Tech Terminology Glossary
Article by: Alex Hyndman
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Glossary: Tech Terminology
1. Adware: A type of software that automatically delivers advertisements. It is often bundled with other software and installed without the user's full knowledge or consent. While not always malicious, adware can degrade system performance and user experience by displaying unwanted or intrusive advertising content.
2. Anonymization: The process of removing or altering personal information from data sets so that individuals cannot be identified, ensuring privacy and compliance with data protection laws.
3. API (Application Programming Interface): A set of rules and specifications that software applications can follow to communicate with each other, serving as an interface between different software programs or components.
4. Artificial Intelligence (AI): Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. AI systems can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.
5. Biometric Data: Biometric data involves unique physical or behavioural human characteristics that can be used for digital identification and access control. This includes fingerprints, facial patterns, voice or iris recognition, and other forms of biometric identifiers. Biometric data is often used for security purposes, allowing for more precise identification of individuals.
6. Blockchain: A distributed and decentralized ledger technology that records transactions across multiple computers in a way that ensures security, transparency, and immutability of the data.
7. Cloud Computing: Cloud computing refers to the delivery of computing services—including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—over the internet ("the cloud"). Users can access and store data and applications on remote servers, reducing the need for local storage and processing power.
8. Compiled Code: The non-human-readable code that results when the source code is translated (compiled) by a compiler into machine language so that it can be executed by a computer.
9. Continuous Integration (CI)/Continuous Deployment (CD): CI is a software development practice where developers regularly merge their code changes into a central repository, after which automated builds and tests are run. CD extends CI by automatically deploying all code changes to a testing or production environment after the build stage.
10. Cookies: Small pieces of data stored on a user's device by websites for tracking and personalizing the browsing experience. Cookies are used to remember login information and site preferences, and can track site usage for analytics and targeted advertising purposes.
11. Cryptocurrency: A digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security and operates independently of a central bank. Cryptocurrencies leverage blockchain technology to gain decentralization, transparency, and immutability.
12. Cybersecurity: The practice of protecting systems, networks, and programs from digital attacks aimed at accessing, changing, or destroying sensitive information, extorting money from users, or interrupting normal business processes.
13. Data Breach: An incident where confidential, sensitive, or protected information is accessed, disclosed, or stolen by an unauthorized individual. Data breaches might involve financial information, personal health information, personally identifiable information, trade secrets, or intellectual property.
14. Data Mining: The process of analyzing large sets of data to discover patterns, trends, and relationships that can inform decision-making. Data mining techniques are used in a variety of domains, including marketing, fraud detection, and scientific research.
15. Data Protection Officer (DPO): A leadership role required by the GDPR and other data protection laws in organizations that process personal data. The DPO is responsible for overseeing data protection strategy and compliance with data protection regulations.
16. Digital Rights Management (DRM): A set of access control technologies used by publishers, copyright holders, and individuals to impose limitations on the usage of digital content and devices. DRM is commonly used to prevent unauthorized copying and distribution of digital media.
17. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS): An attack where multiple compromised computer systems target a single system, such as a server, website, or network, with a flood of internet traffic. DDoS attacks result in the targeted system being overwhelmed and rendered inaccessible to intended users.
18. Domain Name System (DNS): A system that translates domain names into IP addresses, allowing users to access websites using human-readable names instead of numerical addresses.
19. Domain: A unique name that identifies a website on the internet and serves as a human-readable address for a server's IP address, making it easier to access websites without having to remember complex numerical addresses.
20. E-commerce: The buying and selling of goods and services over the internet, including the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions.
21. Encryption: The process of converting information or data into a code, especially to prevent unauthorized access, ensuring data privacy and security.
22. Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPPs): Guidelines that outline how personal information should be handled, focusing on user consent, data protection, and privacy practices.
23. Firmware: Software that is permanently embedded into a hardware device, providing the necessary instructions for how the device operates.
24. Front-End and Back-End Development: Front-end development involves creating the visual and interactive elements of a website or web application—what the user interacts with directly in their web browser. Back-end development refers to server-side development that focuses on databases, scripting, and website architecture, dealing with data processing, application logic, and database interactions.
25. Git: A distributed version control system for tracking changes in source code during software development that enables multiple programmers to work on the same project without conflicting changes.
26. GitHub: A cloud-based hosting service that leverages Git's version control and source code management functionality, providing tools for collaboration among developers.
27. Hardware: The physical components of a computer system, including the computer itself and peripherals such as keyboards, monitors, and printers.
28. Hashing: A process of transforming a string of characters into a shorter fixed-length value or key that represents the original string, often used for data retrieval and storage.
29. HTML (Hypertext Markup Language): The standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScript. HTML provides the basic structure of sites, which is enhanced and modified by other technologies to create visual styles and interactive features.
30. HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol): A protocol used for transmitting web pages over the internet. HTTP defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands. It is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, where hypertext documents include hyperlinks to other resources that users can easily access.
31. Internet of Things (IoT): A network of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances, and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity, which enables these objects to connect and exchange data.
