Glossary

Within these castle walls be forged Mavens of Computer Science ...

— Merlin, The Coder

A

API

an Application Programming Interface (API) connects computers or software to each other; a common example is logging-in to a third-party site via Google.

ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange; ASCII codes represent characters and text in computers and other electronic communication devices

B

Base

aka Number Base is the number of unique digits, including zero, used to represent numbers in a positional number system

Binary System

is a number system that uses two digits (0 and 1) to represent a number); this is the system that computers use to store data.

Boolean Algebra

is the branch of algebra in which the values of the variables are true or false, usually represented as 0 or 1. It formalizes logical relations.

C

CSS

Cascading Style Sheets is a programming language that is commonly used with HTML and provides styling for a web page

D

Directory

a logical grouping of related files (and potentially other directories)

E

emacs

a powerful text editor and environment available on various operating systems, including Linux, Windows, and macOS

F

File

either a destination or source for a stream of data, most often persisted on a storage device

H

Hexadecimal System

is a number system that uses 16 digits to represent a number. The digits are 0-10 and then A-F, where A = 11, B = 12, … , F = 15.

HTML

HyperText Markup Language, is one of the essential building blocks for web pages. It defines the general structure of a web page, as well as its content. Every single website on the internet uses HTML in one form or another.

J

JavaScript

a high-level programming language, which can be used to fetch data via an API, modify HTML and CSS, and is the core of modern web pages

P

PHP

the most commonly used server-side language

Process

a program that is being executed by the operating system

Positional Notation

a method of encoding numbers that uses the same symbol for different orders of magnitude depending on its position; the value of a position is dependent on the location within the number (ex: 123 = 1*10² + 2*10¹ + 3*10⁰)

Python

a free, high-level open source programming language that can be used in both front-end and back-end development

S

Shell

a user interface that provides access to an operating system's services

Syntactic Sugar

syntax within a language which isn't strictly required but, in some manner, generally through increased clarity or readability, makes the syntax easier to understand for humans