Questions tagged [terminology]
Questions about how specific notions have to be understood as well as conventions of notation.
1,058
questions
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1answer
31 views
What's the name of this packing problem?
I'm trying to pack sets of intervals, to find distinct buckets of intervals. The buckets should not be overlapping.
For example if I have these intervals:
...
2
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1answer
37 views
What is the difference between Partition and Division?
While reading graph theory, I came across different definitions where they use partitions and divisions, I was wondering, are these terms same or different?
Can anyone explain me their difference in ...
1
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1answer
26 views
Algorithmic information theory with stochastic algorithms?
Suppose we define a class of algorithms that is allowed to sample i.i.d. Bernoulli bitstrings of arbitrary length, and use these to generate outputs. If we are allowed to use algorithms like this, ...
1
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1answer
35 views
How does a computer direct the processing of information
So I'm reading Introduction to computing systems:From bits and gates to C and beyond, and the author states that a CPU is the mechanism that
...directs the processing of information. Which is ...
1
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1answer
45 views
How 'Avalanche Effect' got its name?
I wonder how or why Avalanche Effect got its name.
Avalanche Effect is a desirable property of cryptographic algorithms, wherein if an input is changed slightly (...
3
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0answers
54 views
Words of the same length in a language
Let $L\subseteq\Sigma^*$ be a language, where $\Sigma$ is a set, and let $n\in\mathbb N$.
I am wondering if there is some good terminology for
$L\cap\Sigma^n$.
Of course I could say "the set of ...
1
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1answer
72 views
Is there a name for an “array with no holes”?
How would you call an array [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ...] that has (and ensures) the property of not having any undefined values through all its length.
"Dense" could work but it's not exactly what I ...
2
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1answer
46 views
Combinator terminology: What is “strong” about strong composition?
A strong composition operator seems to be very fundamental. (Hindley and Seldin use the notation S for "strong" composition combinator). It abstracts the pattern $f(x, g(x))$, i.e. a direct ...
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0answers
26 views
Correct terminology for $P1;P2$?
This question is about the correct terminology. Let $P1$ and $P2$ be two LOOP programs. Then $P1;P2$ is also a LOOP program, which executes $P1$ and then executes $P2$. Would this be called ...
10
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1answer
1k views
What is the name of this type of program optimization where two loops operating over common data are combined into a single loop?
On an imperative programming language, let us consider the following program:
...
1
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1answer
46 views
What is the difference between Big O and asymptotic notation?
Are the two interchangeable or is there a difference?
0
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1answer
51 views
Is Conjunctive Normal Form or not?
I have one formula that I do not understand why it is CNF and one that is not CNF, namely.
p && !q (NOT NCF)
and
!!p(CNF).
According to the exercise where I found these examples, 1 is not ...
0
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1answer
24 views
Map data structure terminology
I'm looking for the correct terminology in regard to map (dictionary) data structure.
When I'm talking about the semantics of the values stored in map in the direction from keys to values, I'd say, ...
1
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1answer
55 views
What does “associative” exactly mean in “n-way set-associative cache”?
I'm trying to grasp what does associative actually mean in n-way set-associative cache. I understand n-way set-associative cache as a concept; n is the degree of ...
0
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1answer
29 views
Find subgraphs that can only be reached by two nodes
I want to find subgraphs in a graph that are only connected to the rest of the graph by two nodes; for example, node A is connected to the rest of the graph, as well as node F, but nodes B-E are only ...
1
vote
1answer
24 views
What is a good reference for NP hardness in the machine learning/optimization/operations research context?
I am reading some papers in machine learning and at the very beginning (introduction) you will see statements of theorems that says, for example:
Theorem 1.1. For any constant ϵ > 0, it is NP-hard ...
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0answers
26 views
Calculus for Communicating Systems vs. Calculus of Communicating Systems
Robin Milner uses both terms: Calculus for Communicating Systems and Calculus of Communicating Systems and, AFAIK, writes CCS for both. Is there any difference between the two? Is there a difference ...
