Technical Glossary.
Essential terminology for high-performance engineering, data serialization, and security protocols.
API
Application Programming Interface, a set of rules allowing different software entities to communicate.
Base64
A binary-to-text encoding scheme that represents binary data in an ASCII string format.
Big-Endian
An order in which the 'big end' (most significant value) is stored first in memory.
Binary
A base-2 numbering system consisting of only 0s and 1s.
Bit
The smallest unit of data in a computer, representing a 0 or a 1.
Byte
A group of 8 bits.
CSPRNG
Cryptographically Strong Pseudo-Random Number Generator, used for high-security randomness.
CSP
Content Security Policy, a security layer that helps detect and mitigate certain types of attacks like XSS.
CheckSum
A value used to verify the integrity of a file or data packet.
Client-Side
Operations that are performed by the user's browser rather than a server.
Collision
In hashing or ID generation, when two different inputs produce the same output.
CORS
Cross-Origin Resource Sharing, a mechanism that allows restricted resources on a web page to be requested from another domain.
DOM
Document Object Model, the structural representation of an HTML document.
Deterministic
An algorithm that, given a particular input, will always produce the same output.
Entropy
A measure of randomness or disorder in a set of data.
Epoch
The starting point from which time is measured in a system (e.g., Jan 1, 1970 for Unix).
Escaping
The practice of using a special character to suppress the special meaning of the following character.
Gzip
A file format and software application used for file compression and decompression.
Hash
The output of a function that maps data of arbitrary size to a fixed-size bit string.
Hexadecimal
A base-16 numbering system using digits 0-9 and letters A-F.
HTTP
Hypertext Transfer Protocol, the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web.
HTTPS
The secure version of HTTP, encrypted using TLS/SSL.
IDE
Integrated Development Environment, software providing comprehensive facilities to computer programmers.
ISO 8601
An international standard covering the exchange of date- and time-related data.
JSON
JavaScript Object Notation, a lightweight data-interchange format.
JWT
JSON Web Token, an open standard for securely transmitting information between parties as a JSON object.
Local Storage
A type of web storage that allows JavaScript sites to store key-value pairs in a web browser with no expiration date.
MD5
A widely used cryptographic hash function (now considered cryptographically broken).
Minification
The process of removing unnecessary characters from source code without changing its functionality.
Namespace
A set of signs that are used to identify and refer to objects of various kinds.
Nonce
An arbitrary number that can be used just once in a cryptographic communication.
OAuth
An open standard for access delegation, commonly used for token-based authentication.
Padding
Extra bits added to a message to make it a certain length for cryptographic operations.
Payload
The actual data in a packet or message, excluding headers and metadata.
Precision
The level of detail to which a value is expressed (e.g., millisecond precision in timestamps).
Private Key
The secret half of a cryptographic key pair used in asymmetric encryption.
Public Key
The non-secret half of a cryptographic key pair used for encryption or signature verification.
Query String
The part of a URL that contains data to be passed to web applications.
RAM
Random Access Memory, a form of computer data storage that allows data items to be read or written in almost the same amount of time.
Recursion
A method of solving a problem where the solution depends on solutions to smaller instances of the same problem.
RegEx
Regular Expression, a sequence of characters that specifies a search pattern.
REST
Representational State Transfer, an architectural style for providing standards between computer systems on the web.
RFC
Request for Comments, a type of publication from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
Salt
Random data that is used as an additional input to a one-way function that hashes data.
Sandbox
A security mechanism for separating running programs, usually in an isolated environment.
SHA-256
A cryptographic hash function that generates a 256-bit (32-byte) hash.
SSL
Secure Sockets Layer, a standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a server and a client.
Syntax
The set of rules that defines the combinations of symbols that are considered to be a correctly structured document.
TLS
Transport Layer Security, the successor to SSL for providing secure communication over a network.
URL
Uniform Resource Locator, a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network.
UTF-8
The most common character encoding for the World Wide Web.
UUID
Universally Unique Identifier, a 128-bit number used to identify information in computer systems.
WASM
WebAssembly, a binary instruction format for a stack-based virtual machine, designed for high execution speed.
XSS
Cross-Site Scripting, a type of security vulnerability typically found in web applications.
Deep Dive
Technicals.
Explore our knowledge base for full-length structural analysis of these protocols.
Explore Documentation →