Technical Writing For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Appendix D

Tech Talk: Glossary of Terms

Imagine Alice from Alice in Wonderland trying to decipher a weird language when she was thrust into her strange world. Jabberwocky, galumphing, and outgrabe were as weird to Alice as scrum and metadata may be to you. But Alice didn’t have a glossary. You do!

Alpha test:

When developers test a product to get the kinks out before the product goes out for beta testing (which may be done by customers who are willing to be “test” subjects).

ARP (Address Resolution Protocol):

A procedure for mapping a dynamic IP address to a permanent physical machine address in a local area network (LAN).

Artificial intelligence (AI):

Leverages computers and machines to mimic problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of the human mind.

ASP (Application Service Provider):

Manages and delivers applications to multiple entities from data centers across a wide area network.

Asynchronous Learning:

Learning that doesn’t take place in real time, but is available when learners need the training.

Augmented Reality (AR):

Superimposes digital information into the user’s real-world environment via devices such as smartphones and smart tablets.

Backend:

What you see when you click on a web page is the frontend of the site. The backend is everything behind the scenes — servers, databases, and applications that make the website work.

Bugs:

Coding mistakes or unwanted pieces of code that keep a website or program from working properly.

Caching:

When a web browser stores recurring ...