to turn it into lower level assemlby language before it is executed. must be compiled and re-executed everytime you make a change.

directory

a collection of files typically created for organizational purposes

floating point number

the concept that the decimal can move within the number (ex. scientific notation; you move the decimal based on the exponent on the 10). can represent more numbers than a fixed point number.

fixed point number

the concept that the decimal point does not move in the number (the example in the notes where if we split up a bit in the middle and one half was for the decimal and the other half was for the whole number. Cannot represent as many numbers as a floating point number.

.gitignore

a file in a git repo that will not add the files that are included in this .gitignore file. Used to prevent files from being unnecessarily committed.

git

a version control tool; it’s a fully open source and always free tool, that can be hosted by anyone or used without a host, locally only.

git objects

something (a file, directory) that is used in git; has a hash associated with it

GitHub

a hosting service for git repositories

Git Plumbing commands

low level git commands that allow the user to access the inner workings of git.

Git Workflow

a recipe or recommendation for how to use Git to accomplish work in a consistent and productive manner

HEAD

the branch that is currently being checked out (think of the current branch)

merge

putting two branches together so that you can access files in another branch that are not available in yours

hash function

the actual function that does the hashing of the input (a key, an object, etc.)

hashing

putting an input through a function and getting a different output for every input (the output is called a hash; used in hash tables and when git hashes commits).

interpreted code

code that is directly executed from a high level language. more expensive computationally because it cannot be optimized and therefore can be slower.

integreated development environment

also known as an IDE, puts together all of the tools a developer would need to produce code (source code editor, debugger, ability to run code) into one application so that everything can be done in one place. can also have extra features such as showing your file tree and connecting to git and/or github.

Linker

a program that links together the object files and libraries to output an executable file.

path

the “location” of a file or folder(directory) in a computer

pull (changes from a repository)

download changes from a remote repository and update the local repository with these changes.

push (changes to a repository)

to put whatever you were working on from your local machine onto a remote copy of the repository in a version control system.

relative path

the path defined relative to another file or the current working directory

repository

a project folder with tracking information in it in the form of a .git file

ROM (Read-Only Memory)

Memory that only gets read by the CPU and is used for instructions

SHA 1

the hashing function that git uses to hash its functions (found to have very serious collisions (two different inputs have same hashes), so a lot of software is switching to SHA 256)

shell

a command line interface; allows for access to an operating system

ssh

allows computers to safely connect to networks (such as when we used an ssh key to clone our github repos)

templating

templating is the idea of changing the input or output of a system. For instance, the Jupyter book, instead of outputting the markdown files as markdown files, displays them as HTML pages (with the contents of the markdown file).

terminal

a program that makes shell visible for us and allows for interactions with it

tree objects

type of git object in git that helps store multiple files with their hashes (similar to directories in a file system)

yml

see YAML

YAML

a file specification that stores key-value pairs. It is commonly used for configurations and settings.