Perl

498 terms

Perl terms

(to be) dropped modules When Perl 5 was first released (see perlhistory), several modules were included, which have now fallen out of common use.
accessor methods A "method" used to indirectly inspect or update an "object"'s state (its instance variables).
actual arguments The scalar values that you supply to a "function" or "subroutine" when you call it.
address operator Some languages work directly with the memory addresses of values, but this can be like playing with fire.
Algorithm A detailed formula or set of steps for solving a particular problem. To be an algorithm, a set of rules must be unambiguous and have a clear stopping…
alias Called by another name.
Alternatives Courses of action that may meet the objectives of a proposal at varying levels of accomplishment, including the most likely future conditions without the…
anonymous Used to describe a "referent" that is not directly accessible through a named "variable".
architecture The term architecture refers to the hardware, software or combination of hardware and software comprising a computer system or network.
argument Information passed to a method. Arguments are also sometimes called parameters.
ARGV The name of the array containing the "argument" "vector" from the command line.
arithmetical operator A "symbol" such as + or / that tells Perl to do the arithmetic you were supposed to learn in grade school.
array An Array is a single server type used for horizontal scaling. It may be a single worker slave task plugged into our Grid system to scale based on the…
array context An archaic expression for what is more correctly referred to as "list context".
ASCII An acronym for American Standard Code that allocates a number to each key on the keyboard and that can be traded and read by most computer systems.
assertion A component of a "regular expression" that must be true for the pattern to match but does not necessarily match any characters itself.
Assignment Assignment occurs when someone who has written, or sold, a listed option receives a notice that the option has been exercised and he or she must fulfill…
assignment operator The operator (=) used to store the value of an expression into a variable, for instance variable = expression; The right-hand-side is completely evaluated…
associative array See "hash". Please.
associativity Determines whether you do the left "operator" first or the right "operator" first when you have "A "operator" B "operator" C" and the two operators are of…
asynchronous Said of events or activities whose relative temporal ordering is indeterminate because too many things are going on at once.
Atom A particle of matter indivisible by chemical means. It is the fundamental building block of elements.
atomic operation When Democritus gave the word "atom" to the indivisible bits of matter, he meant literally something that could not be cut: a- (not) + tomos (cuttable).
attribute An attribute is a characteristic of data that sets it apart from other data, such as location, length, or type.
autogeneration A feature of "operator overloading" of objects, whereby the behavior of certain operators can be reasonably deduced using more fundamental operators.
autoincrement To add one to something automatically, hence the name of the ++ operator. To instead subtract one from something automatically is known as an…
autoload To load on demand. (Also called "lazy" loading.) Specifically, to call an AUTOLOAD subroutine on behalf of an undefined subroutine.
autosplit To split a string automatically, as the -a "switch" does when running under -p or -n in order to emulate "awk".
autovivification A Greco-Roman word meaning "to bring oneself to life". In Perl, storage locations (lvalues) spontaneously generate themselves as needed, including the…
AV Alterac Valley Battleground
awk Descriptive editing term--short for "awkward". Also coincidentally refers to a venerable text-processing language from which Perl derived some of its…
backreference A substring captured by a subpattern within unadorned parentheses in a "regex". Backslashed decimal numbers (, , etc.
backtracking The practice of saying, "If I had to do it all over, I'd do it differently," and then actually going back and doing it all over differently.
backward compatibility Means you can still run your old program because we didn't break any of the features or bugs it was relying on.
bareword A word sufficiently ambiguous to be deemed illegal under use strict 'subs'. In the absence of that stricture, a bareword is treated as if quotes were…
base class A generic "object" type; that is, a "class" from which other, more specific classes are derived genetically by "inheritance".
big-endian A common difference between machines is the order in which they store the individual bytes of multi-byte numerical data.
binary Mathematical base 2, or numbers composed of a series of zeros and ones. Since zero's and one's can be easily represented by two voltage levels on an…
binary operator An operator taking two operands. Java has many binary operators, such as the arithmetic operators +, -, *, / and %, and the boolean operators &&, || and…
bind To assign a specific "network address" to a "socket".
Bit A bit ( B inary dig IT ) is the smallest unit of computer data. A bit consists of either 0 or 1. There are eight bits in a byte.
bit shift The movement of bits left or right in a computer word, which has the effect of multiplying or dividing by a power of 2.
bit string A sequence of bits that is actually being thought of as a sequence of bits, for once.
bless In corporate life, to grant official approval to a thing, as in, "The VP of Engineering has blessed our WebCruncher project.
block A repetition/replication of the Early, Mid and Late Seral Treatment plots and a Control plot. See Repetition/replication.
block buffering A method of making input and output efficient by passing one "block" at a time. By default, Perl does block buffering to disk files.
Boolean Boolean logic (named for the British-born Irish mathematician George Boole) is way to express relationships in logic arguments using the following three…
Boolean context A special kind of "scalar context" used in conditionals to decide whether the "scalar value" returned by an expression is "true" or "false".
Breakpoint A breakpoint is the level at which your account balance in a mutual fund company or the size of a new investment in the company's funds qualifies you to…
