address:The memory location of a data item or procedure, or an expression that evaluates to an address.
ANSI (American National Standards Institute):The national institute responsible for defining programming-language standards to promote portability of these languages between different computer systems.
API (application programming interface):A set of system-level routines that can be used in an application program for tasks such as input, output, and file management. In a graphics-oriented operating environment like Microsoft Windows, high-level support for video graphics output is part of the API.
argc:The conventional name for the first argument to the main function in a C source program (an integer specifying the number of arguments passed to the program from the command line).
argument:A value passed to a procedure or function. For the utilities, a string or value that modifies the effects of a compiler, linker, or utility option.
argv:The conventional name for the second argument to the main function in a C source program (a pointer to an array of strings). The first string is the program name and each following string is an argument passed to the program from the command line.
arithmetic conversion:Conversion operations performed on items of integral and floating-point types used in expressions.
array:A set of elements of the same type.
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange):A set of 256 codes that many computers use to represent letters, digits, special characters, and other symbols. Only the first 128 of these codes are standardized; the remaining 128 are special characters that are defined by the computer manufacturer.
ASCII file:See “text file.”
.ASM :The filename extension for an assembly source file.