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cameronsjo merged 1 commit into from
Dec 16, 2025
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feat: expand CS glossary with programming techniques #8

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53 changes: 53 additions & 0 deletions Computer Science/CS Fundamentals Glossary.md
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Expand Up @@ -208,7 +208,12 @@ Task B ──┴────┴── Task B
|------|------------|
| **Serialization** | Converting object to byte stream for storage/transmission. |
| **Deserialization** | Reconstructing object from byte stream. |
| **Pickling** | Python's native serialization. Converts objects to byte stream; security risk with untrusted data. |
| **Unpickling** | Python's deserialization. Reconstructs objects from pickled byte stream. |
| **Marshalling** | Transforming data for transmission (includes serialization + metadata). |
| **Unmarshalling** | Reverse of marshalling; reconstruct data on receiving end. |
| **Hydration** | Populating an object with data (often from serialized form or database). |
| **Dehydration** | Extracting data from object for storage/transmission. Opposite of hydration. |
| **Endianness** | Byte order: big-endian (MSB first) vs little-endian (LSB first). |
| **Two's Complement** | Standard signed integer representation. Negation: invert bits + 1. |
| **IEEE 754** | Floating-point standard. Sign bit + exponent + mantissa. |
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -418,6 +423,54 @@ Prefer composition: more flexible, avoids deep hierarchies
1. Physical Cables, signals
```

## Programming Techniques

| Term | Definition |
|------|------------|
| **Thunk** | Delayed computation wrapped in a zero-argument function. Enables lazy evaluation. |
| **Trampolining** | Convert deep recursion to iteration using thunks. Avoids stack overflow. |
| **Continuation** | Representation of "what to do next." Captures remaining computation. |
| **CPS** | Continuation-Passing Style. Pass continuation as argument instead of returning. |
| **Debouncing** | Delay execution until activity stops. Fire once after rapid events settle. |
| **Throttling** | Limit execution rate. Fire at most once per time interval. |
| **Polling** | Repeatedly check for condition/data at intervals. |
| **Long Polling** | Server holds request open until data available or timeout. |
| **Reflection** | Program inspects and modifies its own structure at runtime. |
| **Introspection** | Examine types and properties at runtime (subset of reflection). |
| **Metaprogramming** | Code that writes or manipulates other code. Macros, code generation. |
| **Monkey Patching** | Modify classes/methods at runtime. Powerful but risky. |
| **Boxing** | Wrap primitive in object. `int` → `Integer`. |
| **Unboxing** | Extract primitive from wrapper object. `Integer` → `int`. |
| **Autoboxing** | Automatic boxing/unboxing by compiler. |
| **Hoisting** | Moving declarations to top of scope (JavaScript var, function declarations). |
| **Coercion** | Implicit type conversion. `"5" + 3` → `"53"` in JavaScript. |
| **Short-Circuit Evaluation** | Stop evaluating boolean expression when result is determined. `false && x` skips x. |
| **Interning** | Reuse immutable objects. String interning, integer caching. |
| **Memoization** | Cache function results to avoid redundant computation. |
| **Dependency Injection** | Pass dependencies to object rather than having it create them. |
| **Inversion of Control** | Framework calls your code, not vice versa. "Don't call us, we'll call you." |
| **Duck Punching** | Modify built-in types at runtime. More aggressive than monkey patching. |
| **Shim** | Code that intercepts API calls and provides compatibility layer. |
| **Polyfill** | Code that implements modern API in older environments. |
| **Coroutine** | Function that can pause and resume execution. Cooperative multitasking. |
| **Generator** | Function that yields multiple values over time. Lazy sequences. |
| **Yield** | Pause generator and return value; resume on next iteration. |
| **Async/Await** | Syntactic sugar for working with promises/futures. Looks synchronous, runs async. |

### Debounce vs Throttle

```
User typing: k-e-y-k-e-y-k-e-y

Debounce (300ms):
Events: k e y k e y k e y
Fires: ↓ (once, after typing stops)

Throttle (300ms):
Events: k e y k e y k e y
Fires: ↓ ↓ ↓ (at regular intervals)
```

## Related

- [[Big O Notation]]
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