Methodology and toolset that provides a workforce with mobile productivity tools and applications while keeping corporate data secure.
GLOSSARY
MDM – Mobile Device Managment
Mendix
Cloud-based low-code application development platform that provides tools to build web and mobile applications using visual drag-and-drop elements
meta tags
Tags placed in the section of a website’s HTML code. They are used to convey information about the page to browsers, search engines (e.g., Google robots), and social media sites. Although invisible to users, they play a key role in SEO, influencing how a page is indexed and presented in search results.
metabox
UI (user interface) component which is allowing interactivity with content without the technical aspects, like managing the code. A metabox provide a way to input additional information to posts, pages, or custom post types and to interact with content by adding, editing, deleting, etc.
Metabox
Additional section or field in the WordPress content editor panel that allows you to enter or display additional information about the entry, page or custom post type. These additional fields allow you to extend the functionality of the content editor, allowing you to add more complex data such as text boxes, checklists, radio buttons, and dates. Metabox is used by both themes and plugins to make it easier for users to enter specific data without the need for manual code editing.
Methodology
Overarching strategy and theoretical framework for a research project, which involves studying the principles behind different research methods to develop an approach that best fits the project’s objectives. It goes beyond simply listing the methods, as it provides the „why” and „how” behind them, explaining the researcher’s reasoning, choices, and the overall philosophical approach. In contrast, a research method is a specific tool or procedure for collecting and analyzing data, such as a survey, experiment, or statistical test.
Micro frontends
Architectural style where a web application is broken down into smaller, independent, and self-contained frontend applications. Each micro frontend can be developed, tested, and deployed separately, often by different teams, using their own technology stack, which allows for greater flexibility and efficiency in building large and complex applications. The individual micro frontends are then composed together to form the complete user interface.
micro-interaction
Small, subtle animation, sound effects, or visual reaction that occur when a user interacts with a digital product, such as a website or application. Designed to improve the user experience by providing feedback, engaging the user, and facilitating navigation.
Microdata
HTML specification that lets you add structured data to your webpages using simple HTML attributes. It helps search engines and other systems understand the meaning of the content on a page. It is one of the structured-data formats supported by schema.org (along with JSON-LD and RDFa).
Microservices
Software architecture style where an application is built as a collection of small, independently deployable, and loosely coupled services. Each microservice performs a single, well-defined business function and communicates with others via lightweight APIs. This contrasts with a monolithic architecture, where all functionality is in one large, tightly integrated unit. The benefits include agility, faster time-to-market, and better scalability, while the challenges involve managing complexity, communication, and distributed systems.
Microsoft Copilot
Advanced assistant powered by artificial intelligence (AI), integrated with the Microsoft 365 app ecosystem and Windows. It’s not just a tool, but rather a partner in your daily work that understands the context of your tasks, helps you create content, analyze data, and automate processes.
Microsoft Power Platform
Low-code platform that enables users to build custom business solutions by creating apps, automating workflows, analyzing data, and creating websites. Its key components are Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, and Power Pages, all of which can be used together or individually. The platform also uses a secure data platform called Dataverse and integrates with other Microsoft services and AI features.
Milestone payments
Partial payments made in a contract based on the completion of specific, predefined stages or deliverables. They are a way to ensure progress, manage cash flow, and maintain accountability throughout a project. Essentially, they act as checkpoints where payment is released upon reaching a specific goal.
MIT license
Permissive open-source software license from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that allows for the use, modification, and distribution of software with very few restrictions. Its main requirement is that the original copyright and license notice must be included in all copies and substantial portions of the software. This makes it highly popular for commercial and non-commercial projects, as it places minimal restrictions while holding the author harmless from liability.
Mocha
JavaScript test framework for Node. js programs, featuring browser support, asynchronous testing, test coverage reports, and use of any assertion library.
modal window
Temporary UI element that appears on top of a web page or application, temporarily disabling interaction with the main content until the user interacts with the modal. It is used to require the user’s immediate attention for a specific task or to provide important information, such as a login prompt, a confirmation message, or a user form, without navigating away from the current page. The background content is often dimmed to focus the user’s attention on the modal window.
modal window
User interface element that appears on top of the main application window, temporarily blocking interaction with the rest of the application until the modal is dismissed. It’s often used to draw the user’s attention to important information or to request user input before allowing them to continue with their task.
