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Multiway Branch
Multiway branch is the change to a program's control flow based upon a value matching a selected criteria. It is a form of Conditional (programming), conditional statement. A multiway branch is often the most algorithmic efficiency, efficient method of passing control to one of a set of Label (computer science), program labels, especially if an Array data structure, index has been created beforehand from the raw data. Examples * Branch table * Switch statement - see also alternatives below * Multiple dispatch - where a subroutine is invoked and a return is made Alternatives A multiway branch can, frequently, be replaced with an efficient indexed lookup table, table lookup (using the data value itself or a calculated derivative of the data value, as the index of an Array data structure, array) "''...the implementation of a switch statement has been equated with that of a multiway branch. However, for many uses of the switch statement in real code, it is possible to avoid branching a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Control Flow
In computer science, control flow (or flow of control) is the order in which individual statements, instructions or function calls of an imperative program are executed or evaluated. The emphasis on explicit control flow distinguishes an '' imperative programming'' language from a ''declarative programming'' language. Within an imperative programming language, a ''control flow statement'' is a statement that results in a choice being made as to which of two or more paths to follow. For non-strict functional languages, functions and language constructs exist to achieve the same result, but they are usually not termed control flow statements. A set of statements is in turn generally structured as a block, which in addition to grouping, also defines a lexical scope. Interrupts and signals are low-level mechanisms that can alter the flow of control in a way similar to a subroutine, but usually occur as a response to some external stimulus or event (that can occur asynch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conditional (programming)
In computer science, conditionals (that is, conditional statements, conditional expressions and conditional constructs,) are programming language commands for handling decisions. Specifically, conditionals perform different computations or actions depending on whether a programmer-defined boolean ''condition'' evaluates to true or false. In terms of control flow, the decision is always achieved by selectively altering the control flow based on some condition (apart from the case of branch predication). Although dynamic dispatch is not usually classified as a conditional construct, it is another way to select between alternatives at runtime. Terminology In imperative programming languages, the term "conditional statement" is usually used, whereas in functional programming, the terms "conditional expression" or "conditional construct" are preferred, because these terms all have distinct meanings. If–then(–else) The if–then construct (sometimes called if–the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Algorithmic Efficiency
In computer science, algorithmic efficiency is a property of an algorithm which relates to the amount of computational resources used by the algorithm. An algorithm must be analyzed to determine its resource usage, and the efficiency of an algorithm can be measured based on the usage of different resources. Algorithmic efficiency can be thought of as analogous to engineering productivity for a repeating or continuous process. For maximum efficiency it is desirable to minimize resource usage. However, different resources such as time and space complexity cannot be compared directly, so which of two algorithms is considered to be more efficient often depends on which measure of efficiency is considered most important. For example, bubble sort and timsort are both algorithms to sort a list of items from smallest to largest. Bubble sort sorts the list in time proportional to the number of elements squared (O(n^2), see Big O notation), but only requires a small amount of extra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Label (computer Science)
In programming languages, a label is a sequence of characters that identifies a location within source code. In most languages, labels take the form of an identifier, often followed by a punctuation character (e.g., a colon). In many high-level languages, the purpose of a label is to act as the destination of a GOTO statement. In assembly language, labels can be used anywhere an address can (for example, as the operand of a JMP or MOV instruction). Also in Pascal and its derived variations. Some languages, such as Fortran and BASIC, support numeric labels. Labels are also used to identify an entry point into a compiled sequence of statements (e.g., during debugging). C In C a label identifies a statement in the code. A single statement can have multiple labels. Labels just indicate locations in the code and reaching a label has no effect on the actual execution. Function labels Function labels consist of an identifier, followed by a colon. Each such label poin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Array Data Structure
In computer science, an array is a data structure consisting of a collection of ''elements'' ( values or variables), each identified by at least one ''array index'' or ''key''. An array is stored such that the position of each element can be computed from its index tuple by a mathematical formula. The simplest type of data structure is a linear array, also called one-dimensional array. For example, an array of ten 32-bit (4-byte) integer variables, with indices 0 through 9, may be stored as ten words at memory addresses 2000, 2004, 2008, ..., 2036, (in hexadecimal: 0x7D0, 0x7D4, 0x7D8, ..., 0x7F4) so that the element with index ''i'' has the address 2000 + (''i'' × 4). The memory address of the first element of an array is called first address, foundation address, or base address. Because the mathematical concept of a matrix can be represented as a two-dimensional grid, two-dimensional arrays are also sometimes called "matrices". In some cases the term "vector" is used in com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raw Data
