dictionary

Dictionary

This wiki page describes the words extensively used in TerraME and their meanings. It is under development and does not represent the official view of TerraME yet.

• argument: Something passed to a function call. See also parameter.
• array: TerraME does not use this term. Use vector instead.
• attribute: Values within TerraME types (Agent, Cell, etc.). Note that, when using these objects as simple tables, the name is element instead.
• class: TerraME does not use this term. Use type instead.
• connection: The link between two Agents.
• constructor: A function to create an object whose type is the name of the function itself.
• directory: A directory in the computer.
• edge: This word has no meaning. Use connection instead.
• element: Anything inside a table. Lua uses its term in its documentation: "you can add as many elements as you want to a table dynamically". See attribute.
• folder: This word has no meaning in TerraME. Use directory instead.
• id: The unique identifier of a given object. It is only necessary when the object has a parent, to differentiate it from the other ones when interfacing data or when it is necessary to connect objects within or between sets.
• index: Lua uses this name to define a metatable. In TerraME it should not be used with another meaning. Use name, element, or attribute instead.
• key: This word has no meaning. Use name, element, or attribute instead.
• message: (i) Something that is passed between Agents: an information, or any kind of matter, along a simulation. (ii) A text related to an error, in functions available in ErrorHandling.
• name: A value used to index the values of a table.
• named: A property of a table indicating that its elements have strings in their names.
• node: This word has no meaning. Use Agent or Cell instead.
• object: An instance of a type.
• parameter: Something passed to create an instance of a Model. See also argument.
• parent: A TerraME type that represents a set (CellularSpace, Environment, Society, Timer), that is pointed by a given object that belongs to the set.
• select: When used as argument for a function, it represents a subset of values.
• type: Every value in TerraME has a type.
• value: The object represented by an element of a given table.
• variable: An object whose value belongs to a basic Lua type, which are boolean, number, or string.
• vector: A table whose elements have numbers in their names.