MTU – Maximum Transmission Unit
Largest size of a data packet that can be transmitted over a network without needing to be fragmented.
multichannel experience
Business strategy that interacts with customers through multiple independent channels, such as a physical store, website, mobile app, and social media. The goal is to provide customers with a choice of how and where to engage with the brand, allowing them to interact across various platforms without necessarily having a unified, seamless experience across all of them.
multisite
Type of website installation that allows you to create and manage a network of multiple websites from a single dashboard. This lets you easily make changes and keep all of your websites updated from one place.
MVC – Model-View-Controller
Popular architectural and design pattern in application development, especially web applications, which divides them into three related but separate layers: Model (business logic and data), View (presentation of data to the user), and Controller (processing user requests and managing communication between the Model and View). Separating these layers facilitates code management, testing, and development
MVP – minimal viable product
The first, simplified version of a product that has enough key features to reach the market and gather feedback from users
MySQL
Rrelational database management system (RDBMS) organizing data into one or more data tables in which data may be related to each other; these relations help structure the data. SQL is a language that programmers use to create, modify, and extract data from the relational database, as well as control user access to the database. MySQL is generally favored for its speed and ease of use, particularly in web applications and read-heavy scenarios.
NDA – Non-Disclosure Agreement
Written commitment in which the parties agree not to disclose certain information that has been made available to them during their cooperation. The main purpose of an NDA is to protect confidential data, such as trade secrets, customer data, or strategic information, from unauthorized disclosure or use.
NestJS
Progressive Node. js framework for building server-side applications. It uses TypeScript by default, providing strong typing and modern JavaScript features, but it also supports pure JavaScript. NestJS is designed to help developers create highly testable, scalable, and maintainable applications.
Next.js
Popular JavaScript framework based on the React library for building modern, efficient, and optimized web applications. It enables various rendering strategies, such as server-side rendering (SSR) and static page generation (SSG), which improve performance and SEO. Additionally, the framework offers built-in features, including filesystem-based routing, API creation, and image optimization, that simplify the development process and increase application efficiency.
nginx – engine x
High-performance HTTP web server, reverse proxy, content cache, load balancer, TCP/UDP proxy server, and mail proxy server.
NIH syndrome – Not Invented Here syndrome
Tendency to avoid using or buying products, research, standards, or knowledge from external origins. The opposite predisposition is sometimes called „proudly found elsewhere” (PFE) or „invented elsewhere”.
Node.js
Cross-platform, open-source JavaScript runtime environment that allows to run JavaScript code outside of a browser. It is built on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine and is designed to be efficient and scalable, especially for building network applications. Node.js is commonly used for developing dynamic web page content and server-side applications, like APIs or web servers, due to its non-blocking, event-driven architecture, which makes it well-suited for handling many simultaneous connections with high performance.
NoSQL
Non-relational databases that differ from traditional SQL databases by using flexible data models and schema designs. They are often used for large volumes of unstructured or semi-structured data where horizontal scalability and high performance are crucial. While the term „NoSQL” initially meant „not SQL,” many NoSQL databases now offer SQL-like query capabilities.
NPM – Node Package Manager
Tool that allows developers to manage project dependencies and share JavaScript code. It acts as a central repository for JavaScript packages and includes a command-line interface for installing, managing, and publishing these packages. Essentially, it’s a way to easily incorporate pre-written code modules into your projects, saving time and effort.
npx
Command-line tool that comes with npm (Node Package Manager) and is used to execute packages that aren’t globally installed on your system. It allows you to run Node.js binaries (scripts or packages) directly from the command line without needing to install them globally. This can be especially useful for running a one-time utility or testing something without permanently installing the package.
Nuxt 3
JavaScript framework built on Vue.js 3 that enables the creation of multi-purpose (SSR) and single-page (SPA) web applications, combining front-end and back-end capabilities. It leverages modern technologies like Vite and Nitro to deliver high performance and simplify the creation of scalable, modern web applications with improved SEO.
obfuscation
Practice of intentionally making something unclear, obscure, or unintelligible. In the context of programming and security, „obfuscating” code means transforming the source code into a version that is harder to understand or reverse-engineer, while still maintaining its functionality. This can help protect intellectual property or prevent unauthorized access to the logic of the code.
