program state

One of the key concepts in computer programming is the idea of state, essentially a snapshot of the measure of various conditions in the system. Most programming languages require a considerable amount of state information in order to operate properly, information which is generally hidden from the programmer. For a real world example, consider a three-way light switch. Typically a switch turns on a light by moving it to the "up" position, but in a three-way case that may turn the light back off — the result is based on the state of the other switch, which is likely out of view.
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