# Technical basics

Every entry in Technical basics on the Tulsa Ecosystem Map. Tulsa entries first, then by connections.

- [Open source](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/open-source): Software whose code is published for anyone to read, use and build on, under a license that sets the rules for doing so.
- [Front end](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/front-end): The part of an app or website that people see and tap, running in their browser or on their phone.
- [Database](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/database): Organized storage for your app's information, such as users, orders and messages, so it can be saved and looked up later.
- [Tech stack](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/tech-stack): The set of programming languages and tools a product is built with.
- [API](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/terms/api): Application programming interface.
- [Back end](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/back-end): The part of an app that runs out of sight on a server.
- [Code](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/code): Exact written instructions that tell a computer what to do, step by step.
- [Software engineer](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/software-engineer): A person who designs, writes and maintains code for a living.
- [Testing](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/testing): Checking that software does what it should, before your users find the problems for you.
- [Web app vs mobile app](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/web-app-mobile-app): A web app runs in a browser at a web address, on any device.
- [Repository](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/repository): The folder where a project's code lives, together with the full history of every change made to it.
- [Open source hardware](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/open-source-hardware): Physical products whose design files are published so anyone can study, change, make and sell the design or hardware based on it.
- [Terminal](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/terminal): A text window where a person types commands to a computer and reads its replies.
- [Version control](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/version-control): A system that records every change to the code, who made it and when.
- [Authentication](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/authentication): Checking that a person is who they say they are, usually with a login.
- [Technical debt](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/technical-debt): Shortcuts taken while building software that save time now but make later changes slower and riskier until someone cleans them up.
- [HTML](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/html): HyperText Markup Language.
- [Technical co-founder](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/technical-co-founder): A founding partner who can build the product themselves and who makes the technology decisions.
- [Web browser](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/web-browser): The app people use to open websites and web apps, such as Chrome or Safari.
- [Content management system](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/content-management-system): Software that lets people create and edit a website's content, such as pages, posts and images, without writing code.
- [Operating system](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/operating-system): The base software that runs a computer or phone, such as Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS or Android.
- [Pull request](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/pull-request): A request to merge the changes on one branch into the main code.
- [Bug](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/bug): A mistake in software that makes it behave in a way nobody intended.
- [CSS](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/css): Cascading Style Sheets.
- [Data model](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/data-model): The plan for what information an app stores and how the pieces relate, such as customers, orders and products and which belongs to which.
- [DevOps](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/devops): The practice, and job, of combining software development with running it in production: automating builds, tests and deployments and…
- [CI/CD](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ci-cd): Continuous integration and continuous delivery: automation that runs the tests on every change pushed to the repository and, when they…
- [Code editor](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/code-editor): The program a developer uses to read and write code.
- [HTML5](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/html5): The current version of HTML.
- [Learning management system](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/learning-management-system): Software for delivering and tracking training or classes: lessons, quizzes, assignments and who has completed what.
- [API contract](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/api-contract): An agreement on exactly what requests an API accepts and what responses it returns.
- [API key](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/api-key): A secret code that identifies your app to another service so that service will answer its API requests.
- [Branch](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/branch): A separate line of work inside a repository.
- [CTO](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/cto): Chief technology officer.
- [Data integrity](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/data-integrity): Whether data stays accurate, complete and consistent over time.
- [Data literacy](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/data-literacy): The ability to read, question and use data: knowing what a field or number actually means, where it came from and what it can and cannot…
- [Package manager](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/package-manager): A tool that downloads and updates the pieces of shared code, called packages, that a project depends on.
- [REST API](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/rest-api): A common style of API where each kind of data lives at its own web address and software reads or changes it with standard web requests…
- [Commit](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/commit): One saved change in version control: a snapshot of the code with a short note saying what changed, who made it and when.
- [Data warehouse](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/data-warehouse): A central database that collects copies of data from many business systems so it can be analyzed and reported on in one place.
- [Markdown](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/markdown): A simple way to format plain text with symbols, such as # for a heading and \* for a bullet.
