To create a duplicate of an existing process,
typically in order to run a new program.
G
group ID (GID)
FIXME
H
hash
FIXME
hostname
A human-readable name for a computer on a network.
HTTP
full: HyperText Transfer Protocol
The protocol used to exchange information between browsers and websites,
and more generally between other clients and servers.
Communication consists of requests and responses.
header (of HTTP request or response)
A name-value pair at the start of an HTTP request or response.
Headers are used to specify what data formats the sender can handle,
the date and time the message was sent,
and so on.
HTTP method
The verb in an HTTP request that defines what the client wants to do.
Common methods are GET (to get data) and POST (to submit data).
HTTP request
A precisely-formatted block of text sent from a client such as a browser
to a server
that specifies what resource is being requested,
what data formats the client will accept, etc.
HTTP response
A precisely-formatted block of text sent from a server
back to a client in reply to a request.
HTTP status code
A numerical code that indicates what happened when an HTTP request was processed,
such as 200 (OK),
404 (not found),
or 500 (internal server error).
I
inode
FIXME
J
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)
A way to represent data by combining basic values like numbers
and character strings in lists and key-value structures. Unlike
other formats, it is unencumbered by a syntax for writing comments.
K
L
hard link (in filesystem)
FIXME
symbolic link (in filesystem)
FIXME
lint
FIXME
local server
A server running on the programmer's own computer,
typically for development purposes.
localhost
A special host name that identifies
the computer that the software is running on.
M
MIME type
A standard that defines types of file content,
such as text/plain for plain text and image/jpeg for JPEG images.
mount
FIXME
N
name collision
The problem that occurs when two different applications use the same name
for different things.
O
octal
FIXME
operating system (OS)
A program whose job is to manage the hardware of a computer.
Other programs interact with the OS through system calls.
P
parent process
A process which has created one or more other processes,
which are called its child processes.
path (in filesystem)
An expression that refers to a file or directory in a filesystem.
port
A logical endpoint for communication,
like a phone number in an office building.
process
A running instance of a program.
process ID
The unique numerical identifier of a running process.
process tree
The set of processes created directly or indirectly by one process
and the parent-child relationships between them.
Q
query parameter
A key-value pair included in a URL that the server may use to modify or customize its response.
R
refactor
To reorganize code without changing its overall behavior.
To run one shell script in the same process as another.
static file
Web site content that is stored as a file on disk that is served as-is.
Serving static files is usually faster than generating dynamic content,
but can only be done if what's wanted is unchanging and known in advance.
superuser
An administrative account on a computer that has permission
to see, change, and run everything.
suspend (a process)
To pause the execution of a process but leave it intact so that it
can resume later.
A standard that defines numeric codes for many thousands of characters and
symbols. Unicode does not define how those numbers are stored; that is
done by standards like UTF-8.
user group
FIXME
UTF-8
A way to store the numeric codes representing Unicode
characters that is backward-compatible with the older ASCII standard.
Universally Unique Identifier (UUID)
FIXME
V
virtual environment
A set of libraries, applications, and other resources that are isolated from the main system
and other virtual environments.
W
web scraping
The act of extracting data from HTML pages on the web.