4
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1answer
124 views
Origin of “Cookie” in Computing?
"Cookies" are a user-facing computing construct. They are codified in many technical specifications, including the earliest reference in an HTTP spec, RFC 2109, published February 1997.
Many ...
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1answer
67 views
How to properly name the two types of RAM in a Paper?
How do I name VRAM and RAM properly in a paper?
"Video RAM" is clear but the "normal" RAM? Is it called "CPU RAM" or "Processor RAM" or "Main RAM" or ...
3
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1answer
204 views
Does the term “continuity” have a different meaning in maths and in CS?
I ask this question because of some statements in the question "What is the 'continuity' as a term in computable analysis?" making me suspicious.
I'm engineer, not computer scientist, so I ...
1
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1answer
58 views
Is there a name for X when X bitwise OR Y is Y?
I'm wondering if there is a mathematical or computer science term for a number X such that Y | X = Y? For example:
...
7
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4answers
4k views
What is it called when f(g(x)) = x?
There are a couple of function pairs which give the identity when composed, e.g.,
decrypt(encrypt(value)) == value
...
0
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1answer
47 views
Is there any official terminology about something like double quotes “” grammar?
In many programming language string is a token.
For example:
...
3
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0answers
64 views
What's the meaning of linguistics?
In the programming language theory world, there are two important terminologies, i.e syntax, and semantics.
I can understand these two terminologies:
syntax is about sentence's structure (e.g. a valid ...
0
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1answer
47 views
Consistent theory based on L and not(A->A) is a theorem
I am working on this problem in which I have a theory $T$ based on language $\mathcal{L}$ and the only information we have is that T is consistent and $\vdash \lnot(A \rightarrow A)$. Given this ...
0
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0answers
81 views
If X is polynomial-time reducible to Y and X is polynomial-time reducible to Z then Y is polynomial-time reducible to Z?
If $X$ is polynomial-time reducible to $Y$ and $X$ is polynomial-time reducible to $Z$,
$Y$ is polynomial-time reducible to $Z$?
If $X \leq_p Y$ and $X \leq_p Z$ then $Y \leq_p Z$?
True, false or we ...
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2answers
93 views
If X is in NP then $\overline{X}$ is in NP. True, false or “we don't know”? Why?
If X is in NP then $\overline{X}$ is in NP.
True, false or "we don't know"? Why?
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1answer
125 views
If X is polynomial reduction to Y and Y is in NP, then X is in NP? [duplicate]
If X is polynomial reduction to Y and Y is in NP, then X is in NP?
Is this true, false or "we don't know"? Why?
4
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2answers
264 views
Graph coloring variation
Are there variations of the classic graph coloring problem that the number of neighbors in the same color is limited but not zero (in the original problem the limit is zero)?
Problem: Given a graph $G$...
5
votes
1answer
293 views
How to pronounce “P/poly”?
Another question is about the reasons for calling P/poly "P/poly". My question is instead about its (verbal) syntax rather than its compositional semantics:
How is "P/poly" pronounced (in English)?
...
0
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0answers
17 views
Term for language that abstracts program location?
What is the technical term that describes a programming language that abstracts (or at least largely abstracts) the machine location of programs? I’m thinking here specifically of the evolution of ...
1
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0answers
25 views
Origin of GUI terminology
I'm wondering where the GUI terminology like modal dialogue comes from.
Who first used these terms? Is there a paper or a book, or was it just sw?
4
votes
2answers
122 views
Why is the second operation of a Monad called bind?
I understand how monadic computation works, I am just wondering where does the name come from. I cannot relate the thing that the bind operator actually does (i.e. ...
1
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1answer
72 views
Why F-bounded polymorphism and F-bounded quantification are called, well, F-bounded
It's claimed in Wikipedia that:
F-bounded quantification or recursively bounded quantification,
introduced in 1989, allows for more precise typing of functions that
are applied on recursive ...
