Programming Glossary Definations

Programming Glossary Definations

Eclipse A popular, state-of-the-art, open source, integrated development environment (IDE) for Java software development.

EIF Refer to Enterprise Instrumentation Framework.

ECMA Refer to European Computer Manufacturers Association.

ECMAScript The ECMA Standardized Scripting Language—ECMAScript—is an internationally standardized, general purpose, cross-platform programming language used to script actions, events, and objects

Enterprise Resource Planning ERP is an umbrella term for integrated enterprise financial, human resource, and operational management systems.

Enterprise Services Provides access to COM+ Services from the .NET platform.

Ethernet A family of frame-based, computer networking technologies for local area networks (LANs).

Event Notification by an application or operating system that some event has occurred. An event is fired—raised—when a predefined condition occurs, e.g., focus change in a GUI, interval timer, mouse click.

Event handler Method executed in response to an associated event.

Exception When an unplanned or unexpected event occurs, an associated exception object is thrown.

Exception Handling Process of intercepting—trapping—an exception and acting appropriately in response.

Exchange Server Microsoft messaging and collaboration server for integrated messaging and data storage. Exchange Server features include calendaring, conferencing, contact management, e-mail, and instant messaging.

Executable File containing program instructions that can be executed by an operating system or runtime environment.

Expression Web A new standards-based, Web site editor bundled in Microsoft's Expression suite together with Expression Graphic—for graphic design—and Expression Interactive—for application design.

Extended Array Library A .NET Framework library which supports non-vector arrays—multi-dimensional arrays with non-zero lower bounds.

Extended Numerics Library A .NET Framework library which supports the extended precision—System.Decimal—and floating point—System.Single, System.Double— data types.

eXtensible Application Markup Language XAML is a XML-based, declarative language that defines objects and their properties in XML. XAML syntax focuses upon defining the UI (user interface) for the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).

Extreme Programming XP is founded on cycles of frequent testing, integration, and user review.

F# F# is a functional and object oriented programming language on the .NET platform. F# is designed to access the .NET APIs facilitating the creation of .NET components written in F#.

FCL Refer to Framework Class Library.

Finalize Method called automatically when an object is destroyed by the garbage collector. Finalize is useful for releasing unmanaged resources acquired by the object before the object is garbage collected.

finally block Block of statements to be executed regardless of whether or not an exception is thrown. Associated with either a try or a try-catch block.

Forms Refer to Windows Forms.

Framework Class Library FCL comprises the thousands of classes constituting the foundation of the .NET Framework.

Functional programming FP is a programming paradigm which regards computation as the evaluation of mathematical functions while eschewing mutable data and state.

FxCop Code analysis tool that checks .NET managed code assemblies for conformance to the Microsoft .NET Framework Design Guidelines.

GAC Refer to Global Assembly Cache.

Garbage Collection GC is the process whereby the Common Language Runtime (CLR) reclaims memory that is no longer in use—i.e., no longer referenced by an active object. Objects on the heap are garbage collected after the final reference to them is destroyed.

GDI Refer to Graphics Device Interface.

GDI+ Updated Windows graphics subsystem providing access via APIs to graphics drivers for rendering 2D graphics, images, and text. GDI+ is the primary drawing API of the .NET Framework.

Global Assembly Cache GAC is an area of memory reserved for storing the assemblies of all .NET applications running on a given computer. The GAC is required by side-by-side execution as well as for sharing assemblies among multiple .NET applications.

Global Assembly Cache Tool .NET programming tool (GACUtil.exe) for installing, list the contents, and uninstalling to the Global Assembly Cache.

Globalization Process of developing software that can be localized easily to run in multiple locales. Globalized software minimizes assumptions made about cultural, linguistic, and national information.

Hash code Unique number generated to identify a module in an assembly.

Heap Area of memory reserved by the Common Language Runtime (CLR) for temporarily allocating storage for reference types—objects whose existence and size cannot be determined until runtime.

Hibernate A popular, high performance object-relational persistence (ORM or Object-Relational Mapping) and query service. Hibernate lets you develop persistent classes following an object-oriented idiom—including association, collections, composition, inheritance, and polymorphism

HTML server control ASP.NET server controls reside in the System.Web.UI.HtmlControls namespace.

HTTP Hyper Text Transfer Protocol is an Internet communications protocol for transporting data over the World Wide Web (WWW).

IDE Refer to Integrated Development Environment.

