In this segment, we’ll cover a few common topics that you should know as a Computer Scientist that pertain towards Objective C, Java, Perl, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Lua, C#, general language syntax, and language semantics.

201. Who developed Objective-C?

– Brand Cox and Tom Love

202. True or False? Objective-C was used to write MAC OS X.

– True

203. True or False? Objective-C is a strict superset of C

– True

204. True or False? Objective-C is a hybrid language with imperative and object-oriented features.

– True

205. Who developed Java?

– James Gosling

206. What is Java useful for?

– Web programming especially with Java applets and Android development to name a couple.

207. Does Java support concurrency?

– Yes. They’re called threads.

208. How are objects in heap deallocated in Java?

– Automatically via garbage collection.

209. What does garbage collection help avoid?

– Memory leaks

210. True or False? Java is faster than C.

– False since C is compiled and Java is a hybrid-implementation language

211. Name a few reasons for Java’s fast implementation.

– Applets, Simpler and safer than C++, Compiler is free and easy to obtain

212. True or False? Java has generics.

– True

213. Who developed Perl?

– Larry Wall

214. In Perl, variables are _______ declared.

– Implicitly

215. What are the first characters in Perl’s variable types: scalar, array, hash

– S — Scalar
– @ — Array
– % — Hash names

216. True or false? Arrays have dynamic length in Perl.

– True

217. What are associative arrays called?

– Hashes

218. What are hashes?

– Hash tables in which keys are stored

219. True or False? Perl was initially a UNIX utility for processing text files.

– True

220. Who developed JavaScript?

– Brendan Eich

221. True or False? JavaScript is standardized.

– True

222. What is JavaScript standardized name?

– ECMAScript

223. What is Microsoft’s version of JavaScript called?

– Jscript

224. Where is JavaScript’s interpreter located?

– Web browser

225. What is JavaScript used for?

– Form validation and dynamic modification of HTML documents

226. True or False? JavaScript supports inheritance.

– False

227. Who developed PHP?

– Rasmus Lerdorf

228. Where is PHP interpreted?

– Web Server

229. True or False? PHP supports OOP.

– True

230. Who developed Python?

– Guido van Rossum

231. True or False? Python is interpreted.

– True

232. Is Python dynamically typed?

– Yes

233. Is Python Object Oriented?

– Yes

234. What are Python’s data structures?

– Tuples, Lists and Dictionaries

235. Does Python have garbage collection?

– Yes

236. Does Python support exception handling?

– Yes

237. Does Python support concurrency?

– Yes

238. Does Python support network programming?

– Yes

239. What was the first programming language designed in Japan to have widespread use in the US?

– Ruby

240. Who developed Ruby?

– Yukihiro Matsumoto

241. True or False? Ruby is object oriented.

– True

242. True or False? In Ruby, classes and objects are dynamic.

– True

243. How is scope specified in Ruby?

– In name. Local variables begin with letter. Instance variables begin with @. Global with $.

244. Lua supports ________ and _________ programming.

– Imperative and functional

245. Does Lua support OOP?

– No

246. What is Lua’s data structure?

– Table (an associative array)

247. True or False? Lua is a hybrid language.

– True

248. Why was C# developed for?

– Component based software development

249. Who created C#?

– Anders Hejlsberg

250. What is the type delegate used for in C#?

– Implementing event handlers and callbacks

251. True or False? C# allows for auto-boxing and auto-unboxing.

– True

252. True or False? C# has a foreach statement.

– True

253. What is a markup programming hybrid language?

– A markup language in which some of the elements can specify programming actions.

254. What is syntax?

– The form of a language

255. What is “semantics”?

– The meaning of the expressions

256. True or False? Describing syntax is easier than describing semantics.

– True

257. The strings of a language are called ________.

– Sentences

258. _______ are the lowest level syntactic units

– Lexemes

259. A _________ of a language is a category of its lexemes

– Token

260. Languages can be formally defined in two distinct ways: by ______ and by _______.

– recognition and generation

261. The syntax part of a compiler is a _________ for the language.

– recognizer

262. What can regular grammars describe?

– appearance of tokens of programming languages

263. What can context-free grammars describe?

– the syntax of a whole programming language

264. What is a metalanguage?

– A language used to describe another language.

265. True or False? BNF is a metalanguage for programming languages.

– True

266. Each rule in BNF has a Left Hand Side (LHS), or ________, and a Right Hand Side (RHS), or _________.

– nonterminal and terminal

267. What is grammar?

– Collection of rules

268. In BNF, multiple rules can be separated by ______.

– Vertical bar |

269. A rule is ______ if LHS appears on its RHS.

– recursive

270. A sentence of a language appears with a special nonterminal symbol called ____ ______.

– start symbol

271. What is a derivation?

– Sequence of rule applications where each successive string is derived from the previous string by replacing one of the nonterminals with one of the nonterminals definitions.

