Developer Glossary
Plain-English definitions of common developer terms — each linked to a free tool you can use right away.
Base64
A binary-to-text encoding that represents data using 64 printable ASCII characters.
bcrypt
A deliberately slow password-hashing algorithm with a built-in salt.
Cron
A time-based job scheduler defined by five-field expressions.
CSV
A plain-text format for tabular data, one record per line.
Epoch / Unix Time
The number of seconds since 1 January 1970 UTC.
Hash Function
A one-way function that maps data of any size to a fixed-size value.
Hexadecimal
A base-16 number system using digits 0–9 and A–F.
HMAC
A keyed hash used to verify both integrity and authenticity of a message.
JSON
A lightweight, human-readable data-interchange format.
JWT (JSON Web Token)
A compact, signed token format used to securely transmit claims between parties.
MD5
A fast 128-bit hash algorithm, now insecure for cryptography.
MIME Type
A label that tells software the format of a file or data.
Regular Expression (Regex)
A pattern language for matching and extracting text.
SHA-256
A secure 256-bit cryptographic hash from the SHA-2 family.
Slug
A URL-friendly version of a string, used in clean web addresses.
URL Encoding
Encoding characters so they can safely appear in a URL.
UUID
A 128-bit universally unique identifier, written as 36 hex characters.
YAML
A human-friendly, indentation-based data serialization format.