Glossary

This is the complete list of abbreviations and short technical terms that appear across the SEBook, tutorials, and blog posts. The same definitions are surfaced inline as <abbr> tooltips when an abbreviation is used in body text — hover over (or focus) any abbreviation on the site to see its expansion.

Showing all 35 terms.

  • ACID

    Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability

    A set of properties that database transactions are expected to satisfy. Atomicity means a transaction either completes fully or has no effect; Consistency means the database moves between valid states; Isolation means concurrent transactions don't interfere; Durability means committed changes survive crashes.

    Related: SQL, CRUD

  • API

    Application Programming Interface

    A contract that lets one piece of software call another. APIs hide implementation details and expose a stable surface — function names, parameter types, and return values — that callers can depend on.

    Related: REST, HTTP, SDK

  • CD

    Continuous Delivery (or Continuous Deployment)

    The practice of keeping software in a state where it can be released at any time. Continuous Deployment goes one step further and actually releases every change automatically once it passes the pipeline.

    Related: CI, TDD

  • CI

    Continuous Integration

    The practice of merging every developer's work into a shared mainline frequently — usually several times a day — and running automated tests on each merge to catch integration problems early.

    Related: CD, TDD

  • CRUD

    Create, Read, Update, Delete

    The four basic operations on persistent storage. Most data-driven applications expose some form of CRUD interface for the entities they manage.

    Related: SQL, REST, API

  • CSRF

    Cross-Site Request Forgery

    A web security vulnerability in which an attacker tricks a logged-in user's browser into sending an unwanted request to a site they're authenticated with. CSRF tokens and SameSite cookies are common defenses.

    Related: XSS, HTTP

  • CSS

    Cascading Style Sheets

    The language used to describe the presentation (colors, layout, typography) of HTML documents.

    Related: HTML, DOM

  • DOM

    Document Object Model

    The in-memory tree representation of an HTML or XML document that scripts manipulate. Browser DOM APIs let JavaScript add, remove, and modify nodes.

    Related: HTML, CSS

  • GoF

    Gang of Four

    The four authors of the 1994 book "Design Patterns" — Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides — and, by extension, the catalog of 23 object-oriented design patterns the book described.

    Related: OOP, MVC

  • HTML

    HyperText Markup Language

    The markup language used to structure web pages. HTML elements describe meaning (heading, paragraph, list, link); CSS describes presentation; JavaScript describes behaviour.

    Related: CSS, DOM, HTTP

  • HTTP

    HyperText Transfer Protocol

    The application-layer protocol the web is built on. Clients send request messages (with a method like GET or POST and a URL); servers respond with status codes and bodies.

    Related: REST, API, HTML

  • JSON

    JavaScript Object Notation

    A lightweight, text-based data interchange format with a JavaScript-derived syntax. JSON is used widely for configuration files and HTTP payloads.

    Related: API, REST, YAML

  • JWT

    JSON Web Token

    A compact, signed token format used for authentication and information exchange. A JWT is three Base64url-encoded segments — header, payload, and signature — separated by dots.

    Related: OAuth, JSON, API

  • MVC

    Model-View-Controller

    A user-interface architecture that separates the data and business rules (the Model), the presentation (the View), and the input handling and orchestration (the Controller).

    Related: GoF, OOP

  • OAuth

    Open Authorization

    An authorization framework that lets a user grant a third-party application limited access to their resources on another service, without sharing their password.

    Related: JWT, API

  • OOP

    Object-Oriented Programming

    A programming paradigm built around objects — bundles of state and behaviour — interacting through method calls. Inheritance, encapsulation, and polymorphism are its three classical pillars.

    Related: GoF, UML, MVC

  • ORM

    Object-Relational Mapping

    A technique that translates between objects in code and rows in a relational database. ORMs let developers manipulate persistent data using language-native types instead of writing SQL by hand.

    Related: SQL, ACID, CRUD

  • PR

    Pull Request

    A request to merge a branch of code into another branch — usually a long-lived integration branch like main or master. Pull requests are the unit of code review on GitHub, GitLab, and similar platforms.

    Related: CI, CD

  • REST

    Representational State Transfer

    An architectural style for distributed hypermedia systems. REST APIs expose resources at predictable URLs and use HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) for the standard operations on them.

    Related: HTTP, API, CRUD

  • SDK

    Software Development Kit

    A collection of tools, libraries, documentation, and sample code that helps developers build applications for a specific platform or against a specific service.

    Related: API

  • SOLID

    Single-responsibility, Open-closed, Liskov substitution, Interface segregation, Dependency inversion

    An acronym for five object-oriented design principles popularised by Robert C. Martin. The principles guide how to keep classes small, loosely coupled, and easy to change.

    Related: OOP, GoF

  • SQL

    Structured Query Language

    The standard language for querying and modifying data in relational databases. SQL statements include SELECT (read), INSERT (create), UPDATE (modify), and DELETE (remove).

    Related: ACID, CRUD, ORM

  • SSH

    Secure Shell

    A cryptographic protocol for securely operating network services over an unsecured network. Most commonly used for remote command-line login and file transfer.

    Related: TLS

  • TCP

    Transmission Control Protocol

    A transport-layer protocol that provides reliable, ordered, byte-stream communication between two hosts. HTTP, SSH, and most other application protocols run on top of TCP.

    Related: UDP, HTTP

  • TDD

    Test-Driven Development

    A development workflow in which the developer writes a failing test first, then writes the smallest amount of code that makes the test pass, then refactors. The cycle repeats one tiny step at a time.

    Related: CI, CD

  • TLS

    Transport Layer Security

    A cryptographic protocol that provides authenticated, encrypted communication between two parties over a network. HTTPS is HTTP carried over TLS.

    Related: HTTP, SSH

  • UDP

    User Datagram Protocol

    A transport-layer protocol that provides connectionless, unreliable, message-oriented communication. Used where low latency matters more than guaranteed delivery — for example, real-time video, games, and DNS lookups.

    Related: TCP

  • UI

    User Interface

    The part of a system a user sees and operates — buttons, text fields, layouts, the keyboard and pointer behaviour. Distinct from User Experience (UX), which covers the full journey including non-visual flow and content.

    Related: UX, MVC

  • UML

    Unified Modeling Language

    A standardised graphical notation for modelling object-oriented software. UML defines a family of diagram types — class, sequence, state, activity, use case — that depict different views of a system.

    Related: OOP, GoF

  • URL

    Uniform Resource Locator

    The address of a resource on the web. A URL identifies the protocol (https), the host (example.com), an optional path (/page), and optional query parameters and fragment.

    Related: HTTP, HTML

  • UX

    User Experience

    The full experience a user has with a product — discovery, learning, regular use, recovery from errors. UI is one part of UX.

    Related: UI

  • XML

    Extensible Markup Language

    A text-based markup format with explicit tags. XML is more verbose than JSON but supports schemas, namespaces, and mixed content; it is still common in configuration files and document formats.

    Related: JSON, HTML

  • XP

    Extreme Programming

    A lightweight Agile methodology emphasising short iterations, pair programming, test-driven development, and continuous integration.

    Related: TDD, CI

  • XSS

    Cross-Site Scripting

    A web security vulnerability in which an attacker injects JavaScript into a page that other users will load. XSS lets the attacker run code in the victim's browser session.

    Related: CSRF, HTML

  • YAML

    YAML Ain't Markup Language

    A human-readable data serialisation format using indentation for structure. YAML is widely used for configuration files; this very file is YAML.

    Related: JSON, XML