Tech Terms Explained Simply

OOP

software-engineering

Object-Oriented Programming organizes code around objects with data and behaviors to model real-world entities and relationships.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object-oriented_programming

SOLID Principles

software-engineering

A set of five object-oriented design principles for building robust and maintainable software systems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOLID_(object-oriented_design)

DRY

software-engineering

Don't Repeat Yourself - a principle that encourages eliminating redundancy in code to reduce bugs and simplify maintenance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_repeat_yourself

KISS

software-engineering

Keep It Simple, Stupid - a principle that promotes simplicity in software design to avoid unnecessary complexity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle

YAGNI

software-engineering

You Aren't Gonna Need It - a principle that discourages implementing features until they are actually required.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_aren%27t_gonna_need_it

Technical Debt

software-engineering

The cost of choosing quick or easy solutions in software, which often leads to more work and complexity later.

https://www.atlassian.com/agile/software-development/technical-debt https://www.productplan.com/glossary/technical-debt

Refactoring

software-engineering

The process of restructuring existing code without changing its external behavior, improving its structure and readability.

https://www.techtarget.com/searchapparchitecture/definition/refactoring

Unit Testing

software-engineering

Writing tests for individual units of code (like functions or methods) to verify correctness in isolation.

https://testlio.com/blog/what-is-unit-testing

Code Review

software-engineering

The practice of reviewing code changes made by peers to ensure quality, consistency, and shared understanding.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_review

CSS

web-development frontend software-engineering

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is what makes websites look nice. It controls things like colors, fonts, spacing, and layout. HTML is the structure of the page, and CSS is the style.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS

Open Source

software-engineering

Open source means the code is public and anyone can look at it, use it, or even help improve it. It's a way of working together and learning by sharing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source

npm

software-engineering software-engineering

npm is a package manager for JavaScript. It allows you to find and share code with other developers.

https://www.npmjs.com/

Algorithm

software-engineering

An algorithm is a set of steps a computer follows to solve a problem or do a task. It's like a recipe for computers — step 1, step 2, step 3, and so on.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm

Rust

software-engineering

Rust is a programming language focused on speed and safety. It's great for building things like games, tools, or systems where you need power and control — but without many of the usual bugs.

https://www.rust-lang.org/ https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/

GitHub

software-engineering version-control devops

GitHub is a website where people store and share code. It helps teams work together on software projects. You can track changes, suggest improvements, or contribute to open source.

https://github.com/ https://docs.github.com/en/get-started

GitLab

software-engineering version-control devops

GitLab is a platform similar to GitHub, but it also includes tools for testing, deploying, and managing projects from start to finish — all in one place. Many teams use it to build and ship software.

https://gitlab.com/ https://about.gitlab.com/