Recruiter’s Guide to Software Terms

Intro | Categories | Terms

3- to n-tier architecture (Architectures) An architecture containing clear divisions of responsibility. 2-tier architecture was once called "client-server". Often 3-tier architectures are described as "n-tier" when the architects aren't defining the tiers crisply. Thus, the number of tiers isn't as important once you pass 2.

AIX (Operating Systems) A variant of Unix™ which runs on IBM computers.

Ant (Development Tools) usually used to quickly and repeatably turn the files programmers create into a program computers can understand, and package them for use.

Apache/Apache tools (not classified) The Apache foundation (http://www.apache.org) has created a large number of free tools for building and running software; many development, test, and production teams use these tools instead of purchasing commercial tools. Try to find out what specific tools your client is interested in. Examples include the Apache web server, Apache Ant, Tomcat, and Log4J.

Apache Web Server (Web Servers) See also httpd. Used to run web sites. Use is easy, but setup, administration, and tuning requires some experience.

ASP (Scripting Languages) A Microsoft language for creating "dynamic" web pages (e.g. pages which can display the contents of a database).

bash (bourne again shell)(Scripting Languages) One of the three most widely-used Unix™ "shells". When Unix users type a command, they're using the "shell". Unix shells are also "scripting languages". Ask your client if they are interested in people who can "shell script", or just "use" the shell.

bourne shell (sh)(Scripting Languages) One of the three most widely-used Unix™ "shells". When Unix users type a command, they're using the "shell". Unix shells are also "scripting languages". Ask your client if they are interested in people who can "shell script", or just "use" the shell.

CA-Ingres (Databases) A relational database system (RDBMS) provided by Computer Associates.

C (Languages) a very important 2nd-generation procedural language; C++, Java, and C# all borrow from C; C++ compilers can actually compile (most) C programs.

C++ (Languages) a 2nd-generation Object-Oriented ("OO") language; very difficult to master, but very widely used.

C# (Languages) along with Visual Basic one of the two most popular of Microsoft's ".NET" family of languages.

CBL see xCBL

CCS (Development Tools) a source code control system that comes on most Unix systems; very widely used

ClearQuest (Development Tools) a bug-tracking system published by Rational

COBOL (Languages) a very important 2nd-generation procedural language; most large business applications were once written in COBOL.

DB2 (Databases) A relational database system (RDBMS) by IBM.

DreamWeaver (Development IDEs) an IDE for creating web sites (such as this one).

Eclipse (Development IDEs) an IDE originally for creating Java and J2EE programs, but designed to be language-independent.

emacs (Development Tools) an editor; usually associated with Unix systems.

gcc (Development Tools) the Gnu C++ compiler

httpd (Web Servers) The first ever web server, now maintained by Apache (and usually called "Apache", since it's been completely rewritten).

HP-UX ( Operating Systems) A variant of Unix™ which runs on HP computers.

IIS (Web Servers) Microsoft's basic web server; runs ASP pages as well as basic web service. Easy to set up, but requires some experience to tune and administer.

Ingres (Databases) see CA-Ingres

J2EE (Frameworks) Sun's web framework; competes with Microsoft's .NET framework. Development is done in Java; J2EE stands for "Java 2 Enterprise Edition".

J2SE (Languages) "Java 2, Standalone Edition"; this is the distribution name for the Java language package for writing stand-alone programs.

J2ME (Languages) "Java 2, Mobile Edition"; this is the subset of the Java development system used for portable devices, e.g. telephones and PDAs.

Java (Languages) a 3rd-generation Object-Oriented ("OO") language. Completely unrelated to JavaScript!

JavaScript (Scripting Languages) Not related to Java! Usually used in web pages (though there are other applications).

JAXP (Libraries & Interfaces) Java API for XML Programming

JAXR (Libraries & Interfaces) Java API for XML Repositories

JBoss (Application Servers) free, open source application server; www.jboss.org.

JBuilder (Development IDEs) IBM's Java IDE

JCE (Libraries & Interfaces) Java Cryptography Extension

JDMK (Libraries & Interfaces) Java Dynamic Management Kit - a Sun product which implements the Java Management eXtensions (JMX)

JDOM (Libraries & Interfaces) Supposedly this is not an acrynym, but we all wink at that. DOM stands for Document Object Model; it's a way of thinking about XML documents. JDOM is a tool which can respresent XML documents as Java objects.

JMX (Libraries & Interfaces) Java Management eXtensions

JNDI (Libraries & Interfaces)Java Naming and Directory Interface

JNI (Libraries & Interfaces)Java Native Interface

JRun (Application Servers) Macromedia's application server

JScript (Scripting Languages) Microsoft's implementation of JavaScript.

ksh, k-shell, korn shell One of the three most widely-used Unix™ "shells". When Unix users type a command, they're using the "shell". Unix shells are also "scripting languages". Ask your client if they are interested in people who can "shell script", or just "use" the shell.

Linux ( Operating Systems) An open-source operating system that is very similar to Unix. Unix experience usually translates to Linux, and vice versa.

log4j (Libraries & Interfaces) An Apache tool used for adding logging to Java applications.

make

Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) (Frameworks)

Model-2 controller

MVC (as applied in JSP)

MySQL (Databases) A free relational database management system (RDBMS).

.NET (Frameworks) Microsoft's architectural framework for web applications; competes with J2EE. You can program for the .NET framework in VisualBasic, C#, or any of the other Microsoft languages, though C# and Visual Basic ("VB") are the most commonly used. If a client asks for .NET experience, ask what languages they use (.NET isn't a language).

Netscape web and LDAP servers (Web Servers)

Oracle (Databases) One of the three dominant relational database management systems (RDBMS) on the market, with DB2 (IBM) and SQL Server (Microsoft). Also, the company which sells the Oracle RDBMS and other tools.

Oracle App Server 1 and 2

Oracle Forms

Oracle Reports

Perforce (Source Code Control)

perl (Languages) Originally, "an interpreted language optimized for scanning arbitrary text files, extracting information from those text files, and printing reports based on that information." Now, perl has been generalized for lots of things, though it is still usually interpreted. A great deal of the original "active content" for the web was once written in perl. Perl tends to be found more on Unix systems than elsewhere.

PL/SQL (Oracle) (Database & Stored Procedure Languages)

Python (Languages) an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language. It is often compared to Tcl, Perl, Scheme or Java.

Rational Rose (Design Tools)

Rational RequisitePro (Design Tools)

RCS

RDB (Databases)

ReqPro see Rational Requisite Pro

RogueWave (Libraries & Interfaces) C++/Java:

Rose see Rational Rose

RPG (Languages)

SAX 2 (Libraries & Interfaces) Java

sh (bourne shell)

shell scripts for korn, bourne, and bash

SitePad (Development IDEs)

SOAP (Libraries & Interfaces)

Solaris ( Operating Systems)

SonicMQ (Messaging)

SQL Database & Stored Procedure Languages

SQL Server (Databases) Microsoft's relational databse management system (RDBMS). Many people say "SQL" when they mean "SQL Server", so make sure you get clarification. SQL is a language that most RDBMSs use; SQL Server is an RDBMS sold by Microsoft.

SQL*Net

SQL*Plus

Struts (Frameworks)

Sun web server

Sybase (Databases) A relational database management system (RDBMS) sold by a company with the same name.

Tomcat (Application Servers)

TopLink (Databases)

Transact-SQL (SQL Server) (Database & Stored Procedure Languages)

UDDI

VBScript (Scripting Languages)

vi (Development Tools) a text editor; usually associated wtih Unix

VisualAge (Development IDEs)