Identifier Name for a namespace, type, type member, or variable.

IIS Refer to Internet Information Services.

IL Refer to Intermediate Language.

Inheritance Ability of a new class to be created from an existing class.

Interface Reference type containing only abstract members—delegates, events, indexers, public methods, properties.

Interface Language IDL is a language for describing object interfaces using their events, methods, names, parameters, and return types

ISO Refer to International Standards Organization.

Isolated storage Data storage mechanism used by the Common Language Runtime (CLR) to ensure isolation and type safety by associating code with persisted data.

J# Microsoft-supported .NET language. J# (J-Sharp) is the Microsoft implementation of the Java language. It is designed to faciliate the transition of Java language developers to the .NET Framework.

J2EE Refer to Java 2 Enterprise Edition.

J2ME Refer to Java 2 Micro Edition.

J2SE Refer to Java 2 Standard Edition.

Java 2 Enterprise Edition J2EE is Java runtime platform by Sun Microsystems for developing, deploying, and managing multi-tier, server applications on an enterprise scale.

Java Virtual Machine JVM is the component of the Java runtime environment responsible for JIT—compiling Java byte code, memory management, thread scheduling, and interacting with the host environment, e.g., Windows operating system.

Javascript Originally called LiveScript, this scripting language was developed by Netscape Communications for use with the Navigator browser. JavaScript code forms part of the HTML page and can be used for things like responding to user actions or performing data validation on the client side.

JavaServer Pages JSP is a Java technology for creating dynamic Web pages. The Microsoft equivalent is Active Server Pages.

JIT Refer to Just In Time.

JScript .NET Microsoft-supported .NET language. JScript .NET is the .NET implementation of the Javascript programming language.

Just-In-Time JIT is the process of compiling MSIL code units just when needed at runtime. The JIT compiler in the Common Language Runtime (CLR) compiles MSIL instructions to native machine code as a .NET application is being executed.

JVM Refer to Java Virtual Machine.

Keyword Name reserved for special use in a programming language. The C# language defines some eighty keywords, e.g., class, int. Keywords may not be used as program identifiers.

LAN Refer to Local Area Network.

Language INtegrated Query LINQ is set of extensions to the .NET Framework that encompass language-integrated query, set, and transform operations.

LINQ Refer to Language INtegrated Query.

Linux Refer to GNU Linux.

Local assembly cache Assembly cache that stores compiled classes and methods specific to an application.

Local variable Refer to Member variable.

Localization Process of developing software that can be localized easily to run in multiple locales.

Managed code Code that is executed by the Common Language Runtime (CLR). Managed code provides metadata to enable the CLR to handle exceptions, locate methods encoded in assembly modules, and manage security information.

Managed data Data in memory allocated and deallocated by the Common Language Runtime (CLR). Managed data can be accessed only by managed code.

Managed execution Process whereby the Common Language Runtime (CLR) executes managed code. When an object method is invoked for the first time, its MSIL-encoded instructions are JIT-compiled to the native code of the processor.

Managed memory Refer to Managed data.

Manifest Refer to Assembly manifest.

MCSD Refer to Microsoft Certified Solution Developer.

MCSE Refer to Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer.

Member Refer to Class member.

Member variable Typed memory locations for storing values. Also known as a field or a local variable.

Metadata All information used by the CLR to describe and reference types and assemblies.

Mobile Information Server Bundle of applications which extend .NET applications, enterprise data, and intranet content to mobile client devices like cellular phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)

MSDN Refer to Microsoft Developer Network.

MSIL Assembler .NET programming tool (ILAsm.exe) used to create MSIL portable executable (PE) files directly from MSIL code.

MSIL Disassembler .NET programming tool (ILDAsm.exe) used to translate a portable executable (PE) file containing MSIL code to an an MSIL file that can be used as input to MSIL Assembler.

.NET The .NET Framework comprises the .Common Language Runtime (CLR); .NET Framework Class Library; .NET languages including C#; .Visual Studio.NET IDE.

.NET Compact Framework Down-sized version of the .NET Framework for Windows CE enabling embedded and mobile devices to run .NET applications.

.NET Data Provider Refer to Data provider.

.NET Framework Microsoft programming infrastructure for creating, deploying, and executing applications and services that use .NET technologies. .NET Framework comprises three major components—ASP.NET, Common Language Runtime (CLR), Framework Class Library (FCL).

