Scripting and Programming Foundations – D278 (WGU)
| Complete Exam Notes & Key Concepts Explained|
Rationales Graded A+ Latest Updated 2026
Program
Instructions executing one at a time.
Computational Thinking
Creating a sequence of instructions to solve a problem.
Algorithm
A sequence of instructions that solves a problem.
Flowchart
A graphical language for creating computer programs.
String Literal
Text in double quotes.
Comment
A text a programmer adds to a program, to be read by humans to better understand the code. It
is ignored by the program.
Whitespace
Any space, tab, or newline.
Moore's Law
The observation that computing power roughly doubles every two years.
Embedded Computer
A specially designed computer chip that resides inside another device, such as a car. These self-
contained computer devices have their own programming and typically neither receive input
from users nor interact with other systems.
Bit
A single binary digit: 1 or 0
, Byte
8 bits
ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange
Unicode
A symbol that enables most of the languages in the world to be symbolized with a special
character identification.
Decimal Numbers
Base ten numbers
Binary Numbers
Number system with a base of 2.
Variable
A named item.
Assignment Statement
An instruction that assigns a value to something.
Variable Declaration
Declares a new variable, specifying the variable's name and type.
Identifier
A name created by a programmer for an item like a variable or method. Must be a sequence of
letters, underscores and digits and must start with a letter.
Naming Conventions
A set of style guidelines defined by a company, team, teacher, etc., for naming variables.
Literal
a specific value in code, like 2.
Incremental Development
the process of writing, compiling, and testing a small amount of code, then writing, compiling,
and testing a small amount more, and so on.
| Complete Exam Notes & Key Concepts Explained|
Rationales Graded A+ Latest Updated 2026
Program
Instructions executing one at a time.
Computational Thinking
Creating a sequence of instructions to solve a problem.
Algorithm
A sequence of instructions that solves a problem.
Flowchart
A graphical language for creating computer programs.
String Literal
Text in double quotes.
Comment
A text a programmer adds to a program, to be read by humans to better understand the code. It
is ignored by the program.
Whitespace
Any space, tab, or newline.
Moore's Law
The observation that computing power roughly doubles every two years.
Embedded Computer
A specially designed computer chip that resides inside another device, such as a car. These self-
contained computer devices have their own programming and typically neither receive input
from users nor interact with other systems.
Bit
A single binary digit: 1 or 0
, Byte
8 bits
ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange
Unicode
A symbol that enables most of the languages in the world to be symbolized with a special
character identification.
Decimal Numbers
Base ten numbers
Binary Numbers
Number system with a base of 2.
Variable
A named item.
Assignment Statement
An instruction that assigns a value to something.
Variable Declaration
Declares a new variable, specifying the variable's name and type.
Identifier
A name created by a programmer for an item like a variable or method. Must be a sequence of
letters, underscores and digits and must start with a letter.
Naming Conventions
A set of style guidelines defined by a company, team, teacher, etc., for naming variables.
Literal
a specific value in code, like 2.
Incremental Development
the process of writing, compiling, and testing a small amount of code, then writing, compiling,
and testing a small amount more, and so on.
