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Jumpstart Dictionary

This is a dictionary for the Code4Community Jumpstart course and contains terminology Jumpstarters may not know when starting out

General Terminology

Anonymous Functions/Lambdas

  • Anonymous functions are functions that are created inline or over a few lines within another function, and are not named.
  • Lambdas in Java
  • Lambda Overview
    • Method Reference
      • Method references are a special type of lambda which only pass in a reference to an already created method.
      • Method References in Java

Architecture

  • The fundamental structure of a software project.

Backend

  • The part of the application that isn’t often accessed by users. The frontend will access and connect to the backend for performing complex calculations, storing data, and providing interactions between multiple separate frontend applications. This is rarely provided to users, and is often held on a small set of servers.
  • In the Gmail example, the backend would be the part of the application which deals with storing actual email data, returning it to the frontend when requested, sending emails, and actually moving your email from inbox to trash, spam, archive, or wherever else you want it to go.
  • The difference between frontend and backend

Branch

  • The way a different history is created for a specific feature or bug being worked on in git. It allows you to split off from a specific point in the project and make isolated changes without having to worry that you’re changing the code you split off from.
  • Atlassian Git Tutorial - Branches

Catch-Up Code

  • Code that we’ll provide you at the end of the week to catch you up to where many of the people who are working on the project should be. We’re providing this because we know that sometimes life can be a lot, so we want to make sure those who are sick, have a busy week, or who are stuck can stay caught up with and invested in the course.

Checkout

  • A command in git which lets you switch to a different branch.

Class

  • A structured collection of data representing anything, which is extremely common and one of the most important concepts in programming. An example of this can be a ‘person’ class, which can contain information such as a name, birthday, height, related people, and so on.

Clone

  • When a project is downloaded from an external host (like Github) to your computer using git.

CRUD (Create, Read, Update, and Delete)

  • The four fundamental operations of databases and handling data.

Database (DB/DBMS)

  • An organized collection of data which is used for storing information long term. This is commonly used interchangeably with a Database Management System (DBMS), which also manages databases so that multiple systems can create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) data concurrently and efficiently without causing weird data issues.
  • Databases - Wikipedia

Frontend

  • The part of the application that the user will see and interact with. It’s the code that is provided to users and runs in a browser in the case of web applications.
  • An example of a frontend application is the webpage for Gmail.

Function

  • A set of instructions which can be called to perform a series of steps.

Git

  • A form of version control for your code. That means it tracks changes to a project over time, which provides 2 main benefits.
    • If you ever make a mistake in your work, and need to undo them/revert to a different version of your code, it’s really easy to do.
    • You can work on multiple different features at once without worrying about them interfering with each other. This also means multiple people can work on the same thing at the same time while providing a way to combine their changes when they’re ready.
  • Atlassian Git Tutorial

GitHub

  • A website for hosting git repositories. It’s used by many major companies and open source projects, and it allows multiple people to contribute to the same project in a really cohesive manner.
  • GitHub.com

.gitignore

  • A file containing regular expressions describing files and directories that git won’t keep track of.

Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

  • Text editing software which provides extremely helpful capabilities for software development. This can include stuff like formatting, text prediction, compiling and running your code, error checking, hints, and many other useful features.

IntelliJ

  • IntelliJ is the IDE we’ll be using to run and interact with our frontend and backend code. It's a commonly used IDE for Java development.
  • IntelliJ - JetBrains

Main Class

  • A class which is the entrypoint of a program in Object-Oriented languages. This class has a Main Method.

Main Method/Function

  • A method or function which is the entrypoint of a program.

Maven

  • A build automation tool used for Java. It allows you to run plugins (external programs used to help build/check/do something to your code), rebuild, deal with dependencies, and manage your project.
  • Maven Homepage

Method

  • A function tied to a particular class.