272. Each string in a derivation, including the start symbol, is called a _______ ________.

– sentential form

273. True or false? A derivation continues until the sentential form contains no nonterminals.

– True

274. A _____ ________ is one in which the replaced nonterminal is always the leftmost nonterminal.

– leftmost derivation

275. How can derivation be represented graphically?

– In a parse tree

276. What do nodes and leaves represent in a parse tree?

– Nodes: nonterminals
– Leaves: terminals

277. A grammar that generates a sentence for which there are two or more distinct parse trees is said to be _________.

– ambiguous

278. Every derivation with an unambiguous grammar has a ______ parse tree.

– unique

279. When a BNF rule has its LHS also appearing at the beginning of its RHS, the rule is said to be ___ __.

– Left recursive

280. Left recursion corresponds to ______ _________.

– left associativity

281. What does a left-associative parse tree look like?

– Lowest branch appears on the left hand side

282. What is the rule for if constructs in most languages?

– That the else clause is matched with the nearest previous unmatched if

283. What are the three extensions present in EBNF?

– Square brackets, Curly braces, Parentheses

284. A right superscript to the right of the brace indicates what?

– the upper limit to the number of times the enclosed part can be repeated

285. What is used instead of an arrow in EBNF?

– A colon

286. True or False? Vertical bars are used to separate alternative RHSs.

– False. Place alt. RHS on new line. No vertical bars

287. What does attribute grammar describe?

– More of a structure of a programming language than is possible in context-free grammar

288. What are static semantics?

– Rules that can be checked at compile time

289. True or false? Attribute grammar can describe both syntax and semantics?

– True

290. What are attributes?

– Properties that can have values assigned to them

291. What are synthesized attributes used for?

– Used to pass semantic information up a parse tree.

292. What are inherited attributes used for?

– Used to pass semantic information down and across a tree

293. If all of the attribute values in a parse tree are said to be computed, the tree is said to be ___ ___.

– fully attributed

294. What are intrinsic attributes?

– Synthesized attributes of leaf nodes whose values are determined outside of the parse tree.

295. What is an actual_type?

– a synthesized attribute that stores the actual type of a variable or expression.

296. What is an expected_type?

– Inherited attribute associated with nonterminal <expr> that stores the expected type of expression.

297. True or False? There is a universally accepted notation for describing dynamic semantics.

– False

298. What are operational semantics?

– An attempt to describe the meaning of a statement by specifying the effects of running it on a machine.

299. Is operational semantics based on mathematics?

– No

300. ________ _________ is based on recursive function theory.

– Denotational semantics

301. What is the most rigorous and most widely known formal method for describing the meaning of programs?

– Denotational semantics

302. In denotational semantics, each mapping function has a ____ and a ____ and ____.

– domain and range

303. In denotational semantics, the _____ _____ specifies which syntactic structures are to be mapped.

– Syntactic domain

304. In denotational semantics, the range is called the _________ _________.

– Semantic domain

305. The _______ in denotational semantics consists of the values of the program’s variables.

– state

306. Show how a state can be represented in denotational semantics.

– s = {<i1, v1>, <i2, v2>, …} where i = variable name and v = value

307. In denotational semantics, any name that’s not initialized with a value has the special value ___.

– undef

308. What does VARMP(i, s) produce?

– v

309. In denotational semantics, most constructs, such as expressions are mapped to ___ not states.

– values

310. What semantics have been used in programing language standards?

– Denotational semantics

311. What are axiomatic semantics?

– Most abstract technique for specifying semantics based on mathematical logic

312. What are axiomatic semantics used for?

– Proving the correctness of programs

313. What is an assertion?

– A logical expression that specifies constraints on program variables.

314. What is a precondition?

– An assertion that describes necessary constraints before the execution of a statement

315. What is a postcondition?

– An assertion that describes new constraints on program variables after statement execution

316. How are pre and post conditions represented?

– In curly braces

317. What is the weakest precondition?

– Least restrictive precondition

318. What is the inference rule?

– method of inferring the truth of one logical statement based on the truth of other logical statements.

319. What is the general form of the inference rule?

– S1, S2, ……, Sx
— — — — — — — — — — — —
S

320. What is an axiom?

– logical statement that is assumed to be true

321. What is the notation for specifying the axiomatic semantics of a statement form?

– {P} S {Q}

322. What does the rule of consequence state?

– Postcondition can always be weakened and a precondition can always be strengthened.

323. What do you need to find in order to compute the weakest precondition for a logical while loop?

– Loop invariant

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