OEM – Original Equipment Manufacturer
Company that produces components or products sold under a different brand name by another company. For example, a software company like Microsoft produces Windows, and this operating system is often sold by PC manufacturers like Dell or HP as part of a laptop; this is an OEM software license.
offset printing
One of the most popular types of industrial flat printing. The offset technique involves transferring an image from flat forms to a previously prepared substrate.
OKLCH
Color model based on a perceptually uniform color space, which means it tries to match how humans perceive differences in color, making it easier for designers to work with. It’s designed to provide more consistent results across different devices and media, offering a better match to real-world color perception than other color models.
OLTP – Online Transaction Processing
Systems that manage and process a large number of real-time transactions, such as banking, e-commerce, and order entry, to ensure rapid and accurate data updates, insertions, and deletions. These systems rely on robust, normalized databases that support ACID properties (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) to maintain data integrity, enabling high availability and the processing of many concurrent users and small, quick transactions.
Online POS – Online Point of Sale
Comprehensive solution that integrates various devices and software for effective transaction and data management. It consists of a payment terminal, fiscal printer, barcode scanner, cash register, and sales software. Online POS systems allow you to record sales, manage inventory, generate reports and analyses, and support various payment methods.
online survey
Method of gathering information from a target audience by sending a digital questionnaire over the internet. This allows organizations to collect data and opinions on topics like customer satisfaction, product feedback, or market research efficiently and cost-effectively.
OOH – Out Of Home
Advertising, which encompasses all advertising formats seen in public spaces, such as billboards, street furniture, and transit ads.OOP – Object-oriented programming
Programming paradigm that organizes software design around objects rather than functions and logic. It focuses on creating objects that contain data (attributes or properties) and methods (functions) that operate on that data. This approach allows for better code organization, reusability, and maintainability, especially in complex software projects.
Organic traffic
Visits to a website that come from search results where the user clicked on a link to the site that is not marked as an advertisement. This is traffic that is not the result of paid advertising campaigns, but rather the result of the site’s appropriate positioning in search engines.
ORM – Object-Relational Mapping
Programming technique that bridges the gap between object-oriented programming languages and relational databases by translating data between them. It allows developers to interact with database tables using objects and their methods, instead of writing raw SQL queries, which simplifies and speeds up development for tasks like creating, reading, updating, and deleting (CRUD) data.
ORM – Object-Relational Mapping
Programming technique that creates a virtual object database for object-oriented languages, allowing developers to interact with relational databases using objects instead of writing SQL queries. This approach simplifies data persistence, speeds up development, and makes code more maintainable by creating a layer between the application’s objects and the database.
OutSystems
Low-code development platform which provides tools for companies to develop, deploy and manage omnichannel enterprise applications.
paid social
Digital marketing strategy where a brand pays a social media platform to display ads and sponsored content to a specific, targeted audience. Unlike organic posts, which rely on algorithms for visibility, paid social campaigns offer guaranteed reach and use detailed targeting based on demographics, interests, and behaviors to maximize engagement and drive business goals. This strategy involves different ad formats and payment models, such as pay-per-click (PPC) and cost-per-mille (CPM), across platforms like Meta, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok.
paradigm – imperative / declarative
Pattern, model, accepted way of thinking, seeing, or acting that dominates a given field, scientific discipline, or even social life. It is a set of beliefs, values, and assumptions that shape the way we understand and interpret reality. In programming, there are two main paradigms: imperative and declarative: – imperative programming focus on how to achieve a result, i.e., we give the computer detailed steps to follow – declarative programming focus on what we want to achieve, rather than on specific instructions. The computer decides for itself how to implement what has been defined in the declarative code.
parallax
Technique in web design where the background of a page moves slower than its content when scrolling, creating an illusion of depth and adding dynamism. It is a popular method that gives a website consistency, style, and usability. It can greatly enhance the aesthetics of a website, making it more attractive and interactive.
Parcel.js
Web application bundler that allows developers to bundle JavaScript, CSS, HTML, images, and other assets for web projects. It is designed to be fast, zero-config, and easy to use, making it a popular alternative to other bundlers like Webpack. Parcel automatically handles tasks such as transpiling code (e.g., from TypeScript or JSX to JavaScript), minifying files, and optimizing assets without requiring configuration files.