Semantic HTML is the use of HTML
markup to reinforce the semantics, or meaning, of the information in
web pages and web applications
rather than merely to define its presentation or look.
Semantic HTML is processed by traditional web browsers as well as by many other user agents. CSS is used to suggest its presentation to human users.
In computing, a server is a piece of computer hardware or
software (computer program) that provides functionality for other programs
or devices, called
clients. This architecture is called the client-server model.
Note: here we are primarily concerned with web (HTTP) servers. These are software programs that serve our web pages. We can
run one on our local computer or access one on a remote machine, usually
across a network.
The machine on which one or more server programs run is also often
called a “server”. This leads to much confusion for newbies.
When we say “server” here, we most often mean the software program,
not the machine.
Server state is data that is changeable and is stored and
managed on the
server, as opposed to transient data that is not stored (persisted) and client state which is maintained on the client (browser).
server-side
Server side refers to operations that are performed by the
server in a
client-server
relationship in a computer network.
serverless computing
Serverless computing is a cloud computing
execution model in which the cloud provider allocates machine resources on
demand, taking care of the servers on behalf of their customers.
“Serverless” is a misnomer in the sense that servers are still
used by cloud service providers to execute code for developers. However,
developers of serverless applications are not concerned with capacity planning,
configuration, management, maintenance, fault tolerance, or scaling of containers,
VMs, or physical servers.
Serverless computing does not hold resources in volatile memory;
computing is rather done in short bursts with the results persisted to
storage.
When an app is not in use, there are no computing resources allocated to
the app. Pricing is based on the actual amount of resources consumed by
an application. It can be a form of utility computing.
In computer programming, a shim is a library that transparently
intercepts
API calls and changes the arguments passed, handles the operation itself, or
redirects the operation elsewhere.
Shims can be used to support an old API in a newer environment, or a new
API in an older environment. Shims can also be used for running programs
on different software platforms than they were developed for.
An SPA (single-page application) is a web app implementation
that loads only a single web document, and then updates the body content
of that single document via JavaScript APIs such as
XMLHttpRequest and
fetch when different content is to be shown.
This therefore allows users to use websites without loading whole new
pages from the server, which can result in performance gains and a more
dynamic experience, with some tradeoff disadvantages such as
SEO, more effort required to maintain state, implement navigation, and do meaningful
performance monitoring.
The single responsibility principle (SRP) is a computer
programming principle that states that “A module should be
responsible to one, and only one, actor”. The term actor refers to
a group (consisting of one or more stakeholders or users) that requires
a change in the module.
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the creation
and sharing of content, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression
through
virtual communities
and networks.
Spaghetti code is a pejorative phrase for unstructured and
difficult-to-maintain source code.
Spaghetti code can be caused by several factors, such as volatile
project requirements, lack of programming style rules, and software
engineers with insufficient ability or experience.
Specificity is the algorithm used by browsers to determine
the CSS declaration that is the most relevant to an element, which in turn, determines the
property value to apply to the element.
The specificity algorithm calculates the weight of a CSS selector to determine which rule from competing CSS declarations gets applied to
an element.
The phrase standing on the shoulders of giants is a metaphor
which means “using the understanding gained by major thinkers who
have gone before in order to make intellectual progress”.
Attributed initially to Bernard of Chartres, the phrase was used most famously by Isaac Newton, who said, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the
shoulders of giants”.
The Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML; ISO 8879:1986)
is a standard for defining generalized markup languages for documents.
HTML is one such “application” of SGML.
A statically-typed language is a language (such as Java,
C, or C++) where variable types are known at compile time.
In most of these languages, types must be expressly indicated by the
programmer; in other cases (such as OCaml), type inference allows the
programmer not to indicate their variable types.
A sunk cost fallacy is a fallacy where someone convinces
themselves that they should continue doing something because they put in
a lot of time and/or effort into it, even if they actually get very little
reward out of it.
For example, a person might watch the first six episodes of
Battlestar Galactica,
but then decides that they do not like the show.
However, because there was a sunk cost, six hours of time, that person
tells themselves that because they already spent so much time on it,
they might as well finish the show.
Sustainable development is an organizing principle that
aims to meet human development goals while also enabling natural systems
to provide necessary natural resources and ecosystem services to humans.
The desired result is a society where living conditions and resources
meet human needs without undermining the planetary integrity and
stability of the natural system.
In web terms, a good starting point is the
Sustainable Web Manifesto, which explains sustainable web development as clean, efficient, open, honest,
regenerative, and resilient.