C

C++ standard

Current standard for Programming Language C++, JTC1.22.32, ISO/IEC 14882, published 1 September 1998.

C++ Standard Library

A set of common classes and interfaces that greatly extend the core C++ language.

C99

The current standard for Programming Language C, ISO/IEC 9899:1999, published 1 December 1999.

cache

A fast and expensive (and hence small) memory used to store prefetched data in order to speed up execution; access to the cache is much faster than access to the main memory.

caching

The process of pre-fetching data anticipated to be needed by the running program into the cache and attendant memory mapping, so that the running program has no "knowledge" of the fact that it is working with data in the cache rather than with data in the main memory; caching is used to speed up the execution.

call(to a function)

A C/C++ language construct indicating that the function should be executed at the point where the construct is located.

call-by-address

A synonym for call-by-reference.

call-by-location

A synonym for call-by-reference.

call-by- name

A particular way of implementing a function call, in which the variables passed to the function replace the names of arguments; used for macro-expansion and inlining.

call-by-reference

A particular way of implementing a function call, in which the arguments are passed by their references.

call- by-value

A particular way of implementing a function call, in which the arguments are passed by their value (i.e., their copies).

callee

The function being called.

caller

The function doing the calling.

calling convention

The type of calling sequence used; thus we speak of the C calling convention, the Java calling convention, the Pascal calling convention, and so on.

calling sequence

A sequence of steps performed prior to the execution of the called function. Some of the steps are performed by the caller, some by the callee.

calloc ()

A standard C/C++ function that provides a platform-independent interface to the process memory manager; used to allocated and clear the memory.

child process

After a fork() in UNIX, one of the copies of the (parent) process being forked continues with a new process ID, customarily called the child process; the term is also used in the context of other operating systems for a process created by another process.

class

A collection of definitions of data items and operations intended to model some important commonality among many objects.

class member

A data item or a method.

class method

A function that belongs to the class definition; intended to be used by all objects of the class and mainly on the object's own data.

cleared memory

A synonym for blanked memory.

command line

The prompt line offered by many operating systems to type in a command.

command-line argument

If program execution is initiated by a command typed on the command line, additional words after the command are passed to the program being invoked; these are referred to as command-line arguments.

command-line argument structure

The data structure created by the operating system using the command-line arguments passed to the program being invoked.

compaction

A process that stores a linked data structure in a single contiguous segment of memory.

compile-time array index range checking

Checking during compilation whether the indicated operation violates the known range of the array (e.g., during initialization).

constructor

One of a set of specialized methods that is invoked during an object's creation; can be viewed as a "blueprint" for object creation.

copy constructor

A constructor used by the compiler for passing objects by value (i.e., copying them); the signature of the copy constructor for a class C is C(const C&) .

copy-restore

A call method in which arguments are passed to the callee by value; upon termination of the callee, the newly computed values are copied to the activation frame of the caller.