Software Design and Development
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Glossary
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Abstraction | The hiding of detail by the presentation of a more general instance. In the programming environment, an example of this is the use of a subroutine, rather than the inclusion of detailed code |
| Backward / forward chaining | The process of arriving at a conclusion from a stated set of conditions. Backwards chaining assumes that a particular solution is true and then asks questions to verify that the necessary conditions are present. Forward chaining begins from the facts and rules and asks questions to determine which path to follow next to arrive at a conclusion |
| Class | The definition of the common characteristics of a group of objects, which can be used as a ‘template’ for these objects. Objects of the same class have the same basic definition for their processes and data. |
| Encapsulation | The isolation of an object from its environment, so that changes to objects can be made without affecting other parts of the system, as long as the interface to the object remains the same |
| Goal | A query that is posed to a logic program. The final answer is Yes if the query returns some values and No if no values are returned. |
| Heuristics | Rules of thumb that generally lead to a correct conclusion, but which may never be able to be proved |
| Inference engine | The logic used by expert system software to draw conclusions from stated facts and relevant rules |
| Inheritance | Objects taking on the characteristics of their parent class. This allows code to be created that is more modular |
| Method | The specification of a particular process to be performed on or by an object |
| Object | In an object oriented programming environment, this refers to the data structures and procedures that apply to a specific unit in the system |
| Operation | Refer to Method |
| Paradigm | A model, used in this context, to refer to a type of programming language |
| Polymorphism | The concept that allows different objects to be used or presented in different ways at run time, depending on the user’s requirements at the time |
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