Technology today is rife with acronyms, buzz-words, lingo and new phrases. It seems like there’s a new term every week! Consult this glossary for definitions and background on prominent software and Information Technology (IT) terms, tools, or technologies; to keep yourself up to date with the latest key words and buzz-phrases…

The technologies, languages, and tools listed here are all part of the Pell Software toolbox and have been used in past projects. Ask us for more information on these or any other technologies you may be interested in.

AJAX	An acronym for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, AJAX is often used to update content on a webpage without requiring the web page to reload completely; often providing for a better user experience. Experienced software developers, like Pell Software, understand the key advantages and disadvantages of using AJAX functionality from both a user-experience and technical perspective. Choosing the right time and place to implement AJAX-based features is critical to providing a seamless experience in your custom web development project.
API	An API or Application Programming Interface is a means of connecting two applications and enabling communications and data exchange between those programs. For example, an API can be used to enable communication between an ERP program and an e-commerce application and exchange information on customers, products, and orders, and keep the information synced between the two applications.
ASP.NET Core	ASP.NET Core is the latest web framework from Microsoft and is intended to be the successor to ASP.NET. It adopts an open-source and cross-platform runtime allowing applications to be developed across a wide range of systems to better serve your business. Pell Software’s team of software engineers are experts in ASP.NET Core and have leveraged this state-of-the-art technology to implement custom business applications for dozens of our clients.
ASP.NET MVC	MVC stands for Model-View-Controller and is one of the most common and widely adopted design patterns in web development today. It allows for software development teams to quickly and intuitively implement web-based systems to better manage your custom web application development project.
ASP.NET WinForms	WinForms is a framework developed by Microsoft to allow software development partners to build custom Windows-based software systems quickly and easily. It has since been succeeded by the likes of WPF and UWP although it is still widely used.
BitBucket	A popular, free git repository from Atlassian. Pell Software uses BitBucket and git repositories to securely manage complex custom business software projects across multiple development teams.
Business Operations Platform	At its core, a Business Operations Platform is intended to unify and automate business processes including software and IT.  Many companies have aggregated technology over time, resulting in a haphazard mix of systems and processes that may not align to create efficient workflows and the comprehensive unified views needed to formulate effective strategies. Ideally, a Business Operations Platform consists of multiple layers of technology that include unified applications, comprehensive security, and analytics.
C#	C# is one of the most popular software development languages in the world and was originally developed by Microsoft. This language is still widely used today to build custom software projects across a wide array of systems, domains, and industries.
CMS	A CMS or Content Management System is an application used to manage digital content. Among the capabilities of a typical CMS are tools to create, store, and publish web and other content.  Typically, this can also be achieved through a user interface and no coding is needed to effectively interact with the system.
CRM	Customer Relationship Management. CRMs are often web-based tools designed to help your team better manage your relationships with your clients including sales funnels and follow-ups. Pell Software builds custom CRM systems for its clients to help them better manage their customer relationships, including customer portals and web-based business management utilities.
CSS	Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are an essential tool in building and maintaining websites and are used to govern the appearance of a given page including fonts, colors, and more.  In technical terms, CSS is a style sheet language that governs the layout and structure of web pages in HTML or XML.
Data Automation	Data Automation is the process of automatically moving, transforming, or otherwise changing data in a specific way to improve a business and its operations.  On a technical level, data automation depends on APIs, automated data syncing, and ETLs.  On a strategic level, it is driven by a philosophy that data has value and that value is enhanced by sharing it throughout the organization in real-time.
DevOps	DevOps is a methodology designed to deliver software applications and services quickly and efficiently with a minimum of friction or disruption. Product evolution and improvement are core virtues of DevOps and it employs a combination of practices, tools, and philosophies to achieve this goal. The name derives from the terms “development” and “operations” and DevOps strives to combine the two disciplines in creating desired outcomes.
eCommerce	eCommerce is the business of selling products or services online via a custom web-based store. Pell Software has over 30 years of experience in the eCommerce industry and has worked with dozens of eCommerce platforms to help their clients customize and implement features and workflows to help their businesses thrive.
Enterprise Management Application	Enterprise Management Applications represent the logical evolution of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software programs that aspire to unify all aspects of an organization into one system, with one data repository. The intent is to create one strategic control center through technology that provides a unified real-time view of all activity in the enterprise, centralizes and automates all processes, and enables analysis and decision-making based upon the most current and comprehensive information possible.
ERP	An acronym for Enterprise Resource Planning, an ERP is a software platform comprised of many modules or applications that are all integrated together to allow businesses to easily manage their day-to-day operations. From accounting to order management, sales management, and reporting utilities, Pell Software has developed, customized, and maintained hundreds of applications in the ERP software space.
ETL	ETL, which stands for extract, transform and load, is a data integration process that combines data from multiple data sources into a single, consistent data store that is loaded into a data warehouse or other target system.
