Programming & Modeling: every key term you need (+ practice quiz)

More AP Computer Science Principles guides

• Computing Systems & Networks
• Data & Representation
• Algorithms & Programming
• Impact of AI & Computing

Big Data

Massive datasets requiring specialized tools to store, process, and analyze.

Database

Organized collection of structured data; relational databases use tables with rows and columns.

SQL

Structured Query Language for querying and manipulating databases; SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE.

Query

Request for specific data from database; returns subset matching criteria.

Index

Data structure accelerating database queries; organized reference to rows.

Data Cleaning

Removing errors, inconsistencies, duplicates from datasets before analysis.

Data Visualization

Graphical representation of data; charts, graphs, maps making patterns visible.

Metadata

Data about data; information describing content, format, source of a dataset.

Analysis

Examining data to identify patterns, relationships, trends, and insights.

Correlation

Statistical measure of relationship between variables; doesn't imply causation.

Causation

Direct cause-and-effect relationship; requires controlled experiments, not just correlation.

Bias

Systematic error or prejudice in data collection, analysis, or interpretation.

Sampling

Selecting subset of population for study; sample should represent population.

Margin of Error

Range indicating uncertainty in statistical estimates; expressed as ±%.

Machine Learning

Algorithms learning patterns from data and making predictions without explicit programming.

Algorithm Bias

Discriminatory outcomes from algorithms trained on biased data or flawed logic.

Privacy

Protection of personal information; data should only be used as intended and authorized.

Encryption

Protecting sensitive data; ensures only authorized access.

Data Governance

Policies and procedures for data management, security, and ethical use.

IP Address Spoofing

Disguising data origin by falsifying source IP address.

Program Development Process

Iterative cycle of investigating, designing, prototyping, and testing; incremental development means building and testing small pieces.

Program Specification

Description of what a program should do, including inputs, outputs, and constraints, written before coding.

Program Documentation

Comments and written descriptions explaining how code works, aiding collaboration and future maintenance.

Collaboration

Working with others across roles improves programs by combining perspectives, catching bugs, and reducing bias.

Program Input

Data provided to a program by a user, file, sensor, or another program during execution.

Program Output

Data sent from a program to a user, screen, file, or another program.

Event-driven Programming

Program flow determined by events such as clicks or key presses that trigger specific procedures.

Program Library

Collection of pre-written procedures that can be reused; an API documents how to use them.

API

Application Programming Interface; specifies how programs interact with a library or service, including procedure names and parameters.

Modularity

Dividing a program into independent parts (procedures, modules) that can be developed and tested separately.

Data Abstraction

Using a list or other structure to represent many related values with one name, hiding storage details.

Nested Loops

A loop inside another loop; the inner loop completes fully for every one iteration of the outer loop, giving n × m total steps.

Accumulator Pattern

Initialize a variable, then update it inside a loop to build a sum, count, product, or string.

Swap Pattern

Exchanging two variables' values requires a temporary variable: temp ← a; a ← b; b ← temp.

Program Trace

Recording each variable's value step by step to predict output or find a bug.

Robot Navigation

AP pseudocode commands MOVE_FORWARD(), ROTATE_LEFT(), ROTATE_RIGHT(), CAN_MOVE(direction) control a robot on a grid.

Model

Simplified representation of a real system built to study behavior, often adjustable through parameters.