Developer Glossary

A comprehensive dictionary of web development, programming, security, and DevOps terms. Learn the terminology used by developers worldwide.

Showing 36 of 36 terms

API (Application Programming Interface)

Web Development

A set of rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate with each other. APIs define the methods and data formats that applications can use to request and exchange information.

💡 Example:

A weather app uses a weather API to fetch current temperature data from a remote server.

🔗 Related Terms:

RESTJSONHTTP

Base64 Encoding

Encoding

A binary-to-text encoding scheme that represents binary data in an ASCII string format. Commonly used for encoding images, files, and data in URLs or JSON.

💡 Example:

Embedding an image in HTML using a data URL: data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgo...

🔗 Related Terms:

ASCIIBinaryData URL

Bcrypt

Security

A password hashing function designed to be slow and computationally expensive, making it resistant to brute-force attacks. It automatically handles salt generation.

💡 Example:

Storing user passwords: $2b$10$N9qo8uLOickgx2ZMRZoMyeIjZAgcfl7p92ldGxad68LJZdL17lhWy

🔗 Related Terms:

HashingSaltPassword

CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing)

Web Development

A security feature implemented by web browsers that controls how web pages from one domain can request resources from another domain.

💡 Example:

A frontend app at example.com making API calls to api.example.com requires CORS headers.

🔗 Related Terms:

HTTPSecurityBrowser

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

Web Development

A stylesheet language used to describe the presentation and styling of HTML documents, including colors, layouts, fonts, and responsive design.

💡 Example:

body { background-color: #f0f0f0; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; }

🔗 Related Terms:

HTMLStylingResponsive Design

Docker

DevOps

A platform for developing, shipping, and running applications in containers. Containers package an application with all its dependencies for consistent deployment.

💡 Example:

Running a Node.js app in a container: docker run -p 3000:3000 my-node-app

🔗 Related Terms:

ContainerDockerfileImage

Dockerfile

DevOps

A text file containing instructions for building a Docker image. It specifies the base image, dependencies, files to copy, and commands to run.

💡 Example:

FROM node:18
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm install

🔗 Related Terms:

DockerContainerImage

Git

Version Control

A distributed version control system for tracking changes in source code during software development. It enables collaboration and maintains project history.

💡 Example:

git commit -m "Add user authentication feature"

🔗 Related Terms:

GitHubCommitBranch

Hash Function

Security

A mathematical function that converts input data of any size into a fixed-size string of characters. Used for data integrity, passwords, and digital signatures.

💡 Example:

SHA-256 hash of "hello": 2cf24dba5fb0a30e26e83b2ac5b9e29e1b161e5c1fa7425e73043362938b9824

🔗 Related Terms:

MD5SHA-256Cryptography

HTML (HyperText Markup Language)

Web Development

The standard markup language for creating web pages. It describes the structure and content of web documents using elements and tags.

💡 Example:

<div class="container"><h1>Welcome</h1><p>Hello World</p></div>

🔗 Related Terms:

CSSJavaScriptDOM

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol)

Web Development

The foundation protocol of the World Wide Web, used for transmitting data between web browsers and servers. Defines request methods like GET, POST, PUT, DELETE.

💡 Example:

GET /api/users HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com

🔗 Related Terms:

HTTPSAPIREST

HTTPS (HTTP Secure)

Security

An extension of HTTP that uses encryption (TLS/SSL) to secure communication between browsers and servers, protecting data from eavesdropping and tampering.

💡 Example:

https://example.com uses HTTPS to encrypt all data transmission

🔗 Related Terms:

HTTPSSLTLS

JavaScript

Programming

A high-level programming language primarily used for creating interactive web pages. It runs in web browsers and on servers (Node.js).

💡 Example:

const greeting = (name) => `Hello, ${name}!`;

🔗 Related Terms:

Node.jsTypeScriptReact

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)

Data Format

A lightweight data interchange format that is easy for humans to read and write, and easy for machines to parse and generate. Widely used in APIs.

💡 Example:

{"name": "John", "age": 30, "city": "New York"}

🔗 Related Terms:

APIJavaScriptXML

JWT (JSON Web Token)

Security

A compact, URL-safe token format for securely transmitting information between parties. Commonly used for authentication and authorization.

💡 Example:

eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzdWIiOiIxMjM0NTY3ODkwIn0.dozjgNryP4J3jVmNHl0w5N_XgL0n3I9PlFUP0THsR8U

🔗 Related Terms:

AuthenticationTokenBase64

Markdown

Documentation

A lightweight markup language with plain text formatting syntax. Designed to be converted to HTML and widely used for documentation.

💡 Example:

# Heading
**bold text**
- list item

🔗 Related Terms:

HTMLDocumentationREADME

MD5 (Message Digest Algorithm 5)

Security

A widely used cryptographic hash function that produces a 128-bit hash value. Now considered cryptographically broken and unsuitable for security purposes.

