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Questions tagged [terminology]

Questions about the definition of software-engineering terms, and about the right terms to use to refer to commonly known concepts, practices or patterns related to software and systems development life cycle. Using the right terms correctly is a core practice of the scientific and engineering reasoning.

Terminology is about the objective meaning of software-related terms, and about the use of the right terms to refer to commonly known concepts, practices or patterns related to software and systems development life cycle.

Using the right terms accurately is a core practice of the scientific and engineering reasoning and writing.

Terminology question are objective when they refer to a well-defined term or a well known concept that is used in several sources.

Caution: Terminology questions that refer to concepts on which there is no consensus, and no third party sources to define them might be opinion-based and out of scope.

764 questions
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Why does it matter that HTML and CSS are not programming languages?

Example here: What languages should I know if I'm interested in building web applications? Yes, I understand that HTML and CSS are not Turing-complete. Yes, I understand that they are declarative, not imperative languages. But why are people…
Robert Harvey
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135
votes
6 answers

What does it mean when data is scalar?

I don't know what scalar means exactly, but I'm trying to see if I'm thinking about it correctly. Does scalar relate to arbitrariness where the type of data could be any type, or a system is not able to know what the data is in advance.
Ryan
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128
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2 answers

What are the difference between an edge case, a corner case, a base case and a boundary case?

I'm not a native English speaker. In my native language I'm aware of some terms used to refer to the condition checked to stop a recursion, and to the condition checked for extreme, unlikely or super-simple cases. In English, I've encountered the…
Oak
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127
votes
15 answers

How is a "Software Developer" different from a "Software Consultant"? What makes a consultant?

I have seen a lot of people claiming themselves to be a "software consultant". These consultants do what a normal software developer does, write code, estimate tasks, fix bugs and attend meetings etc. The only difference being the financials,…
Kumar
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93
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3 answers

Is there a term for unimplemented code that was written for someone else to fill in?

Sometimes in a programming exercise, boilerplate generation, putting guide rails around the tasks for a junior programmer to implement, etc., it happens that the programmer is presented unimplemented code and told to "fill in the blank." For…
Brandon Arnold
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76
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3 answers

Difference between hotfix and bugfix?

I know this is a very basic question but I cant seem to find the answer with Google. What is the difference between a hotfix and a bugfix?
Evanss
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67
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7 answers

What does artifact mean?

The dictionary defines artifact as: artefact, artifact [ˈɑːtɪˌfækt] n something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest anything man-made, such as a spurious experimental result (Life…
xyz
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56
votes
17 answers

What is a hack?

I often hear co-workers saying to each other, "That's a horrible, horrible hack." What I can take away from that is that it's not good. When I asked them if it works they say "yes, but it's not good". Does that mean it's not a good solution? How is…
myusuf3
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38
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10 answers

What term describes a list of exactly length 1?

A container having 2 or more elements could be called a "plural container". A container with no elements could be called an "empty container". But what is the terminology for a container whose current size is exactly 1 element? I would use the term…
Terrence Brannon
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33
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3 answers

What does "downstream/upstream design" mean?

What does "downstream/upstream design" in software development mean?
iSeiryu
33
votes
8 answers

Library vs. framework vs API?

What is the difference between a library, framework, and API? They all seem the same to me. I would like to hear peoples thought of this.
Bob Dole
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28
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4 answers

What is each time through a loop called?

while ( true ) { // what is each time through this loop called? }
user32363
28
votes
3 answers

What are "golden files"?

This doc states the following: If you happen to modify the public API of Angular, API golden files must be updated using... Also this commit has the following heading: fix: public API golden files #16414 I'm wondering what is usually referred…
Max Koretskyi
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25
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13 answers

What's the term for "while(true)" loop with "break" inside?

Suppose I have a loop in C++ or C# that goes like this: while( true ) { doSomething(); if( condition() ) { break; } doSomethingElse(); } This is commonly called "infinite loop". Yet it is not technically infinite - it will…
sharptooth
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is there a term for doing this: func1(func2(), func3());

I know that obj.func1().func2() is called method chaining, but what is the technical term for: func1(func2(), func3()); Where return of a function is used as an argument to another.
zhenka
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