32. IP Address (Internet Protocol Address): A unique string of numbers separated by periods that identifies each computer using the Internet Protocol to communicate over a network.
33. Licensing Agreements: Contracts where the licensor grants the licensee the right to use intellectual property, such as software, trademarks, or patented technology, under specific conditions.
34. Machine Learning: A subset of AI focusing on the development of systems that can learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. It involves algorithms that parse data, learn from that data, and then apply what they've learned to make informed decisions.
35. Malware: Short for "malicious software," referring to any software intentionally designed to cause damage to a computer, server, client, or computer network. Malware can include viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and spyware.
36. Net Neutrality: The principle that internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favouring or blocking particular products or websites.
37. Open Source Software: Software with source code that anyone can inspect, modify, and enhance. It is developed in a collaborative public manner and often is free to use, modify, and distribute.
38. Patent: A form of intellectual property that gives the patent holder exclusive rights to use, make, sell, and distribute an invention for a certain period of time, typically 20 years from the filing date, in exchange for a detailed public disclosure of the invention.
39. Phishing: A cyber attack that uses disguised email as a weapon. The goal is to trick the email recipient into believing that the message is something they want or need — a request from their bank, for instance, or a note from someone in their company — and to click a link or download an attachment.
40. Privacy Policy: A statement or legal document that discloses some or all of the ways a party gathers, uses, discloses, and manages a customer or client's data, fulfilling a legal requirement to protect a customer or client's privacy.
41. Public and Private Keys: A public key is a cryptographic key that can be distributed widely without compromising security, used for encrypting messages. The corresponding private key is kept secret and is used to decrypt messages encrypted with the public key. Together, they are used in various encryption and authentication applications.
42. Ransomware: A type of malware that threatens to publish the victim's data or perpetually block access to it unless a ransom is paid. Some ransomware encrypts files on the victim's system (cryptoware), making them inaccessible.
43. Robotics: The branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, and application of robots, utilizing computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing.
44. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results. It involves making changes to your website design and content that make your site more attractive to a search engine.
45. Server: A computer or system that provides resources, data, services, or programs to other computers, known as clients, over a network. In essence, servers serve information to the computers that access them.
46. Smart Contract: A self-executing contract with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller being directly written into lines of code. These contracts automatically enforce and execute the terms of the agreement based on the code.
47. Social Media: Websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. Social media platforms allow users to have conversations, share information and create web content.
48. Software as a Service (SaaS): A distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider and made available to customers over the internet. This model allows users to access software and its functions remotely as a web-based service.
49. Software Licenses: Licences that govern the use, modification, and distribution of software. The MIT, GPL (GNU General Public License), and Apache licenses are examples of open-source licenses that differ in terms of how the software can be used, modified, and shared.
50. Software: The programs and other operating information used by a computer. Software can be categorized as system software, which helps run the computer itself, and application software, which performs specific tasks for the user.
51. Source Code: The human-readable set of instructions that a programmer writes – often in a high-level programming language – before it is compiled.
52. Spyware: A type of malware that is installed on a computer without the user's knowledge and gathers information about that user's activities on the computer. Spyware can collect various types of personal information and internet browsing habits.
53. SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security): Protocols used for securing communications over computer networks. SSL, the older of the two, is commonly used to secure credit card transactions, data transfer, and logins. TLS, the successor to SSL, provides improved security and is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser.
54. Terms of Service: The legal agreements between a service provider and a person who wants to use that service. The Terms of Service (ToS) outline the legal terms and conditions to which the user must agree in order to use the service provided.
55. User Generated Content (UGC): Content created and shared by consumers or end-users of an online system or service. This can include videos, posts, blogs, and other forms of media that are publicly available and created by people who use the platform.
56. User Interface (UI)/User Experience (UX): UI refers to the graphical layout of an application, including buttons users click on, the text they read, images, sliders, text entry fields, and all the rest of the items the user interacts with. UX, on the other hand, is about the user's journey to solve a problem; it includes how they interact with the UI, as well as the impressions and emotions that arise from that interaction.
57. Virtual Reality (VR)/Augmented Reality (AR): VR is a simulated experience that can be similar to or completely different from the real world, utilizing devices that completely take over the user's vision to create an immersive experience. AR overlays digital information on the real-world environment, enhancing it with computer-generated perceptual information across sensory modalities.
58. VPN (Virtual Private Network): A technology that creates a protected network connection when using public networks. VPNs encrypt internet traffic and disguise users' online identities, making it more difficult for third parties to track activities or steal data.
59. Web Application Firewall (WAF): A security system that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules. A WAF specifically protects web applications by filtering and monitoring HTTP traffic between a web application and the Internet.
60. Web Beacon: tiny, invisible graphics used to track users' online activity and gather data for analytics and marketing purposes.
61. Website Host: A service that allows organizations and individuals to post a website or web page onto the Internet. A website host, or web hosting service provider, is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for the website or webpage to be viewed on the Internet.