.NET Framework Class Library FCL is the foundation of providers, types, and services upon which .NET applications are built. The fundamental FCL elements are the classes of the System namespace

n-tier architecture An n-tier application is one that is distributed across two or more distinct computers in a distributed network.

Namespace Set of names accessible at a given point in a program. A namespace is a logical grouping of the names—identifiers—used within an application.

Native code Machine-readable instructions native to a particular CPU architecture—e.g., AMD Athlon, Intel x86. Native code assembled for one CPU architecture cannot be executed on another CPU architecture.

Network Library A .NET Framework library which supports simple networking services including direct port access and HTTP support.

Object Class instance which is self-describing and unique. An object is defined by a class; and, an object is the instantiation of a class. Ultimately, all objects derive from System.Object. C# has the keyword object.

Object-oriented Object-oriented software development is a method of creating software using the concept of objects. Objects encapsulate units of behavior and data. Objects may represent real world objects—like cars—or abstract ideas—like algorithms.

Object-Oriented Programming OOP is a programming paradigm employing objects in the design of software applications. OOP is founded upon encapsulation, inheritance, modularity, and polymorphism.

Object Query Language OQL is the query language used in object databases. OQL is the most flexible—yet complex—method of performing queries across object extents

Object type Ultimate base type—System.Object—from which all other .NET Framework types are derived.

OOP Refer to Object-Oriented Programming.

Overload Use a single identifier to refer to multiple methods differing only by their parameters and-or return type. That is, multiple methods with the same name but different method signatures are said to be overloaded.

Override Supercede an instance field or virtual method in a base class with a new of that member in the derived class (subclass).

PHP PHP Hypertext Preprocessor is an interpreted, server-side, scripting language that allows Web developers to create dynamic content by interacting with databases.

Pointer Variable containing the address of a memory location—the first byte of an allocated object like a value type or an array element.

Pointer type Refer to Managed pointer type, Unmanaged pointer type.

POP3 Post Office Protocol 3 is used for access to e-mail stored on a remote client computer.

Portable Executable PE file format defines the structure that executable files (.EXE) and Dynamic Link Libraries (.DLL) use for loading and execution by Windows

Predefined type Types predefined in the System namespace by the Common Language Runtime (CLR). Predefined reference types are object and string references.

Private assembly Assembly that is usable only by a single application. Private assemblies run only with the applications with which they were created and deployed.

Qualified identifier Contains multiple identifiers—namespaces or types—separated by dot operators (.). Used to uniquely specify a type or type member, .e.g., System.Console.WriteLine.

RDBMS Refer to Relational Database Management System.

Reference type Variable which holds a reference (pointer) to data rather than containing the actual data. Reference types include array, class, delegate, and interface.

Regular expression A regular expression—also called regex, regexes, regexp, regexps, regexen—is a string that describes a set of strings to be found or altered according to certain syntax rules.

Remoting .NET technology enabling objects in different application domains to communicate across a remoting boundary. Remoting objects may be on the same or different computers or networks.

Resource Addressable data available to an application. Resources may include data streams, documents, files, images, message queues, query result sets, and strings.

RSS Acronym of either RDF Site Summary or Rich Site Summary. An extension of the RDF language, RSS is a standardized XML schema for news article syndication.

Runtime debugger MSIL source-level debugging utility

Satellite assembly Assembly containing no executable code—only resources. Typically, satellite assemblies are used for storing localized data. Satellite assembles can be added, modified, and loaded into a .NET application at runtime without recompiling.

Script A script is lines of source code stored in a file that will be executed by an interpreter.

Semaphore A token passed between two or more devices and used for sharing a common resource. When multiple processes compete for the same kernel resources, this programming technique is used to coordinate their activities.

Serialization Conversion of an object (instance) into a data stream of bytes. Serialization is a method of persisting objects for storage in a database, to various media, or during marshaling—the process of moving an object to a new application domain, context, process, or system.

Server Refers to either the software or system providing information services on request to a client.

Servlet A Java servlet is an application which runs in a servlet container using a framework for servicing data requests.

Shared assembly .NET assembly that can be referenced by multiple applications. A shared assembly must be created with a strong name and loaded into the Global Assembly Cache (GAC).

Side-by-side execution Concurrent execution of multiple versions of an assembly either in the same computer or process.

