320 ◾ Glossary
postconditions: are conditions that hold aer a function nishes execu-
tion. By evaluating postconditions, an application programmer
can track state and thus ensure the legitimacy of subsequent calls.
preconditions: are conditions that should be met before a function exe-
cutes. By satisfying stated preconditions, an application program-
mer ensures correct execution of a function.
principle of least knowledge: is a design guideline that promotes low
coupling by stating that one object should know as little as pos-
sible of another.
priority queue: is a queue that provides the same interface as a standard
queue. Internally, although, a priority queue orders items by pri-
ority, not in FIFO order. If data is low priority, then ...