- garbage collection
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If only implicit dynamic allocation is allowed then deallocation must also be done by implicit means, which is often called garbage collection.
- garbage collector
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Software that provides implicit memory deallocation by deallocating objects that are no longer referenced by some other object.
- getenv()
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A UNIX system call to obtain the value of a particular environment variable.
- GetEnvironmentVariable
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A Windows system call to obtain the value of a particular environment variable.
- global item
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An item that can be referenced (accessed) in all functions (with some restrictions) of the program.
- Hanoi towers puzzle
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The Hanoi towers puzzle was invented by the French mathematician Edouard Lucas in 1883. Three pegs are given, one of which contains a certain number of wooden disks of different sizes. The disks must always be organized so that only a smaller disk can sit on top of a bigger one. The monks are supposed to move the disks from one peg to another. This is a complex problem that nevertheless can easily be " solved " using recursion (see Appendix A).
- hidden allocation
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A problem that arises when a service or object is requested from a module without realizing that the module has allocated some memory to serve that request.
- incorrect assignment
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An assignment that does not properly destroy the dynamic parts of an object before assigning them new values; usually in the form of a missing explicit assignment.
- index-out-of-range run-time error
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An attempt to access an array item with an index that is outside of the range.
- indirection operator *
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An operator referencing the "virtual object" at the address a pointer is pointing to; used for fetching and storing of values.
- information hiding
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A principle akin to the military term "need to know basis" whereby only the module that " guards " the data should have direct access to it while all other modules should gain access only through the "guard"; this enables much safer programming, for it prevents accidental data corruption.
- inheritance
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A mechanism by which objects of a derived class automatically have the same properties as objects of the base class without those properties being explicitly restated.
- inlining
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A method by which a compiler, in order to reduce the function overhead, places a direct code instead of a function call while maintaining the syntax convention and convenience of function calls.
- innate data type
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A synonym for elementary data type.
- instance
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A synonym for object.
- instantiation
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A synonym for object construction.
- insufficient destructor
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A destructor that does not properly deallocate all the dynamic parts of an object; usually in the form of a missing explicit destructor.
- interpreted program
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A program that is read in its source form by an interpreter that then does whatever the statements of the program indicate should be done.
- interpreter
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A program that reads (interprets) programs in their source form and executes whatever the statements of the program being interpreted indicate should be done.
- invocation(of a function)
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A synonym for function call.
- ipcrm
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A UNIX command for removal of a shared memory segment or a semaphore (provided the user has the required permissions to do so).
- ipcs
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A UNIX command for generating statistics on all shared memory segments and semaphores within the system.