... computer programs. All
programming languages are formal languages.
natural language: Any of the languages people speak that have evolved nat-
urally.
portability: A property of a program that can run ... seen are declarations, assignments, and print state-
ments.
declaration: A statement that creates a new variable and determines its type.
assignment: A statement that assigns a value toa variable.
expression: ... simplest way to convert a floating-point value to an integer is to use a
typecast. Typecasting is so called because it allows you to take a value that
belongs to one type and “cast” it into another...
... diagrams
To keep track of which variables can be used where, it is sometimes useful to draw a stack
diagram. Like state diagrams, stack diagrams show the value of each variable, but they
also show ... Formal and natural languages 5
1.4 Formal and natural languages
Natural languages are the languages people speak, such as English, Spanish, and French.
They were not designed by people (although ... the syntactic structure of a program, analogous to a
word in a natural language.
parse: To examine a program and analyze the syntactic structure.
print statement: An instruction that causes the...
... the syntactic structure of a program, analo-
gous toa word in a natural language.
parse: To examine a program and analyze the syntactic s tructure.
print statement: An instruction that causes ... than
what the programmer intended.
semantics: The meaning of a program.
natural language: Any one of the languages that people speak that evolved
naturally.
formal language: Any one of the languages ... Operators and operands 17
2.6 Operators and operands
Operators are special symbols that represent computations like addition and
multiplication. The values the operator uses are called operands.
The...
... in
order to interview likea top MBA.
In my case, I was a mathematics and economics major in college, and
then I taught math for a number of years. When I was ready to make
the transition to become a ... rec-
ommend Howto Interview Likea Top MBA!”
—D
ALE
L
E
F
EBVRE
MIT graduate, Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School graduate
Former McKinsey & Company Consultant
Managing Partner, Pharos ... that all leading finan-
cial advisers must master. I was able to communicate how my back-
ground in math and economics, as well as my internships, had given
me skills relevant to the financial advising...
... internal controls rests with the board of directors, both as a mat-
ter of common sense and as a matter of policy. Boards have a com-
parative informational advantage and greater motivation to police
managerial ... preparedness.”
Pragmatism
Practical intelligence also “acknowledges that nothing quite suc-
ceeds as planned” and that what is crucial is “pragmatic adaptability”
to what is new. And new always comes—change ... than a year is treated as capital gains at rates no higher than
20%.
Stock buybacks are not always what they seem. They reduce the
number of a company’s shares outstanding, thus increasing earnings
per...