Side effect (computer science)

In computer science, a function or expression is said to have a side effect if it modifies some state or has an observable interaction with calling functions or the outside world. For example, a particular function might modify a global variable or static variable, modify one of its arguments, raise an exception, write data to a display or file, read data, or call other side-effecting functions. In the presence of side effects, a program's behaviour may depend on history; that is, the order of evaluation matters. Understanding and debugging a function with side effects requires knowledge about the context and its possible histories.

Side effects are the most common way that a program interacts with the outside world (people, filesystems, other computers on networks). But the degree to which side effects are used depends on the programming paradigm. Imperative programming is known for its frequent utilization of side effects.

In functional programming, side effects are rarely used. The lack of side effects makes it easier to do formal verifications of a program. Functional languages such as Standard ML, Scheme and Scala do not restrict side effects, but it is customary for programmers to avoid them. The functional language Haskell expresses side effects such as I/O and other stateful computations using monadic actions.

Side effect

In medicine, a side effect is an effect, whether therapeutic or adverse, that is secondary to the one intended; although the term is predominantly employed to describe adverse effects, it can also apply to beneficial, but unintended, consequences of the use of a drug.

Occasionally, drugs are prescribed or procedures performed specifically for their side effects; in that case, said side effect ceases to be a side effect, and is now an intended effect. For instance, X-rays were historically (and are currently) used as an imaging technique; the discovery of their oncolytic capability led to their employ in radiotherapy (ablation of malignant tumours).

Examples of therapeutic side-effects

Side effect (disambiguation)

A side effect is an effect that is secondary to the one intended. Side effect or side effects may also refer to:

Film

Music

Other

Side Effect

Side Effect was an American disco and jazz-funk band, that recorded between 1972 and 1982. The group was formed in Los Angeles, California in 1972 by Augie Johnson who became their leader.

Career

Side Effect was formed by founder Augie Johnson and members, Lomita Johnson, Jim Gilstrap, Gregory Matta and Louis Patton in May 1972. The group played many Los Angeles area clubs and within a few months the group signed their first record deal with a company called Avenue of America-Gas Records with whom they recorded their first album Effective. The album did not chart. Not discouraged Side Effect continued to evolve. They changed female lead vocalists, from Lomita Johnson to Sylvia Nabors, and soon joined At-Home Productions, a production company headed by Wayne Henderson of The Crusaders. This new association would bear fruit with a new record deal with Fantasy Records. The self-titled Side Effect was released in 1975 but it did not chart. By their third album, What You Need they had switched vocalists from Sylvia Nabors to Helen Lowe, now gospel superstar Helen Baylor. This was their first charting album going to number 26 on the R&B charts. Two more albums Goin' Bananas and Rainbow Visions were released now featuring vocalist Sylvia St. James who replaced Lowe but they charted moderately. After these four albums were completed, Side Effect left Fantasy Records and was picked up by Elektra Records. After The Rain now featuring a 16-year-old Miki Howard replacing St. James on vocals was released in 1980. It did not do well on the charts as well as the next two Elektra albums Portraits and All Aboard. Howard left the group for a solo career in 1985. The group briefly re-united and issued a single entitled "I Love You" in 1987 (Striped Horse records label). They later became known as Augie's Side Effect.

Side

Side (Greek: Σίδη) is an ancient Greek city on the southern Mediterranean coast of Turkey, a resort town and one of the best-known classical sites in the country. It lies near Manavgat and the village of Selimiye, 78 km from Antalya in the province of Antalya.

It is located on the eastern part of the Pamphylian coast, which lies about 20 km east of the mouth of the Eurymedon River. Today, as in antiquity, the ancient city is situated on a small north-south peninsula about 1 km long and 400 m across.

History

Strabo and Arrian both record that Side was founded by Greek settlers from Cyme in Aeolis, a region of western Anatolia. This most likely occurred in the 7th century BC. Its tutelary deity was Athena, whose head adorned its coinage.

Dating from the tenth century B.C., its coinage bore the head of Athena (Minerva), the patroness of the city, with a legend. Its people, a piratical horde, quickly forgot their own language to adopt that of the aborigines.

Possessing a good harbour for small-craft boats, Side's natural geography made it one of the most important places in Pamphylia and one of the most important trade centres in the region. According to Arrian, when settlers from Cyme came to Side, they could not understand the dialect. After a short while, the influence of this indigenous tongue was so great that the newcomers forgot their native Greek and started using the language of Side. Excavations have revealed several inscriptions written in this language. The inscriptions, dating from the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, remain undeciphered, but testify that the local language was still in use several centuries after colonisation. Another object found in the excavations at Side, a basalt column base from the 7th century BC and attributable to the Neo-Hittites, provides further evidence of the site's early history. The name Side may be Anatolian in origin, meaning pomegranate.

Cue sports techniques

Cue sports techniques (usually more specific, e.g., billiards techniques, snooker techniques) are a vital important aspect of game play in the various cue sports such as carom billiards, pool, snooker and other games. Such techniques are used on each shot in an attempt to achieve an immediate aim such as scoring or playing a safety, while at the same time exercising control over the positioning of the cue ball and often the object balls for the next shot or inning.

In carom games, an advanced player's aim on most shots is to leave the cue ball and the object balls in position such that the next shot is of a less difficult variety to make the requisite carom, and so that the next shot is in position to be manipulated in turn for yet another shot; ad infinitum.

Similarly, in many pocket billiards games, an advanced player's aim is to manipulate the cue ball so that it is in position to pocket (pot) a chosen next object ball and so that that next shot can also be manipulated for the next shot, and so on. Whereas in the carom games, manipulation of the object ball's position is crucial as well on every shot, in some pool games this is not as large a factor because on a successful shot the object ball is pocketed. However, many shots in one-pocket, for example, have this same added object ball control factor for most shots.

A-side and B-side

The terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 78 and 45 rpm phonograph records, whether singles or extended plays (EPs). The A-side usually featured the recording that the artist, record producer, or the record company intended to receive the initial promotional effort and then receive radio airplay, hopefully, to become a "hit" record. The B-side (or "flip-side") is a secondary recording that has a history of its own: some artists, notably Elvis Presley, Little Richard, the Beatles, Chuck Berry, and Oasis, released B-sides that were considered as strong as the A-side and became hits in their own right. Creedence Clearwater Revival had hits, usually unintentionally, with both the B-sides of their A-side releases. Others took the opposite track: producer Phil Spector was in the habit of filling B-sides with on-the-spot instrumentals that no one would confuse with the A-side. With this practice, Spector was assured that airplay was focused on the side he wanted to be the hit side.