Glossary

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A

Common Gateway Interface (CGI): A non-standardized set of rules for allowing a webserver to run and return the outcome of an executable script. It is a generic mechanism for using scripting languages like Python, Perl, Ruby, etc. to serve up web pages, however, it has been largely supplanted by modules designed for a specific language which account for performance and security concerns.
Credentials: A set of information used for authentication. Usually it means a username and password combination.
cronjob: A command that is scheduled to run periodically. An entry in the crontab.; Also see crontab
crontab: A table of commands and when to run them. Each command and schedule entry is called a cronjob. The cron daemon will automatically run the command at the time it is scheduled to run. `crontab` is also the name of the command used for editing the cron table.; Also see cronjob

Executable: A file that the computer interprets as instructions it should execute. Executable could refer to a file that has its "executable" bit set, meaning a user is allowed to execute the file (whether it contains valid instructions or not). Or it could refer to a file that is meant to be executed (whether it has its "executable" bit set or not).; Also see Script

Flavor: One of the various Operating Systems based on Linux. For example, Ubuntu is built on the Linux kernel so it is a flavor of Linux.; Also see Operating System

Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP): Standardized rules used for requesting and responding with files on the world wide web.

Internet Protocol (IP) Address: A series of numbers and/or letters separated by dots or colons depending on the version. They are used for routing internet traffic to the appropriate destination computer. An example IPv4 address looks like 10.4.1.4 and an example IPv6 address looks like 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946.

Long Term Support (LTS): A name given to a version of software that will be supported by the developers for the foreseeable future. The LTS software versions are preferred in production environments because the only changes that will occur are important, security-related changes.

Operating System (OS): The software that provides a computer's most basic functions. Examples include Ubuntu, Mac OS X, Windows 10, Chrome OS, iOS.

Script: A file containing instructions for a computer to execute written in a scripting language. The language they are written in can usually interpret the script so that the scripts are fairly portable to other machines that also have the language installed. Scripts are used to automate tasks. For example, a script might generate HTML for displaying products given the product to start from and the desired number of products to display, i.e. a website that paginates product listings.; See also Executable.
Server: A computer connected to a network that takes in requests and sends out appropriate replies.; Also see Webserver.
Structured Query Language (SQL): A computer language for managing relational data. There is an SQL standard, however, there are many flavors and not all follow the standard. Examples include: mysql, postgresql, mssql, sqlite.; Also see SQL Database.
SQL Database: A set of structured data stored on a computer. Various management systems exist for storing and querying the data. Examples include: mysql, postgresql, mssql, sqlite.; See also Structured Query Language.

Webroot: The folder a webserver serves files from. Anything inside can be accessed with a computer connected to the internet.; Also called a Docroot
Webserver: A server that takes in HTTP requests and replies with HTTP responses. It is typically connected to the internet in which case it is part of the world wide web.; Also see Server.