Perl — page 3 of 5

498 terms

Perl terms

  1. impatience The anger you feel when the computer is being lazy. This makes you write programs that don't just react to your needs, but actually anticipate them.
  2. Implementation How a piece of code actually goes about doing its job. Users of the code should not count on implementation details staying the same unless they are part…
  3. Import Data brought into an environment or application which has been exported from another environment or application.
  4. increment To increase the value of something by 1 (or by some other number, if so specified).
  5. indexing Universal term for Coding and Data Entry.
  6. indirect filehandle An "expression" that evaluates to something that can be used as a "filehandle": a "string" (filehandle name), a "typeglob", a typeglob "reference", or a…
  7. indirect object In English grammar, a short noun phrase between a verb and its direct object indicating the beneficiary or recipient of the action.
  8. indirect object slot The syntactic position falling between a method call and its arguments when using the indirect object invocation syntax.
  9. indirection If something in a program isn't the value you're looking for but indicates where the value is, that's indirection.
  10. infix An "operator" that comes in between its operands, such as multiplication in 24 * 7.
  11. inheritance The transmission of genes and phenotypes from generation to generation.
  12. instance Area of the game that is for you and your party alone.
  13. instance variable A non-static field of a class. Each individual object of a class has its own copy of such a field.
  14. integer A number without a decimal (0, 1, 25, 173, 1032, etc.). Integer values can be less than, equal to, or greater than zero.
  15. interface (1) A shared boundary defined by common physical interconnection characteristics, signal characteristics, and meanings of interchanged signals.
  16. interpolation The estimation of z values of a surface at an unsampled point based on the known z values of surrounding points.
  17. interpreter A program which executes a translated version of a source program by implementing a virtual machine.
  18. invocant The agent on whose behalf a "method" is invoked. In a "class" method, the invocant is a package name.
  19. invocation The act of calling up a deity, daemon, program, method, subroutine, or function to get it do what you think it's supposed to do.
  20. IO (1) Information Operations. (2) Integrated Optic.
  21. IP Within the peritoneal cavity (the area that contains the abdominal organs). Also called intraperitoneal.
  22. IPC Information Policy Committee.
  23. is-a A relationship between two objects in which one object is considered to be a more specific version of the other, generic object: "A camel is a mammal.
  24. iteration Repetition of a set of statements, usually using a looping control structure, such as a while loop, for loop or do loop.
  25. iterator A special programming gizmo that keeps track of where you are in something that you're trying to iterate over.
  26. IV Interceptor Vehicle.
  27. JAPH "Just Another Perl Hacker," a clever but cryptic bit of Perl code that when executed, evaluates to that string.
  28. key A block, often used in a series, which projects beyond the edge of the enframement of an opening and is joined with the surrounding masonry.
  29. Keyword Java sets aside words as keywords - these words are reserved by the language itself and therefore are not available as names for variables or methods.
  30. label The FDA approved label is the official description of a drug product which includes indication (what the drug is used for); who should take it; adverse…
  31. laziness The quality that makes you go to great effort to reduce overall energy expenditure.
  32. left shift A "bit shift" that multiplies the number by some power of 2.
  33. leftmost longest The preference of the "regular expression" engine to match the leftmost occurrence of a "pattern", then given a position at which a match will occur, the…
  34. lexeme Fancy term for a "token".
  35. lexer Fancy term for a "tokener".
  36. lexical analysis Fancy term for "tokenizing".
  37. lexical scoping Looking at your Oxford English Dictionary through a microscope. (Also known as "static scoping", because dictionaries don't change very fast.
  38. lexical variable A "variable" subject to "lexical scoping", declared by my. Often just called a "lexical".
  39. library A collection of cells, usually bacteria or yeast, that have been transformed with recombinant vectors carrying DNA inserts from a single species.
  40. LIFO Last In, First Out. See also "FIFO". A LIFO is usually called a "stack".
  41. line See Groove
  42. line buffering Used by a "standard I/O" output stream that flushes its "buffer" after every "newline".
  43. line number The number of lines read previous to this one, plus 1. Perl keeps a separate line number for each source or input file it opens.
  44. link See Hyperlink.
  45. LIST A Web site component that stores and displays information that users can add to by using their browsers.
  46. list context The situation in which an "expression" is expected by its surroundings (the code calling it) to return a list of values rather than a single value.
  47. list operator An "operator" that does something with a list of values, such as join or grep. Usually used for named built-in operators (such as print, unlink, and…
  48. list value An unnamed list of temporary scalar values that may be passed around within a program from any list-generating function to any function or construct that…
  49. literal A string, a number, or a date which directly represents a constant value. 'XYZ123', '1234' and '6/10/57' are examples of a string literal, a numeric…
  50. little-endian A common difference between machines is the order in which they store the individual bytes of multi-byte numerical data.
