Glossary

 

    • AMI — An Amazon Machine Image (AMI) is a special type of virtual appliance that is used to create a virtual machine within the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (”EC2”). It serves as the basic unit of deployment for services delivered using EC2.

 

    • API — In computer programming, an application programming interface (API) specifies how some software components should interact with each other.

 

    • AWS — Amazon Web Services (abbreviated AWS) is a collection of remote computing services (also called web services) that together make up a cloud computing platform, offered over the Internet by Amazon.com.

 

    • Apache — Apache is an open source web server application.

 

    • CKAN — CKAN is a data management system that makes data accessible by providing tools to streamline publishing, sharing, finding and using data. CKAN is aimed at data publishers wanting to make their data open and available.

 

    • CMS — A content management system (CMS) is a computer program that allows publishing, editing and modifying content as well as maintenance from a central interface. This is typically web based.

 

    • CSV — A computer readable data format. See Data Formats.

 

    • Client — A client is a piece of computer hardware or software that accesses a service made available by aserver.

 

    • Command Line — A command-line interface (CLI), is a means of interacting with a computer program where the user (or client) issues commands to the program in the form of successive lines of text.

 

    • Database — A database is an organised collection of data often stored in tables.

 

    • Domain name — In computer networking, a domain name (or hostname) is a label that is assigned to a device connected to a computer network and that is used to identify the device on the World Wide Web. (e.g. google.co.uk)

 

    • EC2 — Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is a central part of Amazon.com’s cloud computing platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS). EC2 allows users to rent virtual computers on which to run their own computer applications.

 

    • Hostname — See domain name.

 

    • IP — An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label assigned to each device in a computernetwork. (e.g 54.56.45.32)

 

    • JSON — A computer readable data format. See Data Formats.

 

    • Javascript — JavaScript (JS) is a dynamic computer programming language. It is most commonly used as part of web browsers for client side rendering.

 

    • Key — A computer file which allows a user access to a remote computer (Similar to a Password)

 

    • Linux/Unix — A multitasking, multiuser computer operating system. (A competitor to Microsoft Windows)

 

    • MQTT — MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT) is a publish-subscribe based ”light weight” messaging protocol.

 

    • Machine Image — A Machine Image is a software implementation of a computing environment in which an operating system or program can be installed and run. A Machine Image is the underpinnings of a virtual machine. A virtual machine typically emulates a physical computing environment, but requests for CPU, memory, hard disk, network and other hardware resources are managed by a virtualization layer which translates these requests to the underlying physical hardware.

 

    • MongoDB — MongoDB is a cross-platform document-oriented database.

 

    • MySQL — The most popular open source database

 

    • Node-Red — Node-RED is a tool for wiring together hardware devices, APIs and online services.

 

    • Node.js — Node.js is a platform built on JavaScript for easily building fast, scalable web applications.

 

    • Open Source — In production and development, open source promotes universal access via free license to a product’s design or blueprint.

 

    • PHP — PHP is a server-side programming language designed for web development.

 

    • phpmyadmin — phpMyAdmin is a free and open source tool written in PHP intended to handle the admin-istration of MySQL.

 

    • Port — In computer networking, a port is a software construct serving as a communications endpoint in a computer’s operating system.

 

    • Portal — A web portal is most often one specially-designed Web page at a website which brings information together from diverse sources in a uniform way.

 

    • Python — Python is a widely used general-purpose, high-level programming language. Its design philosophy emphasises code readability, and it allows programmers to express concepts in fewer lines of code.

 

    • SQL — SQL (Structured Query Language) is a special-purpose programming language designed for managing data held in a database.

 

    • SSH — Secure Shell (SSH) is a cryptographic network protocol for secure data communication and remote command-line login.

 

    • Server — A server is a system (software and suitable computer hardware) that responds to requests across a computer network to provide, or help to provide, a network service to client computers.

 

    • Service — A service is the provision of a discrete function within a computer environment.

 

    • String — A line of text.

 

    • Terminal — The Terminal is the text entry and display device for system administration.

 

    • Twilio — Twilio enables phones and messaging to be embedded into web, desktop, and mobile software.

 

    • Uploading or Downloading — The transfer of data to (Up) or from (Down) a remote computer system.

 

    • Virtual Machine — A virtual machine (VM) is a software-based emulation of a computer.

 

    • WordPress — A free and open source content management system (CMS) based on PHP and MySQL, which runs on a web hosting service.

 

    • XML — A computer readable data format. See Data Formats.

 

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