VCE Applied Computing U1O2 Programming: Legal requirements and emerging trends Hangman

The 13 key terms

1Copyright Act 1968 (Cwlth)

Australian legislation that automatically protects original creative works, like software and images, from being copied or used without permission

2copyright

The legal protection on other people's images, text and music. You need permission or a licence to use them, and you must say where they came from.

4software licence

A legal agreement stating how you may use, change and share code. Open-source licences allow reuse if you follow their terms, such as giving credit to the author.

5# Source:

A comment placed above code you reused that names the source (such as a URL), the author and the licence, so the original work is credited and your own lines are clear.

6Machine learning

AI learns patterns from large amounts of training data, then uses those patterns to make predictions or generate content.

7AI code generator

A tool that writes program code from a plain-language description or by suggesting the next lines as you type. It can save time, but a person must still check the code.

8prompt

Instructions given to an AI code generator. A good one states the language, the inputs, the expected output and any constraints so the code matches the requirements.

9Check AI code

Read AI-generated code, test it against the requirements and check it for errors, bias and copyright issues before you use it. Then acknowledge the AI tool you used.

10low-code development

Building software mostly by dragging and configuring ready-made blocks in a visual builder, with little hand-written code. It is faster to build but limits customisation.

11readable code

Code that people can quickly understand, using clear names, consistent indentation and spacing, short functions with no repeated code, and helpful comments.

12maintainable code

Code organised so it can be fixed or extended later without breaking other parts, using small functions, classes that hide detail and constants instead of repeated values.

13refactoring

Rewriting working code to make it clearer or simpler (e.g. renaming variables, moving repeated lines into a function) without changing what it does, then re-running tests.

14language trends

Programming languages keep changing. New features and languages aim to make software easier, safer or faster to build, such as readable syntax, type hints and safer languages.