Raw data, also known as primary data, are ''data'' (e.g., numbers, instrument readings, figures, etc.) collected from a source. In the context of examinations, the raw data might be described as a raw score (after test scores). If a scientist sets up a computerized thermometer which records the temperature of a chemical mixture in a test tube every minute, the list of temperature readings for every minute, as printed out on a spreadsheet or viewed on a computer screen are "raw data". Raw data have not been subjected to processing, "cleaning" by researchers to remove outliers, obvious instrument reading errors or data entry errors, or any analysis (e.g., determining central tendency aspects such as the average or median result). As well, raw data have not been subject to any other manipulation by a software program or a human researcher, analyst or technician. They are also referred to as ''primary'' data. Raw data is a relative term (see data), because even once raw data h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Branch Table
In computer programming, a branch table or jump table is a method of transferring program control ( branching) to another part of a program (or a different program that may have been dynamically loaded) using a table of branch or jump instructions. It is a form of multiway branch. The branch table construction is commonly used when programming in assembly language but may also be generated by compilers, especially when implementing optimized switch statements whose values are densely packed together. Typical implementation A branch table consists of a serial list of unconditional branch instructions that is branched into using an offset created by multiplying a sequential index by the instruction length (the number of bytes in memory occupied by each branch instruction). It relies on the fact that machine code instructions for branching have a fixed length and can be executed extremely efficiently by most hardware, and is most useful when dealing with raw data values that may be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Switch Statement
In computer programming languages, a switch statement is a type of selection control mechanism used to allow the value of a variable or expression to change the control flow of program execution via search and map. Switch statements function somewhat similarly to the if statement used in programming languages like C/ C++, C#, Visual Basic .NET, Java and exists in most high-level imperative programming languages such as Pascal, Ada, C/ C++, C#, Visual Basic .NET, Java, and in many other types of language, using such keywords as switch, case, select or inspect. Switch statements come in two main variants: a structured switch, as in Pascal, which takes exactly one branch, and an unstructured switch, as in C, which functions as a type of goto. The main reasons for using a switch include improving clarity, by reducing otherwise repetitive coding, and (if the heuristics permit) also offering the potential for faster execution through easier compiler optimization in many case ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multiple Dispatch
Multiple dispatch or multimethods is a feature of some programming languages in which a function or method can be dynamically dispatched based on the run-time (dynamic) type or, in the more general case, some other attribute of more than one of its arguments. This is a generalization of single-dispatch polymorphism where a function or method call is dynamically dispatched based on the derived type of the object on which the method has been called. Multiple dispatch routes the dynamic dispatch to the implementing function or method using the combined characteristics of one or more arguments. Understanding dispatch Developers of computer software typically organize source code into named blocks variously called subroutines, procedures, subprograms, functions, or methods. The code in the function is executed by ''calling'' it – executing a piece of code that references its ''name''. This transfers control temporarily to the called function; when the function's execution has c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lookup Table
In computer science, a lookup table (LUT) is an array that replaces runtime computation with a simpler array indexing operation. The process is termed as "direct addressing" and LUTs differ from hash tables in a way that, to retrieve a value v with key k, a hash table would store the value v in the slot h(k) where h is a hash function i.e. k is used to compute the slot, while in the case of LUT, the value v is stored in slot k, thus directly addressable. The savings in processing time can be significant, because retrieving a value from memory is often faster than carrying out an "expensive" computation or input/output operation. The tables may be precalculated and stored in static program storage, calculated (or "pre-fetched") as part of a program's initialization phase (memoization), or even stored in hardware in application-specific platforms. Lookup tables are also used extensively to validate input values by matching against a list of valid (or invalid) items in an array an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Index Mapping
Index mapping (or direct addressing, or a trivial hash function) in computer science describes using an array, in which each position corresponds to a key in the universe of possible values. The technique is most effective when the universe of keys is reasonably small, such that allocating an array with one position for every possible key is affordable. Its effectiveness comes from the fact that an arbitrary position in an array can be examined in constant time. Applicable arrays There are many practical examples of data whose valid values are restricted within a small range. A trivial hash function is a suitable choice when such data needs to act as a lookup key. Some examples include: * month in the year (1–12) * day in the month (1–31) * day of the week (1–7) * human age (0–130) – e.g. lifecover actuary tables, fixed-term mortgage * ASCII characters (0–127), encompassing common mathematical operator symbols, digits, punctuation marks, and English language alphabet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Naur
Peter Naur (25 October 1928 – 3 January 2016) was a Danish computer science pioneer and Turing award winner. He is best remembered as a contributor, with John Backus, to the Backus–Naur form (BNF) notation used in describing the syntax for most programming languages. He also contributed to creating the language ALGOL 60. Biography Naur began his career as an astronomer for which he received his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in 1957, but his encounter with computers led to a change of profession. From 1959 to 1969, he was employed at Regnecentralen, the Danish computing company, while at the same time giving lectures at the Niels Bohr Institute and the Technical University of Denmark. From 1969 to 1998, Naur was a professor of computer science at University of Copenhagen. He was a member of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) IFIP Working Group 2.1 on Algorithmic Languages and Calculi, which specified, supports, and maintains the languages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
