Coder KB: General Coding Concepts Topic

Most languages support a branching mechanism like if a..elseif b..elseif c. If a evaluates to true, b and c will not execute. The tip is to sort your branching conditions by most to lease used for faster code.

A constant is just like a variable (it holds a value) but, unlike a variable, you cannot change the value of a constant.

In computer programming, an event handler is part of event driven programming where the events are created by the framework based on interpreting inputs. Each event allows you to add code to an application-level event generated by the underlying framework, typically GUI triggers such as a key press, mouse movement, action selection, and an expired timer. In addition, events can represent data changes, new data, etc. Specifically, an event handler is an asynchronous callback subroutine that handles inputs received in a program.

A custom event is a programmer created event. For example, you can contrast an event handler with a member event, an OOP concept where you add an event to a class.

Instead of calling a routine, you move the code from the routine itself and expand it in place of the call. In addition to manual inlining, some languages support automatic inlining where the compiler or some other pre-compiler decides when to inline a code routine. Also, some languages allow for developer defined inlining where the developer can suggest and/or force the inlining of a code routine. Inlining can optimize your code for speed by saving a call and return, and parameter management.

With Microsoft heavily evangelizing .NET, and Sun continuing to improve Java, many a developer and customer are torn between targeting native machine code or a just-in-time compiler.

Here we take a quick look at that particular state of the union...

Types of overloading include method overloading and operator overloading.

Method Overloading is where different functions with the same name are invoked based on the data types of the parameters passed or the number of parameters. Method overloading is a type of polymorphism and is also known as Parametric Polymorphism.

Operater Overloading allows an operator to behave differently based on the types of values used. For example, in some languages the + operator is used both to add numbers and to concatenate strings. Custom operator overloading is sometimes referred to as ad-hoc polymorphism.

A pointer is a variable type that allows you to refer indirectly to another object. Instead of holding data, a pointer holds the address to data -- the address of another variable or object. You can change the address value a pointer points to thus changing the variable or object the pointer is pointing to.

A reference is a type of pointer that cannot change and it must always point to a valid storage (no nulls).

A value directly written into the source code of a computer program (as opposed to an identifier like a variable or constant). Literals cannot be changed. Common types of literals include string literals, floating point literals, integer literals, and hexidemal literals. Literal strings are usually either quoted (") or use an apostrophe (') which is often referred to as a single quote. Sometimes quotes are inaccurately referred to as double quotes.

When comparing floating point numbers, make sure you round to an acceptable level of rounding for the type of application you are using.

An operation with only one operand (a single input). Common unary operators include + plus, - minus, and bitwise not. Some operators can function as both unary and binary operators. For example, + and - operators can serve as either.