- [MediaStream Recording API](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/mediastream-recording-api): A browser feature that records audio or video from a microphone, camera or media element so a web app can save or process it.
- [ORM](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/orm): Object-relational mapping.
- [SDK](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/sdk): Software development kit.
- [Server-side rendering](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/server-side-rendering): Building a web page's HTML on the server before sending it, instead of in the visitor's browser.
- [Data normalization](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/data-normalization): Making records consistent so the same thing is always written the same way, and, in database design, storing each fact in only one place.
- [DOM](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/dom): Document Object Model.
- [Feature flag](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/feature-flag): A switch in the code that turns a feature on or off without shipping new code.
- [Fork](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/fork): A copy of someone else's repository under your own account, which you can change freely.
- [Headless commerce](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/headless-commerce): Running a store's products, cart and checkout on one system while building the shopping screens separately.
- [JSON](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/json): JavaScript Object Notation.
- [Knowledge graph](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/knowledge-graph): A way of storing information as things and the named connections between them, such as 'course A teaches skill B'.
- [Lexical search](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/lexical-search): Search that matches the exact words in a query.
- [Merge conflict](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/merge-conflict): What happens when two branches change the same lines of code in different ways, so version control cannot combine them on its own.
- [Mesh network](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/mesh-network): A network where devices pass data to each other instead of each one needing its own connection to the internet, so it can cover places…
- [OpenAPI](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/openapi): A standard format for describing what an API offers: its addresses, what each one expects and what it returns.
- [Pair programming](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/pair-programming): Two people writing code together at one screen, one typing and one reviewing and thinking ahead, switching roles often.
- [Recommendation engine](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/recommendation-engine): Software that suggests items a person is likely to want, based on what they and similar people have done before.
- [Red-green-refactor](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/red-green-refactor): A way of writing code in three steps: write a test that fails (red), write just enough code to make it pass (green), then clean up the…
- [Technical due diligence](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/technical-due-diligence): A review of a company's technology by an outside expert before an investment or an acquisition: how the product is built, its security…
- [APNG](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/apng): Animated PNG.
- [Apple Silicon](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/apple-silicon): Apple's own family of chips used in Mac computers and iPads.
- [Audio stem](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/audio-stem): One part of a song exported as its own audio file, such as only the drums or only the vocals, so others can remix or mix it.
- [CAD](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/cad): Computer-aided design.
- [Digital audio workstation](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/digital-audio-workstation): Software for recording, editing and mixing music and other audio.
- [Function coloring](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/function-coloring): A nickname for a problem in many programming languages: functions that wait on slow work (async) and functions that do not cannot be mixed…
- [Graceful degradation](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/graceful-degradation): Designing a system so that when one part fails, the rest keeps working in a simpler way instead of breaking completely.
- [Join table](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/join-table): A database table whose only job is to connect two other tables when items on each side can link to many on the other.
- [JSONC](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/jsonc): JSON with comments.
- [Makefile](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/makefile): A file that lists named shortcuts for a project's routine commands, run with a tool called make.
- [Management information systems](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/management-information-systems): A field of study, and a common university major in business schools, about how organizations use technology and data to run.
- [Meta box](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/meta-box): A panel on a WordPress editing screen with extra fields for a post, such as an event date or a price, beyond the main title and body.
- [Permalink](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/permalink): A web address for one specific page or item that is meant never to change, so links to it keep working.
- [Picture-in-picture](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/picture-in-picture): A feature that keeps a video playing in a small floating window while the person uses other apps or pages.
- [Projection mapping](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/projection-mapping): Projecting video onto an uneven surface, such as a building, and shaping the image to fit it, sometimes so people can interact with it.
- [Promise chain](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/promise-chain): A way of writing code for steps that take time, such as network requests, so each step starts when the one before it finishes.
- [RSS](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/rss): A standard format websites use to publish a list of their newest posts so other software can check for updates automatically.
- [Shortcode](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/shortcode): A short tag in square brackets, used in WordPress and similar systems, that a plugin replaces with richer content when the page loads.
- [WebAssembly](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/webassembly): A format that lets code written in languages like C, C++ or Rust run in a web browser at close to full speed.
- [WebM](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/webm): An open video file format made for the web.

Map view: https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/technical