Glossary

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.htaccess

An .htaccess (hypertext access) file is a directory-level configuration file supported by several web servers (like Apache HTTD), used for configuration of website-access issues, such as URL redirection, URL shortening, access control, and more. #

2FA

Two-Factor Authentication is a type of multi-factor authentication. It is a method of confirming users’ claimed identities by using a combination of two different factors: 1) something they know, 2) something they have, or 3) something they are. A third-party authenticator (TPA) app enables two-factor authentication, usually by showing a randomly-generated and constantly refreshing code which the user can use. #

Alpha

The alpha phase of the release life cycle is the first phase of software testing. #

Apache HTTPD

The Apache HTTP Server, colloquially called Apache, is a free and open-source cross-platform web server software. The vast majority of Apache HTTP Server instances run on a Linux distribution, but current versions also run on Microsoft Windows, OpenVMS, and a wide variety of Unix-like systems. #

API

An Application Programming Interface (API) is a computing interface that defines interactions between multiple software intermediaries. It defines the kinds of calls or requests that can be made, how to make them, the data formats that should be used, the conventions to follow, etc. #

Backup

A backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored elsewhere so that it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. Backups can be used to recover data after its loss from data deletion or corruption, or to recover data from an earlier time. Backups provide a simple form of disaster recovery. #

Beta

Beta is the software development phase following alpha. A Beta phase generally begins when the software is feature complete but likely to contain a number of known or unknown bugs. Software in the beta phase will generally have many more bugs in it than completed software, speed or performance issues, and may still cause crashes or data loss. The focus of beta testing is reducing impacts to users, often incorporating usability testing. #

Cache

A cache is a component that stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster; the data stored in a cache might be the result of an earlier computation or a copy of data stored elsewhere. #

CDN

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a geographically distributed network of proxy servers and their data centers. The goal is to provide high availability and performance by distributing the service spatially relative to end users. CDNs have grown to serve a large portion of the Internet content today, including web objects (text, graphics and scripts), downloadable objects (media files, software, documents), applications (e-commerce, portals), live streaming media, on-demand streaming media, and social media sites. #

chmod

In Unix, chmod is the command and system call which is used to change the access permissions of file system objects (files and directories). #

chroot

In Unix, chroot is an operation that changes the apparent root directory for the current running process and its children #

CLI

A command-line interface (CLI) processes commands to a computer program in the form of lines of text. Today, many users rely upon graphical user interfaces and menu-driven interactions (WordPress WP-Admin). However, some programming and maintenance tasks may not have a graphical user interface and may still use a command line (WP-CLI). #

Compute instance

In Cloud Computing, an instance is a virtual server. #

Core

Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress. #

Cron

Is a time-based job scheduler in Unix. Users that set up and maintain software environments use cron to schedule jobs to run periodically at fixed times, dates, or intervals. #

Database

A database is an organized collection of data. Access to this data is usually provided by a “database management system” (DBMS) consisting of an integrated set of computer software that allows users to interact with one or more databases and provides access to all of the data contained in the database. Because of the close relationship between them, the term “database” is often used casually to refer to both a database and the DBMS used to manipulate it. #

DNS

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and decentralized naming system for resources connected to the Internet. Most prominently, it translates more readily memorized domain names to the numerical IP addresses needed for locating and identifying computer services and devices with the underlying network protocols. #

Domain

A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Something like example.com. #

File permissions

Most file systems have methods to assign permissions or access rights to specific users and groups of users. These permissions control the ability of the users to view, change, navigate, and execute the contents of the file system. #

FTP

FTP is an acronym for File Transfer Protocol which is a way of moving computer files from one computer to another via the Internet. You can use software, known as a FTP client, to upload files to a server for a WordPress website. #

Git

Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. Git is easy to learn and has a tiny footprint with lightning fast performance. Most modern plugin and theme development is being done with this version control system. #

GitHub

GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. #

GPL

GPL is an acronym for GNU Public License. It is the standard license WordPress uses for Open Source licensing. The GPL is a “copyleft” license. This means that derivative work can only be distributed under the same license terms. This is in distinction to permissive free software licenses, of which the BSD license and the MIT License are widely used examples. #

Hosting

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. #

HTML

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. HTML describes the structure of a web page semantically and originally included cues for the appearance of the document. #

HTTP

The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, where hypertext documents include hyperlinks to other resources that the user can easily access, for example by a mouse click or by tapping the screen in a web browser. #

HTTPS

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is an extension of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and it is used for secure communication over a computer network, and is widely used on the Internet. In HTTPS, the communication protocol is encrypted using Transport Layer Security (TLS) or, formerly, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). #

JavaScript

JavaScript, often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language. It has curly-bracket syntax, dynamic typing, prototype-based object-orientation, and first-class functions. Alongside HTML and CSS, JavaScript is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web. #

JSON

JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is an open standard file format, and data interchange format, that uses human-readable text to store and transmit data objects consisting of attribute–value pairs and array data types. It is a very common data format, with a diverse range of applications, such as serving as a replacement for XML in AJAX systems. #