Node

  • A JavaScript runtime that can be used to run JavaScript outside of a web browser.
  • Node Homepage

NPM (Node Package Manager)

  • A Package Manager for Node, similar to Maven. It allows you to run programs, install dependencies, and allows for plugins too.
  • NPM Homepage

Object

  • An ‘instance’ of a class. An instance is a class which has been constructed and filled in with information, and is separate from other instances of the same class.

Object-Oriented (OO)

  • A style of programming which relies on objects to be created and describes transformation, states, and interactions entirely through the created objects.

Open Source

  • Code that is openly available for viewing, editing, and use.

Repositories (Repos)

  • An individual 'project' in git.

Starter Code

  • Code that we’ll be providing to make sure you will have what you need to be able to do work. This can either be providing you with functionality we wouldn't expect you to be able to figure out on your own (without a bit of help), or pre-written code if what we want you to do during the week ends up being a lot of work.

Week 1

Bash

  • Bourne Again Shell, a really common shell used for Mac and Linux machines.
  • BASH

Boilerplate

  • Code that needs to be included in multiple places with little to no alteration.

Command Prompt (CMD)

  • The shell for Windows machines.

Dependency/Package/Library

  • Dependencies are external code projects that your project can import and use. They provide functionality and prevent you from having to implement a lot of things on your own.
  • A package is what a dependency is called in Node/JavaScript.
  • A library is what a dependency is called in Java.

Directory

  • A folder in a filesystem. Desktop, Documents, and Downloads are all really common directories.
  • Folder and directory are used interchangeably.

Framework

  • A dependency which handles setting up the boilerplate stuff. This is usually stuff which doesn't often change, and may end up taking a lot of work to set up, so it's nice to have frameworks which handle that for you.
  • Software Framework - Wikipedia

Git Bash

  • A Bash terminal/shell for Windows.

JAVA_HOME

  • A system-level variable which lets programs know where to look for the Java Development Kit (JDK) you want to be used in general.

Markdown

  • A format of writing files in a really lightweight way which provides basic styling. The .md file type is a Markdown file.

Module

  • Groups of code that are compiled separately of each other and can be used as dependencies in other modules.

README.md

  • A file typically provided with a lot of programs which describes a high-level overview, instructions for setup and use, and anything else a developer would want his/her users to know.

Shell

  • The actual terminal syntax/program being run in a terminal. Examples of this are Bash and Windows Command Prompt

Terminal

  • An important tool which allows you to access commands and interface with your computer using typed commands. The terminal window runs a shell like Bash, which actually runs your command.
  • A Youtube Tutorial on Using the Terminal

Week 2

Attribute

  • An aspect of XML which allows you to specify extra information about an element without having to create children to represent properties.

Border

  • The border of the element. This can be made visible if you want a border around your element (with different styles).

Box Model

  • Each HTML element has three boxes around it to provide padding, borders, and margin (described below) which can be controlled through CSS.
  • Box Model - MDN

Child

  • A tag/element in XML/HTML that is wrapped in a parent element.

Class (The HTML kind)

  • A way of identifying specific HTML elements based off of a developer-provided attribute. Class attribute values can be the same between multiple different elements; this serves as a way to group elements together.

CSS

  • A list of rules for a given set of HTML elements specified by a selector. CSS provides styling information like size, positioning, color, border, and many other properties.
  • In a comparison between HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, CSS would be like the skin of a body.
  • CSS - MDN

Div

  • An HTML-specific element.
  • A block/box element which wraps other elements.

Flexbox

  • A method of creating a flexible layout for items that should be grouped together but don't need to have a specific size. Can be used with the grid method.
  • Flexbox Guide

Grid

  • A method of creating a flexible layout for items that should have very clear boundaries. Can be used with the flexbox method.
  • Grid Guide

HTML

  • Hypertext Markup Language, a document detailing the structure and content of a webpage without styling or complex functionality. This is a subset of XML, since there are specific, pre-defined tags/elements to be used (all HTML is valid XML, not all XML is valid HTML).
  • In a comparison between HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, HTML would be like the bones of a body.
  • HTML - MDN
  • HTML Overview
  • Elements in HTML - MDN

ID

  • A way of identifying specific HTML elements based off of a developer-provided attribute. All ID attribute values should be unique (there should only be at most one of every value) on a given HTML document.

