Glossary

Term Definition
Current working directory The directory that is currently open in a given terminal session.
Git Git is a free and open-source VCS. It is the most widely used VCS today, and is used in COMP-1510.
GitHub GitHub is a website which can host projects using git. It is widely used in the software development industry, especially for hosting portfolios. All your projects and labs in COMP-1510 will be hosted on GitHub. This website is also hosted on GitHub!
IDE Integrated Development Environment. A program for running and writing code, usually with helpful features.
Installer A basic program that's designed to be downloaded and run once in order to install the actual program on the computer.
Interpreted language A programming language where the code itself, in text form, is directly executed by the computer, as opposed to being compiled into a binary format like an exe file. Python is a popular interpreted language, as is JavaScript which runs in your browser and powers websites.
Interpreter A program that translates code written in a particular programming language into instructions that the computer runs.
PATH A list of programs that are immediately available in the terminal regardless of the current working directory.
PEP 8 Python Enhancement Proposal 8. A style-guide for writing code in Python. Adherence is mandatory for COMP-1510.
Personal Access Token A short text string of random characters that works similarly to a password or the session cookie in a browser
PyCharm PyCharm is an IDE designed for Python. PyCharm is used in COMP-1510.
Python Python is the programming language used in COMP-1510.
Terminal Also called the command prompt, it is a text-based interface that software developers sometimes use instead of the graphical user interface, as it allows for more precise control of the commands given to the computer.
VCS Version Control System. Software for keeping track of changes you make while programming. Allows you to track and revert changes, and merge changes made by multiple people.