3
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0answers
884 views
Backtracking vs Branch-and-Bound
I'm getting a bit confused about the three terms and their differences: Depth-First-Search (DFS), Backtracking, and Branch-and-Bound.
What confuses me:
Stack Overflow: Difference between '...
2
votes
2answers
54 views
Does the word “efficient” usually refer to polynomial time or polylogarithmic time?
This question is strictly about terminology.
I'm not an expert in CS, but I've almost always seen the word "efficient" applied to an algorithm to mean "of polynomial runtime". E.g. this question and ...
1
vote
1answer
44 views
to bail out vs to back out
In a CS context, I have often come across the expression to back out meaning to say that a function is returned from before performing its actual task, as in this imaginary code comment:
...
1
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1answer
47 views
The characterization of a problem as PSPACE-complete is …?
Let's assume that you found out that some problem $\mathit{\Pi}$ is PSPACE-complete (with respect to your favorite kind of reductions, say, logspace reductions). However, as there are dozens of well-...
0
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2answers
88 views
IS there a consensus on the definition of a computer program in CS literature and if so, what is it?
The following is what I came up with from my synthetic prior research but I might be wrong.
I understand it is possible to reduce any computer "program", in a maximal reduction(?), to these features:
...
2
votes
1answer
189 views
Name for sorting algorithm “while not sorted, swap the FIRST unordered pair”
A typical bubble sort steps through all pair indices until it reaches the end of the list, then starts a new pass.
For a toy problem, we have a variant that just performs the first available swap in ...
27
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2answers
9k views
Is there a name for the class of algorithms that are the most efficient for a particular task?
This would be analogous to the Kolmogorov complexity of a string, except that in this case, I'm interested in the algorithm that solves a given problem using the least number of steps.
We would ...
1
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0answers
69 views
What are precisely computational effects?
I'm really confused with definition of computational effects. What I knew and understood about computational effect were only that they're impure computation, but someone noticed me that computational ...
1
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1answer
52 views
trace vs. computation vs. run vs. execution vs. walk
Many folks use the terms "trace", "execution", "computation", "run", "walk" ... interchangeably when they speak about state machines with labeled transitions. Does any work distinguish between these ...
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2answers
115 views
Is Turing machine a scientific theory in CS?
The English Wikipedia article about Turing machine opens with:
A Turing machine is a mathematical model of computation that defines
an abstract machine,[1]
As a Hebrew speaker, I read a similar ...
0
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1answer
41 views
Is there a name for a graph whose vertices consist of edges of an existing graph connected by an edge if they shared a common vertex?
I was wondering if there is a name for this construction:
Take a graph $G$ and construct a new graph $G'$ in which the edges of $G$ now become vertices, and "vertices become edges" in the sense that ...
1
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0answers
35 views
Meaning of “uniformly computably enumerable in m”
Nies, in Computability and Randomness, p. 6, defines "uniformly computably enumerable":
A sequence of sets $(S_e)_{e\in\mathbb{N}}$ such that $\{\langle e,x \rangle : x \in S_e \}$ is c.e. is ...
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0answers
28 views
What is the maths name for a set which contains the Domain and Codomain of a function? [closed]
Im interested in this so that I can name a type parameter in a program I'm writing.
There is function that that has three parameters.
D, Domain
C, Codomain
X, where D is a subset of X and C is a ...
0
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2answers
176 views
Does the callback concept of programming have any basis in computer science?
Although I seriously code with computer languages in general since 2010 and as an amateur programmer with programming languages in particular since 2015 (primarily Bash and JavaScript imperative ...
0
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1answer
47 views
What is the result of a reduction operation called?
Is there a commonly used term for the result of a reduction operation?
"reductant" does not quite sound right...
0
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1answer
67 views
Exact meaning of metalinguistic variable
Consider the following BNF
<join-command> ::= <string> + <string>
In this context <join-command> and <...