LAMP

LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) is a very common example of a web service stack of four open-source components: the Linux operating system, the Apache HTTP Server, the MySQL relational database management system (RDBMS), and the PHP programming language. #

LEMP

LEMP (Linux, nginx, MySQL, PHP) is a very common example of a web service stack of four open-source components: the Linux operating system, the nginx web server, the MySQL relational database management system (RDBMS), and the PHP programming language. #

LiteSpeed Web Server

LiteSpeed Web Server (LSWS), is a proprietary web server software. The software uses the same configuration format as Apache HTTP Server and is compatible with most Apache features. #

Local Install

A local install of WordPress is a way to create a staging environment by installing a LAMP or LEMP stack on your local computer. #

MariaDB

MariaDB is a fork of the MySQL relational database management system (RDBMS), intended to remain free and open-source software under the GNU General Public License. MariaDB intended to maintain high compatibility with MySQL, ensuring a drop-in replacement capability with library binary parity and exact matching with MySQL APIs and commands. #

Memcached

Memcached is a general-purpose distributed memory-caching system. It is often used to speed up dynamic database-driven websites by caching data and objects in RAM to reduce the number of times an external data source must be read. Memcached is free and open-source software. #

Monitoring

Website monitoring is the process of testing and verifying that end-users can interact with a website or web application as expected. Website monitoring is often used by businesses to ensure website uptime, performance, and functionality is as expected. #

MySQL

MySQL is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). MySQL is free and open-source software under the terms of the GNU General Public License. #

NGINX

nginx is a web server that can also be used as a reverse proxy, load balancer, mail proxy and HTTP cache. Nginx is free and open-source software, released under the terms of the 2-clause BSD license. #

Object

In computer science, an object can be a variable, a data structure, a function, or a method, and as such, is a value in memory referenced by an identifier. #

Open Source

Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. #

OpenLiteSpeed

OpenLiteSpeed, is a open-source web server software. The software uses the same configuration format as Apache HTTP Server and is compatible with most Apache features. #

PHP

PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a general-purpose scripting language especially suited to web development. PHP code is usually processed on a web server by a PHP interpreter. On a web server, the result of the interpreted and executed PHP code would form the whole or part of an HTTP response. #

php.ini

The main configuration file of PHP. #

Plugin

A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. #

RAM

Random-access memory (RAM) is a form of computer memory that can be read and changed in any order, typically used to store working data and machine code. #

Redis

Redis (Remote Dictionary Server) is an in-memory data structure store, in-memory key–value database. It is open-source software.. #

Server

A server is a piece of computer hardware or software that provides functionality for other programs or devices. Typical servers are database servers, file servers, mail servers, print servers, web servers, game servers, and application servers. #

SFTP

The SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) is a network protocol that provides file access, file transfer, and file management over any reliable data stream. Like FTP, but under a secure protocol. #

Site Health

This WordPress functionality will perform a number of checks on your installation to detect common configuration errors and known issues, and also allows plugins and themes to add their own checks. #

Snapshot

A snapshot is the state of a system at a particular point in time. It can refer to a system snapshot copy of the state of a system or to a capability provided by certain systems. #

SSH

SSH or Secure Shell is a cryptographic network protocol for operating network services securely over an unsecured network. SSH provides a secure channel over an unsecured network by using a client–server architecture, connecting an SSH client application with an SSH server. #

SSL

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) was a cryptographic protocol designed to provide communications security over a computer network. This protocol became obsolete due to a multitude of security problems and was replaced by TLS. #

SVN

Apache Subversion (SVN) is a software versioning and revision control system distributed as open source. Software developers use Subversion to maintain current and historical versions of files such as source code, web pages, and documentation. #

Theme

A theme dictates the style and function of your WordPress website. Child Themes derive from the main parent theme. #

TLS

Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide communications security over a computer network. Websites can use TLS to secure all communications between their servers and web browsers. #

Trac

Trac is an open-source, web-based project management and bug tracking system. Trac integrates with major version control systems including (“out of the box”) Subversion and Git. #

Transient

WordPress Transients offers a simple and standardized way of storing cached data in the database temporarily by giving it a custom name and a timeframe after which it will expire and be deleted. #

Unit test

Unit testing is a software testing method by which individual units of source code—sets of one or more computer program modules together with associated control data, usage procedures, and operating procedures—are tested to determine whether they are fit for use. #

VPS

A virtual private server (VPS) is a virtual machine sold as a service by an Internet hosting service. A VPS runs its own copy of an operating system (OS), and customers may have superuser-level access to that operating system instance, so they can install almost any software that runs on that OS. #

WP-CLI

WP CLI is the Command Line Interface for WordPress, used to do administrative and development tasks in a programmatic way. #

wp-config.php

One of the most important files in a WordPress installation is the wp-config.php file. This file is located in the root of your WordPress file directory and contains your website’s base configuration details, such as database connection information. #