broadcast To send a "datagram" to multiple destinations simultaneously.
BSD Battlefield Situation Display.
bucket A part of an excavator which digs, lifts, and carries dirt.
buffer A zone of a specified distance around coverage features. Both constant- and variable-width buffers can be generated for a set of coverage features based…
built-in A "function" that is predefined in the language. Even when hidden by "overriding", you can always get at a built-in function by qualifying its name with…
bundle A group of related modules on "CPAN". (Also, sometimes refers to a group of command-line switches grouped into one "switch cluster".)
byte Eight bits. A byte is a collection of bits used by computers to represent a character (i.e., "a", "1", or "&").
bytecode Java source files are translated by a compiler into bytecodes - the instruction set of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Bytecodes are stored in .
C Abbreviation for cytosine.
C preprocessor The typical C compiler's first pass, which processes lines beginning with # for conditional compilation and macro definition and does various…
call by reference An "argument"-passing mechanism in which the "formal arguments" refer directly to the "actual arguments", and the "subroutine" can change the actual…
call by value A semantics of passing an argument to a method in which a copy of the actual argument value is taken and placed in a separate memory location, represented…
callback A "handler" that you register with some other part of your program in the hope that the other part of your program will "trigger" your handler when some…
canonical Reduced to a standard form to facilitate comparison.
capturing The use of parentheses around a "subpattern" in a "regular expression" to store the matched "substring" as a "backreference".
character See: trait.
character class A square-bracketed list of characters used in a "regular expression" to indicate that any character of the set may occur at a given point.
character property A predefined "character class" matchable by the \p "metasymbol". Many standard properties are defined for "Unicode".
circumfix operator An "operator" that surrounds its "operand", like the angle operator, or parentheses, or a hug.
class Article I, section 3 of the Constitution requires the Senate to be divided into three classes for purposes of elections.
class method A synonym for static method.
client Any computer system that requests a service of another computer system. A workstation requesting the contents of a file from a file server is a client of…
cloister A "cluster" used to restrict the scope of a "regular expression modifier".
closure In transportation, the process of a unit arriving at a specified location. It begins with the arrival of the first element at a designated location and…
cluster Clusters are fixed length blocks of bytes that store data for Microsoft operating systems.
CODE See: genetic code
code generator A system that writes code for you in a low-level language, such as code to implement the backend of a compiler. See "program generator".
code subpattern A "regular expression" subpattern whose real purpose is to execute some Perl code, for example, the (?{...}) and (??{...}) subpatterns.
collating sequence The order into which characters sort. This is used by "string" comparison routines to decide, for example, where in this glossary to put "collating…
command For command-oriented functions, the authorization required to perform command operations. 55
command buffering A mechanism in Perl that lets you store up the output of each Perl "command" and then flush it out as a single request to the "operating system".
command name The name of the program currently executing, as typed on the command line. In C, the "command" name is passed to the program as the first command-line…
command-line arguments The values you supply along with a program name when you tell a "shell" to execute a "command". These values are passed to a Perl program through @ARGV.
comment A piece of text intended for the human reader of a program. Compilers ignore their contents.
compilation unit The smallest unit of source code that can be compiled. In the current implementation of the Java platform, the compilation unit is a file.
compile phase Any time before Perl starts running your main program. See also "run phase". Compile phase is mostly spent in "compile time", but may also be spent in…
compile time The time when Perl is trying to make sense of your code, as opposed to when it thinks it knows what your code means and is merely trying to do what it…
compiler A program which performs a process of compilation on a program written in a high level programming language.
composer A "constructor" for a "referent" that isn't really an "object", like an anonymous array or a hash (or a sonata, for that matter).
concatenation The process of gluing one cat's nose to another cat's tail. Also, a similar operation on two strings.
conditional Something "iffy". See "Boolean context".
connection The physical connection (e.g. transmission lines, transformers, switch gear, etc.
construct An engineered chimeric DNA designed to be transferred into a cell or tissue. Typically, the construct comprises the gene or genes of interest, a marker…
constructor A constructor is automatically called when an instance of its class is created.
context The surroundings, or environment. The context given by the surrounding code determines what kind of data a particular "expression" is expected to return.
continuation a second application for the same invention claimed in a prior nonprovisional application and filed before the first application becomes abandoned or…
core dump The corpse of a "process", in the form of a file left in the "working directory" of the process, usually as a result of certain kinds of fatal error.
CPAN The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network. (See "What modules and extensions are available for Perl? What is CPAN? What does CPAN/src/... mean?" in perlfaq2).
cracker Someone who breaks security on computer systems. A cracker may be a true "hacker" or only a "script kiddie".
current package The "package" in which the current statement is compiled. Scan backwards in the text of your program through the current lexical scope or any enclosing…
current working directory See "working directory".

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Perl Glossary 498 definitions