ACLScript glossary
A glossary of technical terminology used in the Analytics Scripting Guide.
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The scripting language that forms the basis of data analysis in Analytics.
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The actual value input into a function or command when the function or command is used within a script.{n} Each time that a function is used, different arguments can be provided. For example, if a script uses {c}trim("test "){c}, then {c}"test "{c} is the argument that is provided for that specific usage of the function {c}trim(){c}.
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A character encoding standard that represents a sequence of digits as a single character.{n}Most modern character-encoding schemes are based on ASCII, although they support many additional characters. ASCII is widely used for storing data in English and Western European languages.
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A special character (`) that qualifies data as a date, datetime, or time value: {c}`20160101 22:30:30`{c}
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See {i}logical{i}.
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A unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Bytes are the unit of measurement for all data storage, and since bytes are so small, they are often used to measure specific data in a file, such as characters.{n}Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit of memory in many computer architectures.
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1) A unit of information that corresponds with a symbol such as letter in an alphabet. Examples of characters include letters, numerical digits, punctuation marks, and whitespace.{n}2) A data type that represents a series of one or more characters, either as a literal or as some kind of variable. This data type is also commonly referred to as a {i}string{i}.
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An instruction to perform an operation in Analytics.{n}Every line in a script uses an ACLScript command and starts with the command name, followed by one or more parameters. For example, {c}CLASSIFY ON Customer_Number SUBTOTAL Trans_Amount TO "Customer_total.FIL"{c} instructs the script engine to {c}CLASSIFY{c} and specifies the parameters and values to use.
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A user-readable explanation or annotation in the source code of a script.{n} Comments are added with the purpose of making the source code easier for anyone who may try to read, use, or understand a script, and they are ignored by the script engine when running the script. They are formatted as either block comments or inline comments.
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The order in which individual commands, functions, or expressions are executed or evaluated.{n} Control flow is primarily associated with conditional statements, which allow different actions depending on whether a condition evaluates to true or false.
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A classification of data which tells the scripting engine how to interpret and use the data.{n} For example, the value {c}123{c} can be defined as character ({c}"123"{c}) or numeric ({c}123{c}) data, and the operations available depend on which data type is used to classify the data.
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A data type that represents an instant in time, typically expressed as a date and time of day.
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A self-contained module of code that accepts input and returns a single value or "result".{n}Functions encapsulate a task, such as returning a part of an input string, and are used by the code in a script. Functions are like a "black box" in that the script writer does not know how the module of code works, just the expected input and output.{n}For example, to convert the numeric value {c}22{c} into the character string {c}"22"{c}, the numeric value is provided as input for the {c}STRING(){c} function. When the function runs, it accepts {c}22{c} as input and returns {c}"22"{c}. In order to use {c}STRING(){c}, it is not necessary, or even possible, to know how it converts the number to a character, it is only necessary to know the expected input and output.
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A word that has special meaning in a particular context of a script.{n}For example, the word {c}if{c} is interpreted as a command name if it is the first word on a line of script, while it is interpreted as a a parameter name when it follows a command on the same line.
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A notation for representing a fixed value in source code that may be used to represent character, numeric, logical, or datetime data.{n} Literals are contrasted with {i}variables{i}, and are often used to assign values to variables. For example, {c}"word"{c} is a character literal while {c}v_char = "word"{c} assigns the literal's value to the variable {c}v_char{c}.
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The simplest data type. Logical data expresses a truth value of either true or false and is also known as {i}boolean{i} data.{n} This data type is primarily associated with conditional statements, which allow different actions and change control flow depending on whether a condition evaluates to true or false.
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A sequence of statements which is specified once but which may be carried out several times in succession. The code inside the loop is obeyed a specified number of times, or until some condition is met, or indefinitely.
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A data type that represents values containing digits from 0 to 9 and, optionally, a negative sign and a decimal point.
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A literal value, function, variable, or expression that is supplied as input to an operator.{n}For example, in an simple addition operation, two integers are supplied to the addition operator '+' as operands: {c}2 + 5{c}.
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A symbol such as '+' that performs an operation on one or more operands in an expression.{n}Operators can be unary, where the operation uses only one operand: {c}-5{c}. Or they can be binary, where the operation uses two operands: {c}amount < 50{c}.
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The names of the expected input for a function or command.{n} A list of parameters is included with each function and command so that when the function or command is used, the script writer can provide the correct input values, or arguments.{n} For example, {c}TRIM(string){c} shows that the {c}TRIM(){c} function expects one parameter called {c}string{c}. When the function is used, one value is provided as the argument that gets assigned to string: {c}TRIM("test "){c}.
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A sequence of characters that defines a search pattern.{n} Usually this pattern is then used by string searching algorithms for "find" or "find and replace" operations on strings. Each character in a regular expression is understood to be a meta character (with its special meaning), or a regular character (with its literal meaning).{n} For example, in the regex {c}a.{c}, "a" is a literal character which matches just "a" and "." is a meta character which matches every character except a newline.
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A sequence of program instructions that perform a specific task, packaged as a unit. A function is a routine.
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The computer program inside Analytics and Analytics Exchange that directly runs the instructions written in a script.{n} When you run a script, the script engine reads the script file and performs the commands in the order specified in the script.
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A way of describing a datetime value as the number of days elapsed since January 1, 1900. The value is expressed as a numeric and the time portion of the value is a decimal.{n}For example, on March 16, 2023, 45000 days have elapsed since January 1, 1900. Therefore {c}45000.25{c} expresses March 16, 2023 06:00:00 as a serial datetime.
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A collection of commands, functions, expressions, and comments written in plain text using ACLScript syntax and saved in a script file. The source code of a script represents the specific instructions that script writers prepare for the {i}script engine{i} to run.
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A sequence of characters, either as a literal or as some kind of variable.
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The set of rules that defines a correctly structured script. ACLScript has a unique syntax and does not run unless the source code follows the syntax rules.
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An industry-standard method of character encoding that supports most of the world's languages.{n} Unicode is commonly used with global information systems, or data that contains multi-byte characters such as Asian, Cyrillic, or Arabic characters.
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An expression which cannot be evaluated any further.{n}For example, {c}1 + 2{c} is not a value because it can be reduced to the expression {c}3{c}. This expression {c}3{c} cannot be reduced further and is therefore a value.
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A temporary storage location, or "container", with a name that is used to hold a value.{n} The contents of the container can change but the name cannot, so the name lets a script reference and work with the value stored in the computer's memory without knowing what is actually stored in the location.{n} For example, {c}v_char = "my word"{c} stores {c}"my word"{c} in memory, and a script can then reference this value using the variable name {c}v_char{c}.
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