Python - Glossary

6.10 Glossary

multiple assignment

Making more than one assignment to the same variable during the execution of a program.

iteration

Repeated execution of a set of statements using either a recursive function call or a loop.

loop

A statement or group of statements that execute repeatedly until a terminating condition is satisfied.

infinite loop

A loop in which the terminating condition is never satisfied.

body

The statements inside a loop.

loop variable

A variable used as part of the terminating condition of a loop.

tab

A special character that causes the cursor to move to the next tab stop on the current line.

newline

A special character that causes the cursor to move to the beginning of the next line.

cursor

An invisible marker that keeps track of where the next character will be printed.

escape sequence

An escape character (\) followed by one or more printable characters used to designate a nonprintable character.

encapsulate

To divide a large complex program into components (like functions) and isolate the components from each other (by using local variables, for example).

generalize

To replace something unnecessarily specific (like a constant value) with something appropriately general (like a variable or parameter). Generalization makes code more versatile, more likely to be reused, and sometimes even easier to write.

development plan

A process for developing a program. In this chapter, we demonstrated a style of development based on developing code to do simple, specific things and then encapsulating and generalizing.