  51. local Not meaning the same thing everywhere. A global variable in Perl can be localized inside a dynamic scope via the local operator.
  52. logical operator Another term for Boolean operator. See Boolean expression.
  53. lookahead An "assertion" that peeks at the string to the right of the current match location.
  54. lookbehind An "assertion" that peeks at the string to the left of the current match location.
  55. loop A construct that performs something repeatedly, like a roller coaster.
  56. loop control statement Any statement within the body of a loop that can make a loop prematurely stop looping or skip an "iteration".
  57. loop label A kind of key or name attached to a loop (or roller coaster) so that loop control statements can talk about which loop they want to control.
  58. lvaluable Able to serve as an "lvalue".
  59. lvalue Term used by language lawyers for a storage location you can assign a new "value" to, such as a "variable" or an element of an "array".
  60. lvalue modifier An adjectival pseudofunction that warps the meaning of an "lvalue" in some declarative fashion.
  61. magic Technically speaking, any extra semantics attached to a variable such as $!, $0, %ENV, or %SIG, or to any tied variable.
  62. magical increment An "increment" operator that knows how to bump up alphabetics as well as numbers.
  63. magical variables Special variables that have side effects when you access them or assign to them.
  64. Makefile A file that controls the compilation of a program. Perl programs don't usually need a "Makefile" because the Perl compiler has plenty of self-control.
  65. MAN The Unix program that displays online documentation (manual pages) for you.
  66. manpage A "page" from the manuals, typically accessed via the man(1) command. A manpage contains a SYNOPSIS, a DESCRIPTION, a list of BUGS, and so on, and is…
  67. Matching See "pattern matching".
  68. member data See "instance variable".
  69. memory Data storage in the form of chips, or the actual chips used to hold data; storage is used to describe memory that exists on tapes or discs.
  70. metacharacter A "character" that is not supposed to be treated normally. Which characters are to be treated specially as metacharacters varies greatly from context to…
  71. metasymbol Something we'd call a "metacharacter" except that it's a sequence of more than one character.
  72. method the course of action or technique followed in conducting a specific analysis or comparison leading to an analytical result.
  73. minimalism The belief that "small is beautiful." Paradoxically, if you say something in a small language, it turns out big, and if you say it in a big language, it…
  74. mode In a frequency distribution, the class having the greatest frequency.
  75. modifier See "statement modifier", "regular expression modifier", and "lvalue modifier", not necessarily in that order.
  76. module The smallest self-contained, environmentally protected structure housing interconnected photovoltaic cells and providing a single dc electrical output…
  77. modulus An integer divisor when you're interested in the remainder instead of the quotient.
  78. monger Short for Perl Monger, a purveyor of Perl.
  79. mortal A temporary value scheduled to die when the current statement finishes.
  80. multidimensional array An array with multiple subscripts for finding a single element. Perl implements these using references--see perllol and perldsc.
  81. multiple inheritance The ability of a class or interface to extend more than one class or interface.
  82. named pipe A "pipe" with a name embedded in the "filesystem" so that it can be accessed by two unrelated processes.
  83. namespace A prefix applied to URIs, URNs, and XML entities to prevent naming conflicts.
  84. network address The most important attribute of a socket, like your telephone's telephone number. Typically an IP address. See also "port".
  85. newline The \n character.
  86. NFS Network File System, which allows you to mount a remote filesystem as if it were local.
  87. null character The \u0000 character. Care should be taken not to confuse this with the null reference.
  88. null list A "list value" with zero elements, represented in Perl by ().
  89. null string A "string" containing no characters, not to be confused with a string containing a "null character", which has a positive length and is "true".
  90. numeric context The situation in which an expression is expected by its surroundings (the code calling it) to return a number. See also "context" and "string context".
  91. NV Short for Nevada, no part of which will ever be confused with civilization. NV also means an internal floating-point Numeric Value of the type a "scalar"…
  92. nybble Half a "byte", equivalent to one "hexadecimal" digit, and worth four bits.
  93. object An entity such as a file, folder, shared folder, printer, or Active Directory object, described by a distinct, named set of attributes.
  94. octal Number representation in base 8. In base 8, only the digits 0 to 7 are used. Digit positions represent successive powers of 8.
  95. offset You offset an options or futures position by taking a second position in a contract with identical terms, buying if you sold initially or selling if you…
  96. one-liner An entire computer program crammed into one line of text.
  97. open source software Programs for which the source code is freely available and freely redistributable, with no commercial strings attached.
  98. operand An operand is an argument of an operator. Expressions involve combinations of operators and operands.
  99. operating system Software which directs the overall activity of a computer (e.g. MS-DOS , Windows , Linux , etcetera).
  100. operator A prokaryotic regulatory element that interacts with a repressor to control the transcription of adjacent structural genes.

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