GitHub	GitHub is a popular website and host for git repositories which are used to manage complex software code bases across multiple projects.
Identity	Identity is a pre-packaged framework/code solution that you can enable and configure in your ASP.NET code, built so you can get multiple “out of the box” membership functions like login pages, secure passwords, and 2-factor authentication.
IIS	Internet Information Services (IIS) for Windows Server is a general-purpose webserver that runs on Windows systems.
JavaScript	JavaScript is text-based programming or scripting language used to make web pages interactive. Unlike HTML or CSS which provide structure and style to web pages, JavaScript is used to dynamically create or update content like interactive images, carousels, and forms. In addition, the versatility of JavaScript has resulted in usage far beyond web pages to include client-side and server applications, and desktop applications.
JSON	JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data-interchange format that uses human-readable text to store and transmit data objects. It is easy to read, understand and manipulate in most programming languages.
LAMP	LAMP is the acronym for one of the most popular and widely deployed solution stacks.  It stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Perl/Python
Middleware	Middleware is the common name for software that sits between the operating system and applications and provides services and functions that the OS alone typically does not. Examples of these added functionalities include allowing a web server to return dynamic webpages, or submitting forms to a browser.
MySQL	MySQL is a free and open-source database management system (DBMS) often hosted on Linux servers to provide a secure data storage layer to custom applications.
OAuth	OAuth is an open standard authorization framework that provides applications and users secure access without sharing password data.  Instead of requiring passwords, it utilizes an authorization token.
PHP	PHP is one of the most popular programming languages in the world and is often used by developers like Pell Software to build custom web-based business management systems, custom CRMs, custom web application development—and much more.
Progressive Web Application (PWA)	Progressive Web Applications (PWAs) are an alternative to native or web applications and have been embraced by some prominent application providers including Instagram, Uber, and Google Maps.  They offer a range of advantages including being very lightweight, being easy to load, and running on a wide range of devices and screens.
Quickbooks Web Connector (QBWC)	The Quickbooks Web Connector (QBWC) is an MS-Windows application that enables data exchange between the ubiquitous desktop Quickbooks desktop programs and web applications.
RADD Team	A RADD or Rapid Application and Deployment Team is a software development strategy that provides an alternative to in-house development resources. Outsourced RADD teams can be employed to rapidly complete a project that in-house programmers lack the time for or have the skills to complete.  Typically, a RADD team can be deployed less expensively than in-house developers for a discrete project as they do not contribute to fixed costs or overhead.
REST API	Also known as RESTful API, the REST API is a key building block of web applications and the web itself.  REST stands for Representational State Transfer and is actually not a protocol but rather a set of architectural constraints.  In general, REST is well-suited to mobile application development and is valued for being fast and lightweight while providing positive scalability characteristics.
RSS Feed	An RSS feed is a convenient way to keep up with news and information without the need to browse or search individual websites.  Instead, it is a distribution or “feed” automatically sent to the user.
SaaS (Software as a Service)	Software as a Service (SaaS) is a business model by which companies provide a service via their software package to their clients. The most common implementations of this are web/mobile-based apps that charge their users a subscription. Although sometimes SaaS products can enable businesses to grow rapidly, they can also shackle growth with high licensing fees and provide little opportunity for companies to leave. Pell Software helps their clients customize, extend, and even fully replace their SaaS products with custom software development services to free our clients from high licensing fees and give them total control over the way their software works for their business.
SOAP	SOAP is a messaging protocol that is used to define APIs. It is older than alternatives like REST and because it is more complex, restrictive, and leads to longer page loads, is often not the best fit for some more modern applications.
SQL	Structured Query Language or SQL is the query language preferred by many database management systems for managing data sets. It allows for an intuitive written language by which programmers can query, insert, update and delete data from their databases.
SSH	The SSH protocol, also known as Secure Shell or Secure Socket Shell, provides remote control and modification of servers over the internet.
Webhook	Sometimes confused with APIs, Webhooks are lightweight data-sharing tools that sometimes can be used effectively and more easily than a standard API.  While more limited than APIs in that information exchange is one-way and they cannot manage full CRUD operations, Webhooks can have tangible advantages in particular applications.  Webhooks are less complex than APIs, and much easier to set up and maintain.  For applications such as updating an accounting program when invoices are paid, or handling unsubscribes to a CRM, Webhooks offer all the functionality needed without the overhead.
Workflow Management Application	Workflow Management Software, sometimes referred to as business utility software, workflow software, or operations software is a software application intended to make workflow more efficient and effective by organizing, tracking, and analyzing the tasks and processes that make up a workflow for an individual, team or company.
XML	Extensible Markup Language, XML is the base or foundation for thousands of custom markup languages that are used to represent complex data objects in a flat file or text-based format.