5.17. Glossary¶
- base case¶
A branch of the conditional statement in a recursive function that does not give rise to further recursive calls.
- data structure¶
An organization of data for the purpose of making it easier to use.
- dynamic programming¶
a way to solve complex problems by breaking it up, solving the smaller portions, and storing the results to avoid re-calculating them.
- exception¶
An error that occurs at runtime.
- handle an exception¶
To prevent an exception from terminating a program by wrapping the block of code in a
try/exceptconstruct.- immutable data type¶
A data type which cannot be modified. Assignments to elements or slices of immutable types cause a runtime error.
- infinite recursion¶
A function that calls itself recursively without ever reaching the base case. Eventually, an infinite recursion causes a runtime error.
- mutable data type¶
A data type which can be modified. All mutable types are compound types. Lists and dictionaries (see next chapter) are mutable data types; strings and tuples are not.
- raise¶
To cause an exception by using the
raisestatement.- recursion¶
The process of calling the function that is already executing.
- recursive call¶
The statement that calls an already executing function. Recursion can even be indirect — function f can call g which calls h, and h could make a call back to f.
- recursive definition¶
A definition which defines something in terms of itself. To be useful it must include base cases which are not recursive. In this way it differs from a circular definition. Recursive definitions often provide an elegant way to express complex data structures.
- stack frame¶
a stack that contains a “frame” or group of data. For a call stack, this would be a function and its arguments.
- tuple¶
A data type that contains a sequence of elements of any type, like a list, but is immutable. Tuples can be used wherever an immutable type is required, such as a key in a dictionary (see next chapter).
- tuple assignment¶
An assignment to all of the elements in a tuple using a single assignment statement. Tuple assignment occurs in parallel rather than in sequence, making it useful for swapping values.
5.18. Matching¶
-
Q-1: Drag the word on the left to its corresponding definition
incorrect
- base case
- branch of the conditional statement in a recursive function that does not give rise to further recursive calls.
- recursion
- The process of calling the function that is already executing.
- recursive call
- The statement that calls an already executing function.
- recursive definition
- A definition which defines something in terms of itself.
- stack frame
- A stack that contains a group of data.
- tuple
- Data type that contains a sequence of elements of any type, like alist, but is immutable.
- tuple assignment
- An assignment to all of the elements in a tuple using a single assignment statement.
- data structure
- An organization of data for the purpose of making it easier to use.
- dynamic programming
- To solve complex problems by breaking them up, solving the smaller portions, and storing the results to avoid re-calculating them.
- exception
- An error that occurs at runtime.
- handle an exception
- To prevent an exception from terminating a program by wrapping the block of code in a try / except construct.
- immutable data type
- A data type which cannot be modified.
- infinite recursion
- Function that calls itself recursively without ever reaching the base case, and will cause a runtime error.
- mutable data type
- A data type which can be modified.
- raise
- To cause an exception by using the raise statement.