Part of the Programming glossary:

In general use, nil (a contraction of Latin "nihil") means "nothing" or the absence of something. Sometimes nil is used to mean the number zero (0). In programming, nil refers to an empty set or a list containing no entries. In some usages, nil is interchangeable with null. In certain programming languages such as Pascal , SmallTalk , or LISP (list processing), nil represents the absence of an object, or the empty pointer value. In databases, nil refers to an unspecified entry.

Next Steps

The acronym NIL stands for New Implementation of LISP, which has been superseded by CommonLISP. The LISP language and its descendants have been widely used in artificial intelligence ( AI ) programming.

This was last updated in August 2008
Contributor(s): Joseph Flanigan
Posted by: Margaret Rouse

Related Terms

Definitions

  • glocalization

    - Glocalization is the concept that in a global market, a product or service is more likely to succeed when it is customized for the locality or culture in which it is sold.  (SearchCIO.com)

  • Apache Lucene

    - Apache Lucene is a freely available information retrieval software library that works with fields of text within document files. This evolving venture is also called the Apache Lucene Project. (WhatIs.com)

  • polynomial interpolation

    - Polynomial interpolation is a method of estimating values between known data points. When graphical data contains a gap, but data is available on either side of the gap or at a few specific points ... (WhatIs.com)

Glossaries

  • Programming

    - Terms related to software programming, including definitions about programming languages and words and phrases about software design, coding, testing and debugging.

  • Computing fundamentals

    - Terms related to computer fundamentals, including computer hardware definitions and words and phrases about software, operating systems, peripherals and troubleshooting.

  • Internet applications

    - This WhatIs.com glossary contains terms related to Internet applications, including definitions about Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery models and words and phrases about web sites, e-commerce ...

Dig Deeper

Fast References

People Who Read This Also Read...

Ask a Question. Find an Answer.Powered by ITKnowledgeExchange.com

Ask An IT Question

Get answers from your peers on your most technical challenges

Ask Question

Tech TalkComment

Share
Comments

    Results

    Contribute to the conversation

    All fields are required. Comments will appear at the bottom of the article.
    Back to top