Silverlight A Web-based subset of Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). Silverlight is founded on XAML and JScript. The Silverlight subset enables Flash-ish Web and mobile applications using the identical code used by Windows .NET applications

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol SMTP is a protocol by which electronic mail is transmitted between computers on a network. SMTP is the standard protocol used to send mail messages on the Internet.

SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol is a light-weight, XML-based messaging protocol for encoding Web service request and response messages for transmission over a network

Source code Software is written by developers in source code—a human-readable language like C# or Java.

SQL Server Enterprise-scale, relational database management system (RDBMS) and a Microsoft .NET Enterprise Server product.

SQL Server Reporting Services Reporting Services (RS) is a server based platform for authoring, distibuting, managing, and securing reports from SQL Server 2000 and above.

SQL Server Replication Management Objects SQL Server Replication Management Objects (RMO) is a collection of objects that encapsulates SQL Server replication management. .NET programmers can use RMO to design applications similar in functionality to Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.

Stack Area of program memory for storing local program variables, method parameters, and return values. .NET languages allocate value types on the stack.

Static method Method associated with a type rather than an instance of the type. Static methods are accessible via the type name without instantiation.

Strongly-typed A strongly-typed programming language is one in which every data type—character, integer, etc.—is predefined in the language; and, only those data types are available to the programmer.

Transact-SQL T-SQL is a proprietary superset of ANSI SQL from Microsoft and Sybase. T-SQL is enhanced with additional features—flow control language, local variables, user authentication integrated with Microsoft Windows, and various support functions for date processing, mathematics, string processing, etc.

throw The Common Language Runtime (CLR) generates an exception when an abnormal or unexpected condition occurs in a running application.

try/catch block Exception handling mechanism in managed code. A try block comprises program statements that may throw exceptions when executed. An associated catch block comprises statements for handling exceptions thrown within the try block.

Type library Compiled file (.tlb) containing metadata describing data types and interfaces. Type libraries describe COM components, DLL modules, regular functions, and vtable interfaces.

Type member Class member.

Type safety A feature of strongly typed languages like Visual C# and the Java language. Type-safe code accesses memory only in authorized, well-defined, and permissible ways.

UDDI Acronym for Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration. A lookup service based on SOAP and XML. Used by Web service providers to advertise their Web services to consumers.

UML Unified Modeling Language.

Unboxing Conversion of a reference typed object to the associated value type instance.

Unified Modeling Language UML is an industry-standard language for specifying, visualizing, building, and documenting the artifacts of software systems standardized by the Object Management Group

Unmanaged code Also called unsafe code, code that executes outside of the control of the Common Language Runtime (CLR).

Validation server control Set of server controls bundled with ASP.NET which verifies user input. After coming from HTML server controls and Web server controls, input is checked against requirements defined by the developer.

Value type .NET type containing actual data rather than a reference to data stored elsewhere in memory. Simple value types include boolean, character, decimal, floating point, and integer.

Variable Typed memory storage location. The variable type determines the sort of data it can hold and where and how it is stored. Variables include array elements, local variables, parameters, instance and static fields.

Visual Studio .NET Microsoft IDE for development of .NET applications. VS .NET has many Eclipse-like features for helping developers of managed code including Intellisense and refactoring.

WAP Wireless Application Protocol.

WCF Windows Communication Foundation.

Web Form .NET Framework object that facilitates development of Web applications and Web sites.

Web server control An ASP.NET server control residing in the System.Web.UI.WebControls namespace.

Web service Library of functionality addressable by URL that is stateless and independent of its consumers.

Web service provider Network application using Internet protocols to advertise and provide services to a Web service consumer.

Web Services Description Language WSDL, for short, is a XML-based contract language used to describe network services offered by a Web service provider to a Web service consumer via UDDI.

Windows Presentation Foundation Called the graphical subsystem of Windows Vista, WPF is for creating, displaying, and manipulating documents, media, and user interfaces. It is expected to use vector graphics.

Wireless Application Protocol Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a protocol adopted as a standard by mobile device manufacturers for interacting with online services

XHTML Acronym for eXtensible HyperText Markup Language. XML is designed to describe data.

XML Schema Description of XML document structure. Schemas are written in XSD which supports data types and namespaces.

XML Web services Units of application logic providing data and services to other applications. .NET applications that provide Web-based services to other Web-based applications—Web service consumers.

XSLT Acronym for eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation. Designed to be used with XSL, XSLT is for transforming XML documents into other XML documents using a set of well-formed rules.