JavaScript (JS)

  • A way to add interactive and complex functionality to a website. JS is the language of the web since it is (for the most part) the only programming language which can be run in a browser. It’s not related to Java, but there are a couple similarities which should make learning/using it easier.
  • In a comparison between HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, JS would be like the brain of a body.
  • Intro to Javascript - Codecademy
  • Javascript - MDN

Margin

  • The empty space between the element’s border and the next closest element.

P (Paragraph)

  • An HTML-specific element.
  • A generic text element

Padding

  • The space between the actual content/element and the border.

Parent

  • A tag/element in XML/HTML that wraps at least one child element.

Properties

  • The keywords CSS provides so that you can modify the styling of HTML elements. There are a lot of these, so just looking up the general functionality you’re looking for will probably be easier than scrolling through the list of all elements below. The second link is a list of common properties.
  • CSS Properties - MDN
  • Common CSS Properties - MDN

Tag/Element

  • A basic unit in XML/HTML. They can either be self closing or wrap child tags/elements.

Selector

  • Provides a way of selecting HTML elements based off of a special set of rules. The three most common are ID, Class, and element type.
  • Selectors in CSS - MDN

Span

  • An HTML-specific element.
  • An inline element. This element can be placed inside of text to allow special operations on the wrapped text.

XML

  • Extensible Markup Language, a syntax of expressing data in both a human and machine readable way.
  • XML Introduction - MDN

Week 3

Component

Declarative Code

DOM

Framework

Functional Component

JSX

Stylesheet

.tsx

User Interface

Virtual Browser

Week 4

API

  • An application programming interface is a computing interface which defines interactions between multiple software applications.
  • API Definition

API Client

  • An API client is a ‘client’ application which makes sending requests and viewing responses very easy. You can also have setup scripts and response validators (and there are a lot of other nice features for some of them too!).

Body

  • The actual data a request or response carries.

Client

Compile

The act of taking a programming language and translating it into bytecode, or the language your processor speaks.

Compiler

A program which compiles code.

curl

  • curl is a tool which allows you to send requests from the command line.
  • curl Homepage

GET Request

  • The GET method refers to a REST method that is applied while requesting information from a particular source. In terms of CRUD, this usually corresponds to the read operation.
  • GET Request Description

Headers

  • A collection of data about the request or response.
  • Headers - MDN

Hosting

HTTP

  • Hypertext Transfer Protocol, a method for sending data between applications.
  • HTTP - MDN

IP Address

JSON

  • JavaScript Object Notation, a data representation method similar to XML which cleanly describes data in a JavaScript-like way.
  • JSON

Localhost

Model-View-Controller (MVC)

  • A software design pattern used in separating functionality into three main objectives.
    • Model: parts of the software responsible for handling 'data', data storage, and data transformation
    • View: parts of the software responsible for presenting and returning data to a user or external application it is connected to
    • Controller: parts of teh software responsible for handling external input and connecting functionality between the model and view.
  • MVC Description - Wikipedia

Ngrok

  • An app which routes requests through an external server so people not on your local network can access a port on your computer.
  • Ngrok Homepage
  • What is Ngrok

Port

Protocol

  • A standard set of rules that allow electronic devices to communicate with each other.
  • Protocol Definition

Postman

  • Postman is a really nice API client which a lot of people in C4C use when developing!
  • Postman Homepage

Query Parameter

  • A query parameter is information that can be passed in along with a route to provide additional information to that route. The parameters are started with a question mark ‘?’ and multiple are linked together using a “&”. Each parameter has a key and a value, linked with an equals sign “=”. An example of a route with queries could be /jumpstart?hello=world&myKey=some_words.
  • Query Parameter - Wikipedia

Request

  • A network interaction with a server to create a connection and send data, then receive a response after server processing. A request is made by a client.

