Reference card
Encyclopedia
A reference card or quick reference card is a concise bundling of common syntactic
rules and idiom
s of a particular formal language
. It serves as an ad hoc memory
aid for an experienced user.
In spite of what the name reference card suggest, the term only tends to be used in the narrow context of programming language
s or markup language
s.
However, this concept is now being adopted to portray concise information in many other fields.
out a reference card. This in contrast to user guide
s, which tend to be large & verbose and to have a very low information density (in comparison to reference cards).
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
rules and idiom
Idiom
Idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made...
s of a particular formal language
Formal language
A formal language is a set of words—that is, finite strings of letters, symbols, or tokens that are defined in the language. The set from which these letters are taken is the alphabet over which the language is defined. A formal language is often defined by means of a formal grammar...
. It serves as an ad hoc memory
Memory
In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
aid for an experienced user.
In spite of what the name reference card suggest, the term only tends to be used in the narrow context of programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
s or markup language
Markup language
A markup language is a modern system for annotating a text in a way that is syntactically distinguishable from that text. The idea and terminology evolved from the "marking up" of manuscripts, i.e. the revision instructions by editors, traditionally written with a blue pencil on authors' manuscripts...
s.
However, this concept is now being adopted to portray concise information in many other fields.
Appearance
Due to its logical structure and conciseness, finding information in a reference card is trivial for humans and requires no computer interaction. It is therefore convenient for a user to printPrinting
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
out a reference card. This in contrast to user guide
User guide
A user guide or user's guide, also commonly known as a manual, is a technical communication document intended to give assistance to people using a particular system...
s, which tend to be large & verbose and to have a very low information density (in comparison to reference cards).
Examples
- Wikimedia wiki syntax ref card meta:Help:Reference card
- A LaTeXLaTeXLaTeX is a document markup language and document preparation system for the TeX typesetting program. Within the typesetting system, its name is styled as . The term LaTeX refers only to the language in which documents are written, not to the editor used to write those documents. In order to...
reference sheet (PDF) - An AMS LaTeXLaTeXLaTeX is a document markup language and document preparation system for the TeX typesetting program. Within the typesetting system, its name is styled as . The term LaTeX refers only to the language in which documents are written, not to the editor used to write those documents. In order to...
http://www-control.eng.cam.ac.uk/~pcr20/latex/LaTeXRefCard.v1.0.pdf (PDF) - An RR (programming language)R is a programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics. The R language is widely used among statisticians for developing statistical software, and R is widely used for statistical software development and data analysis....
reference card http://cran.r-project.org/doc/contrib/Short-refcard.pdf (PDF) - An RR (programming language)R is a programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics. The R language is widely used among statisticians for developing statistical software, and R is widely used for statistical software development and data analysis....
reference card for data miningData miningData mining , a relatively young and interdisciplinary field of computer science is the process of discovering new patterns from large data sets involving methods at the intersection of artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics and database systems...
http://www.rdatamining.com/docs/ (PDF)