Skeleton programming is a style of computer programming based on simple high-level program structures and so called dummy code. Program skeletons resemble pseudocode, but allow parsing, compilation and testing of the code.
Dummy code is inserted in a program skeleton to simulate processing and avoid compilation error messages. It may involve empty function declarations, or functions that return a correct result only for a simple test case where the expected response of the code is known.
Skeleton programming facilitates a top-down design approach, where a partially functional system with complete high-level structures is designed and coded, and this system is then progressively expanded to fulfill the requirements of the project.
Program skeletons are sometimes used for high-level descriptions of algorithms.
A program skeleton may also be utilized as a template that reflects syntax and structures commonly used in a wide class of problems.
Skeleton programs are utilized in the template method design pattern used in object-oriented programming. See that article for examples of skeleton programs.
In object-oriented programming, dummy code corresponds to an abstract method, a method stub or a mock object. In RMI nomenclature, a skeleton communicates on the client-side with a stub on the server-side.
Famous quotes containing the word skeleton:
“Grammar is a tricky, inconsistent thing. Being the backbone of speech and writing, it should, we think, be eminently logical, make perfect sense, like the human skeleton. But, of course, the skeleton is arbitrary, too. Why twelve pairs of ribs rather than eleven or thirteen? Why thirty-two teeth? It has something to do with evolution and functionalism—but only sometimes, not always. So there are aspects of grammar that make good, logical sense, and others that do not.”
—John Simon (b. 1925)