Response

  • A network interaction following a request, after the server finishes processing the request, a response is returned containing headers, a status code, and sometimes a body. A response is returned by a server.

REST

  • Representational State Transfer, a software architecture style which defines a set of constraints for web services.
  • REST API Description
  • Constraints:
    • Server-Client Architecture: an architecture where clients make requests to servers
    • Stateless: the server doesn’t store any client context on the server (except for some info in a database)
    • Cacheable: responses can be cached (or marked as not cacheable) for optimizations
    • Layered System: a client shouldn’t need to know if it’s connected to a specific layer of the server system
    • Uniform Interface: the server’s resources and implementation should be decoupled from the client

Route/Path

  • A specific route. In the Routing section above, /apply and /jumpstart are different routes or path.

Route Handler

  • A function/method which performs some developer-defined action when a specific route is called.

Route Parameter/Dynamic Route

  • A route parameter is a parameter that can be added to a route (making it a dynamic route instead of a static route) which captures information at the specific position.
  • A dynamic route is a route which has route parameters in it.
  • If we have a route like /jumpstart/:user or /jumpstart/:user/session/:session_id, the parts of the route which are prefixed with a semicolon (e.g. :user, :session_id) are route parameters and can take in text or a number to be used in processing later on. Examples of those routes with values filled in could be /jumpstart/c4c (which would provide ‘c4c’ as the :user param) or /jumpstart/your_name/session/1 (which would provide ‘your_name’ as :user and 1 as :session_id).

Router and Sub-Router

  • In terms of the backend, a router is a class/object which creates and handles routes and route handlers. A sub-router is a router which can be provided to another router to add functionality to a subset of routes.

Routing

  • In terms of the backend, routing is the process of setting up different paths for an application which can be accessed by a client. An example of two different routes could be c4cneu.com/jumpstart and c4cneu.com/apply (/jumpstart and /apply are different routes).

Server

  • Servers (not the hardware kind) are the programs which power every website and remote service you use.
  • Server Definition

Static Routing

  • Static routing is a process in which we have to manually add routes to the router. This kind of route doesn't have a route format which defines more dynamic functionality (see Route Parameter).

Status Codes

Vert.x

  • Eclipse Vert.x is an event driven application framework for Java. We’re using it for handling server and routing related stuff.
  • Vert.x Docs/Homepage

Week 5

Abstract Class

Data Transfer Objects (DTOs)

DELETE

Enum

Exception

Extended Class

GET

Final Class

Inheritance

JUnit

  • A testing framework which uses annotations to identify methods that specify a test. This method is written in a class that is only used for testing. To define a certain method as test, use the @Test (or @ParameterizedTest) annotation.
  • Common JUnit Annotations
    • @Test: the test method that will be run
    • @BeforeClass: run once before all test methods of this class
    • @AfterClass: run once after all test methods of this class have been run
    • @Before: run before @Test
    • @After: run after @Test
    • Common Annotations

  • Assert Methods

    • assertTrue
    • assertFalse
    • assertNull
    • assertNotNull
    • assertEquals

  • JUnit Homepage

Marshalling

Mockito

Nested Class

Override

PATCH

POST

PUT

Request types

Static Class

Subclass

Superclass

Test suite

Test types

  • Unit
  • Integration
  • Functional
  • End-to-end
  • Acceptance
  • Performance
  • Smoke

Try/Catch

Unmarshalling

Week 6

Week 7

Auto Increment/Serial

Column

CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

Default

DELETE

DROP

Environment/Properties File

Index

INSERT

Not Null

ODBC/JDBC

Persistent Storage

Query

Query structure

Row

SQL

Precision

Prepared Statements

Primary Key

Scale

SELECT

TRUNCATE

UPDATE

Week 8

Week 9