Tech Glossary

A step-by-step set of rules a computer follows to solve a problem or complete a task. Every piece of software — from sorting a list to training an AI — runs on algorithms.

Application Programming Interface. A contract that lets two pieces of software talk to each other. When an app shows the weather, it is calling a weather API to fetch that data.

The simulation of human intelligence by machines. Covers everything from simple rule-based systems to large language models that generate text and images.

Code that runs without blocking other operations. A web page that loads content in the background without freezing the UI is using asynchronous programming.

The server-side part of an application — databases, APIs, and business logic that users never see directly. Contrast with frontend.

A temporary storage layer that saves frequently accessed data so it can be retrieved faster. Your browser caches images so pages load quicker on repeat visits.

Content Delivery Network. A global network of servers that delivers web content from the location closest to the user, reducing load times significantly.

Command-Line Interface. A text-based interface for interacting with software by typing commands. Terminal, PowerShell, and bash are all CLIs.

Delivering computing services — storage, servers, databases, software — over the internet on demand, rather than running everything on local hardware.

A program that translates human-readable source code into machine code a computer can execute. Languages like C, Go, and Rust are compiled.

A lightweight, isolated environment that packages an application and its dependencies together. Docker is the most widely used container platform.

Cascading Style Sheets. The language that controls the visual appearance of web pages — layout, colours, typography, animations.

A subset of machine learning using neural networks with many layers. Powers image recognition, speech synthesis, and large language models.

A culture and set of practices that combines software development and IT operations to shorten development cycles and improve deployment reliability.

Domain Name System. The internet's phone book — translates human-readable domain names like techdrifting.com into IP addresses computers can route to.

An open-source platform for building and running containers. Makes it easy to ship applications that run identically in development and production.

Document Object Model. A tree-like representation of an HTML page that JavaScript can read and manipulate to update content dynamically without a page reload.

Taking a pre-trained AI model and further training it on a specific dataset to improve its performance on a narrower task or domain.

A pre-built collection of code that provides structure for building applications. React, Django, and Laravel are frameworks — you build within their rules.

The client-side part of an application — everything a user sees and interacts with in the browser. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are the core frontend technologies.

A developer who works across both frontend and backend — capable of building an entire application end to end.

AI systems that can create new content — text, images, code, audio — rather than just classifying or analysing existing data. ChatGPT and Midjourney are examples.

A distributed version control system that tracks changes to code over time. The standard tool for collaboration in software development.

Graphics Processing Unit. Originally designed for rendering graphics, GPUs are now essential for AI training because they handle thousands of parallel calculations simultaneously.

When an AI model confidently produces information that is factually wrong or completely fabricated. A key limitation of current large language models.

HyperText Markup Language. The backbone of every web page — defines the structure and content using elements like headings, paragraphs, and links.

HyperText Transfer Protocol. The foundation of data communication on the web. HTTPS is the encrypted version, essential for secure browsing.

Integrated Development Environment. A code editor with built-in tools like a debugger, version control, and autocomplete. VS Code and JetBrains are popular examples.

The programming language of the web, running in every browser. Also used on the server via Node.js. Powers interactivity, animations, and full applications.

JavaScript Object Notation. A lightweight, human-readable format for exchanging data between a server and a web application. The standard format for APIs.

An open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerised applications. Often used alongside Docker in production environments.

An AI model trained on vast amounts of text data to understand and generate human language. GPT-4, Claude, and Gemini are large language models.

The delay between a request being made and a response being received. Low latency is critical for real-time applications like video calls and online games.

A collection of pre-written code you can import into your project. Unlike a framework, a library does not dictate structure — you call it when you need it.

A subset of AI where systems learn patterns from data to make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed for each scenario.

An architecture where an application is built as a collection of small, independent services that communicate over APIs. Contrasts with a monolithic architecture.

A computing system loosely modelled on the human brain, consisting of layers of interconnected nodes. The foundation of modern deep learning and AI.

Software whose source code is publicly available for anyone to view, use, modify, and distribute. Linux, React, and Python are all open source.

A tool that automates installing, updating, and managing software libraries. npm for JavaScript, pip for Python, and Composer for PHP are common examples.

In AI, the numerical values inside a model that are learned during training. A model with more parameters can generally learn more complex patterns.

The practice of designing and refining inputs to AI models to get more accurate, useful, or creative outputs.

Retrieval-Augmented Generation. A technique where an AI model fetches relevant external information before generating a response, improving accuracy and reducing hallucinations.

A storage location for code, typically managed with Git. GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket host public and private repositories.

Representational State Transfer. An architectural style for designing APIs using standard HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) to interact with resources.

The environment in which code executes. Node.js is a JavaScript runtime — it allows JavaScript to run outside the browser, on a server.

Software Development Kit. A collection of tools, libraries, and documentation that helps developers build applications for a specific platform or service.

Structured Query Language. The standard language for managing and querying relational databases. Used to create, read, update, and delete data.

Security protocols that encrypt data transmitted between a browser and a server. The padlock icon in your browser indicates an active TLS connection.

In AI, the basic unit of text a model processes — roughly a word or part of a word. Model limits (like 128k context) are measured in tokens, not characters.

The neural network architecture behind most modern large language models. Introduced by Google in 2017, it revolutionised natural language processing.

A superset of JavaScript that adds static type checking. Helps catch errors before runtime and improves code reliability in large projects.

A system for tracking changes to files over time, allowing teams to collaborate and revert to previous states. Git is the dominant version control system.

Software that emulates a complete computer, allowing you to run one operating system inside another. Useful for testing and isolation.

A way for one application to automatically notify another when an event occurs, via an HTTP request. Used for real-time integrations between services.

A protocol that keeps a persistent connection open between a browser and server, enabling real-time two-way communication — used in chat apps and live dashboards.