Attribute (computing)

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Attribute (computing)

In computing

Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and developing computer technology, computer hardware and computer software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology....
, an attribute is a specification that defines a property of an object, element, or file. An attribute of an object usually consists of a name and a value; of an element, a type or class name; of a file, a name and extension.

For example, in computer graphics

Computer graphics

Computer graphics are graphics created by computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of pictorial data by a computer....
, line objects can have attributes such as thickness (with real values), color (with descriptive values such as brown or green or values defined in a certain color model, such as RGB

RGB color model

The RGB color model is an additive color in which red, green, and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors....
), dashing attributes, etc.

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In computing

Computing

Each named attribute has an associated set of rules called operations: one doesn't add characters or manipulate and process an integer
Integer

The integers are natural numbers including 0 and their negative and non-negative numberss . They are numbers that can be written without a fractional or decimal component, and fall within the set ....
array
Array

In computer science, an array is a data structure consisting of a group of element s that are accessed by index . In most programming languages each element has the same data type and the array occupies a contiguous area of computer memory....
as an image object— one doesn't process text as type floating point (decimal numbers).

It follows that an object definition can be extended by imposing data typing
Data type

A data type in programming languages is an attribute of a data which tells the computer something about the kind of data it is. This involves setting constraints on the datum, such as what values it can take and what operations may be performed upon it....
: a representation format, a default value, and legal operations (rules) and restrictions ("Division by zero is not to be tolerated!") are all potentially involved in defining an attribute, or conversely, may be spoken of as attributes of that object's type. A JPEG file is not decoded by the same operations (however similar they may be—these are all graphics data formats) as a PNG or BMP file, nor is a floating point typed number operated upon by the rules applied to typed long integers.

For example, in computer graphics

Computer graphics

RGB color model

The RGB color model is an additive color in which red, green, and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors....
), dashing attributes, etc. A circle object can be defined in similar attributes plus an origin

Origin

Origin is a word meaning "beginning." In this sense, it may refer to:*Origin , the beginning, starting-point, cause, or ultimate source, from which a thing is derived;...
and radius

RADIUS

Remote Authentication Dial In User Service is a networking protocol that provides centralized access, authorization and accounting management for people or computers to connect and use a network service....
.

Markup languages, such as HTML

HTML

HTML, an Acronym and initialism of HyperText Markup Language, is the predominant markup language for Web pages. It provides a means to describe the structure of text-based information in a document?by denoting certain text as links, headings, paragraphs, lists, and so on?and to supplement that text with interactive forms, embedded '...
and XML, use attributes to describe data and the formatting of data.

Attributes in C#

In the C# programming language, attributes are metadata

Metadata

Metadata is "data about other data", of any sort in any media. An item of metadata may describe an individual datum, or content item, or a collection of data including multiple content items and hierarchical levels, for example a database schema....
attached to a field or a block of code, equivalent to annotations in Java

Java annotation

An annotation, in the Java , is a special form of syntactic metadata that can be added to Java source code. Classes, methods, variables, parameters and packages may be annotated....
.

Attribute (computing)

Attributes in C#

See also