701General case The case for which the solution is expressed in terms of a smaller
version of itself; also known as the recursive case
Hardware The physical components of a computer
Hide To provide a field in a derived class that has the same name as a field in its
superclass; to provide a class method that has the same form of heading as a
class method in its superclass. The field or class method is said to hide the
corresponding component of the superclass
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) The language used to create or build Web
pages
Identifier A name associated with a package, class, method, or field and used to
refer to that element
Immutable object An object whose state cannot be changed once it is created
Implementation (in Java) A class containing the definitions of the methods
specified in an interface
Infinite recursion The situation in which a method calls itself over and over
endlessly
Information Any knowledge that can be communicated
Inherit To acquire a field or method from a superclass
Inheritance A mechanism that enables us to define a new class by adapting the
definition of an existing class; a mechanism by which one class acquires the
properties - the data fields and methods - of another class
Input/output (I/O) devices The parts of the computer that accept data to be
processed (input) and present the results of that processing (output)
Inspection A verification method in which one member of a team reads the
code or design line-by-line and the other team members point out errors
Instantiate To create an object based on the description supplied by a class
Interactive system A system that supports direct communication between the
user and the computer
Interface A connecting link at a shared boundary that allows independent
systems to meet and act on or communicate with each other
Interface (in Java) A model for a class that specifies the fields and methods that
must be present in a class that implements the interface
Internet A wide area network that spans the planet
Interpretation The translation, while a program is running, of nonmachine-lan-
guage instructions (such as Bytecode) into executable operations
Iteration An individual pass through, or repetition of, the body of a loop
Iteration counter A counter variable that is incremented in each iteration of a
loop
Iterator An operation that allows us to process - one at a time - all of the compo-
nents in an object
Key A member of a class whose value is used to determine the logical and/or
physical order of the items in a list
Layout manager A class that automatically manages the placement of display
elements within a content pane on the screen
Length The number of items in a list; it can vary over time
Linear relationship Every element except the first has a unique predecessor,
and every element except the last has a unique successor