💡 Example:

MD5("hello") = 5d41402abc4b2a76b9719d911017c592

🔗 Related Terms:

HashSHA-256Cryptography

Node.js

Programming

A JavaScript runtime built on Chrome's V8 engine that allows JavaScript to run on servers. Enables full-stack JavaScript development.

💡 Example:

const http = require("http");
http.createServer((req, res) => res.end("Hello")).listen(3000);

🔗 Related Terms:

JavaScriptnpmExpress

OAuth

Security

An open standard for access delegation, commonly used for token-based authentication. Allows users to grant third-party access without sharing passwords.

💡 Example:

Logging into a website using "Sign in with Google" uses OAuth

🔗 Related Terms:

AuthenticationTokenAPI

OCR (Optical Character Recognition)

AI/ML

Technology that converts images of text into machine-readable text. Used for digitizing printed documents and extracting text from images.

💡 Example:

Scanning a business card and automatically extracting contact information

🔗 Related Terms:

Image ProcessingText ExtractionAI

PNG (Portable Network Graphics)

Image Format

A raster graphics file format that supports lossless compression and transparency. Ideal for images with text, sharp edges, or transparent backgrounds.

💡 Example:

Logo files are often saved as PNG to preserve transparency and quality

🔗 Related Terms:

JPGWebPImage

QR Code (Quick Response Code)

Technology

A two-dimensional barcode that can store various types of data including URLs, text, and contact information. Readable by smartphone cameras.

💡 Example:

Restaurant menus often use QR codes for contactless ordering

🔗 Related Terms:

BarcodeEncodingMobile

Regex (Regular Expression)

Programming

A sequence of characters that defines a search pattern. Used for pattern matching, validation, and text manipulation.

💡 Example:

/^[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}$/ validates email addresses

🔗 Related Terms:

Pattern MatchingValidationText Processing

REST (Representational State Transfer)

Web Development

An architectural style for designing networked applications. RESTful APIs use HTTP methods and are stateless, scalable, and cacheable.

💡 Example:

GET /api/users/123 retrieves user with ID 123

🔗 Related Terms:

APIHTTPJSON

Salt

Security

Random data added to passwords before hashing to protect against rainbow table attacks. Each password gets a unique salt.

💡 Example:

password + random_salt → hash_function → stored_hash

🔗 Related Terms:

HashingPasswordBcrypt

SHA-256 (Secure Hash Algorithm 256-bit)

Security

A cryptographic hash function that produces a 256-bit hash value. Part of the SHA-2 family and widely used for security applications.

💡 Example:

SHA-256 is used in Bitcoin mining and SSL certificates

🔗 Related Terms:

HashCryptographySecurity

SLA (Service Level Agreement)

DevOps

A commitment between a service provider and client defining the level of service expected, including uptime guarantees and response times.

💡 Example:

99.9% uptime SLA allows 43.8 minutes of downtime per month

🔗 Related Terms:

UptimeMonitoringAvailability

SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer / Transport Layer Security)

Security

Cryptographic protocols that provide secure communication over networks. TLS is the successor to SSL and is used in HTTPS.

💡 Example:

Websites with HTTPS use TLS to encrypt data between browser and server

🔗 Related Terms:

HTTPSEncryptionCertificate

TypeScript

Programming

A strongly typed programming language that builds on JavaScript by adding static type definitions. Compiles to plain JavaScript.

💡 Example:

function greet(name: string): string { return `Hello, ${name}`; }

🔗 Related Terms:

JavaScriptTypesCompiler

Unix Timestamp

Programming

The number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970 (Unix epoch). Used for representing dates and times in programming.

💡 Example:

1609459200 represents January 1, 2021 00:00:00 UTC

🔗 Related Terms:

DateTimeEpoch

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

Web Development

The address of a resource on the internet. Consists of protocol, domain, path, and optional query parameters.

💡 Example:

https://example.com/api/users?page=1&limit=10

🔗 Related Terms:

HTTPURIDomain

URL Encoding (Percent Encoding)

Encoding

A mechanism for encoding special characters in URLs by replacing them with percent signs followed by hexadecimal values.

💡 Example:

Space character " " becomes "%20" in URLs

🔗 Related Terms:

URLEncodingHTTP

UUID (Universally Unique Identifier)

Programming

A 128-bit identifier that is unique across space and time. Used for generating unique IDs without central coordination.

💡 Example:

550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000

🔗 Related Terms:

GUIDIdentifierDatabase

WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)

Accessibility

International standards for making web content accessible to people with disabilities. Defines levels A, AA, and AAA compliance.

💡 Example:

WCAG AA requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text

🔗 Related Terms:

AccessibilityContrastStandards

WebP

Image Format

A modern image format developed by Google that provides superior compression for images on the web. Supports both lossy and lossless compression.

💡 Example:

WebP images are typically 25-35% smaller than equivalent JPG images

🔗 Related Terms:

PNGJPGCompression

XML (eXtensible Markup Language)

Data Format

A markup language that defines rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable.

💡 Example:

<user><name>John</name><age>30</age></user>

🔗 Related Terms:

JSONHTMLData

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