Initializer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Something or someone that sets a process in motion or prepares it for use ; a piece of code that gives a variable its first value in a program
2. A device, agent or person that begins a process or readies a system ; an expression in software that supplies the opening value of a variable
3. The thing that sets something going at its start ; a statement in programming that assigns the first value to a variable before it is used

Etymology: "Initializer" is a straightforward formation: the verb "initialize" with the agent suffix "-er" added, giving a noun for a thing or person that initializes something. The verb "initialize" itself is built from "initial," which comes from Latin "initialis," relating to a beginning, and the suffix "-ize," which turns a noun or adjective into a verb meaning to make or cause something to be a certain way. Put together, an initializer is whatever sets something going at its start. In everyday use the term is most common in computing and programming, where it names a piece of code or a value that gives a variable or structure its starting state before it is used. The sense is simply the agent of the beginning, so the word needs no further story beyond its parts.

Synonyms: initiator