Acronyms
If there's one thing the computer industry has no shortage of, it’s acronyms. Here’s a mini–guide to the terminology you’ll hear us toss around...
- API
- Refers to an Application Programmer Interface. This is internal functionality exposed for other's use. Commonly used for passing data between web applications.
- Ajax
- This term is used to describe the use of Javascript to selectively update a small portion(s) of a webpage without refreshing the entire page.
- JSON
- Stands for "Javascript Object Notation", this is a lightweight, simple standard for data transfer/storage. This format follows Javascript's built-in object types but is easily parsed (i.e. read) by a very wide variety of languages. A common alternative to XML when used on the web or with data that is heavily structured (as opposed to a document).
- Mashup
- While not an acronym, this term refers to one website using the capabilities of another. Usually accomplished via API calls. Examples include incorporating Google Maps or other sites' RSS feeds into your own site.
- RSS
- This term stands for Really Simple Syndication. An RSS feed is a simple XML document that contains updates about your website. Other people use feed readers to pull down this feed and delivering current information automatically.
- SEO
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An acronym for "Search Engine Optimization", this refers to using various techniques to push a site's ranking in a search engine (like Google/Yahoo!/Live) further toward the top. There are many right and wrong ways to go about this, with no silver bullet.
Toast Driven does NOT offer this service, though we do make all of our sites "Search Engine Friendly", creating them in a way that allows a search engine to better read and index the content of a website. - SaaS
- Refers to Software as a Service, commonly meaning that a portion of the capabilities/revenue of a system stems from other's use of an API(s).
- XML
- Refers to a common format that is both human and machine readable. Very useful for documents and transmitting data between different types of systems/computer languages.