Hey folks! 👋 If you started coding in the last few years, you might’ve felt like devs invented a secret language. Meetings were full of words like “Agile,” “API,” “Tech Debt,” “Edge-Native AI,” “Vibe Coding”… and you just nodded like 😃 “Totally get it!”
So here’s your updated cheat sheet — straight definitions that actually make sense.
🤹 “We Work in Agile”
(Translation: “We’re organized-ish.”)
- Agile = Flexible project management with short work cycles (called sprints). You deliver bits fast and adapt as you go.
- Sprint = A 1–4 week chunk of work that you plan, do, and review.
- Quantum Backlog = A futuristic AI-driven task list that reprioritizes itself based on data and team capacity. (DEV Community)
- EcoScrum = Agile with sustainability in mind — like making your code and process greener. (DEV Community)
🤖 “Let’s Talk AI Stuff”
(Translation: “The world keeps changing.”)
- Vibe Coding = Building software by describing what you want in plain language and letting AI generate most of the code. (Wikipedia)
- Synthetic Workforce = Teams made up of human + AI agents, working together. (Medium)
- Edge-Native AI = Running AI close to users (on devices) instead of in a far-away cloud datacenter. (Medium)
- Post-LLM Architecture = Using lots of smaller AI models working together instead of one big LLM. (Medium)
- RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) = Give an AI a real library of facts to improve its answers. (Multiplexx Technologies)
🔍 “SEO Needs Work”
(Translation: “Google & AI judges aren’t impressed.”)
- SEO = Techniques to make your site show up in search engines — title tags, keywords, backlinks.
- Semantic HTML = Using real HTML elements so browsers and search engines understand your content.
💸 “Let’s Avoid Tech Debt”
(Translation: “Past us made choices future us hates.”)
- Tech Debt = Shortcuts you take today that bite you later in bugs and rework.
- Refactoring = Cleaning up code without changing what it does.
- Legacy Code = Old code that still works, but nobody dares touch it.
🛠️ “The Design System is Broken”
(Translation: “CSS chaos.”)
- Design System = Reusable UI pieces (buttons, cards, colors) that keep your app consistent.
- BEM = A CSS naming method that keeps class names predictable.
❤️ “We Use Open Source”
(Translation: “We didn’t build this, but thanks, strangers on GitHub!”)
- Open Source = Code that’s free to use/modify. Like React, VS Code, or that random npm package you definitely checked for malware.
- npm/yarn = Tool to install JavaScript packages. Also where
node_modulesgoes to eat your hard drive. - MIT License = “Do whatever, just don’t sue us.”
🔌 “APIs Are Weird”
(Translation: “App text-messaging is down.”)
- API = How apps talk to each other (like frontend ↔ backend).
- REST = Classic API style: simple URLs, JSON.
- GraphQL = Query only the data you need.
- Rate Limiting = APIs telling you to chill if you hit them too fast.
🚀 “Containers & Cloud Stuff”
(Translation: “Servers are still a thing.”)
- Docker = Wrap your app + everything it needs so it runs anywhere.
- Kubernetes = Tool to manage lots of those Docker containers.
- Serverless = Still servers, but handled for you (think AWS Lambda).
- IaC (Infrastructure as Code) = Cloud setup scripted like code.
📊 “Testing & Performance”
(Translation: “We want fewer crashes.”)
- A/B Testing = Try version A vs B to see what performs better.
- Bounce Rate = People leaving your site quickly (not a good sign).
- Big O Notation = How slow (or fast) your algorithm scales.
- Optimization = Making your code faster or cheaper.
🧠 “AI & Data Terms That Actually Matter”
(Translation: “Understanding the brain of AI.”)
- Embedding = Turning words/data into numbers AI can understand. (Medium)
- Vector Database = Stores those embeddings for fast searching. (Medium)
- Model Versioning = Like Git for your AI models. (Medium)
- Zero-Shot Learning = When AI does a task it wasn’t specifically trained for. (Multiplexx Technologies)
🐢 “Our CDN Is Slow”
(Translation: “The internet is buffering like it’s 2005.”)
- CDN (Content Delivery Network) = Servers around the world that cache your site’s files so Australians don’t wait 10 seconds for your CSS.
- Cache = Temporary storage (like your browser remembering a site so it loads faster next time).
- Cache Invalidation = The art of clearing cached stuff when it’s outdated. (Often done by smashing keyboards.)
🚀 “We’re Going Headless”
(Translation: “We’re fancy now.”)
- Headless CMS = A backend for content (like blog posts) that doesn’t care how the frontend looks. Popular ones: Sanity, Contentful.
- Headless Browser = A browser without a UI (used for testing/scraping). Puppeteer is the celeb here.
- JAMstack = Building sites with JavaScript, APIs, and Markup. (Basically, “let’s make static sites dynamic.”)
🍝 “It’s Just Spaghetti Code”
(Translation: “The previous dev was a chaos gremlin.”)
- Spaghetti Code = A tangled mess where changing one line breaks 12 unrelated things.
- Lasagna Code = Over-engineered layers of abstraction (the opposite problem).
- Rubber Duck Debugging = Explaining your code to a rubber duck (or a patient coworker) to find the bug yourself. (Works scarily well.)
- DRY = (Don’t Repeat Yourself) A coding mantra to avoid writing the same thing twice.
- Tree-Shaking = The build process shakes out unused code.
☁️ “The Cloud Isn’t Magic” (DevOps & Infrastructure)”
(Translation: “It’s just someone else’s computer.”)
- AWS/GCP/Azure = Cloud providers that rent you servers (and charge you $5,000 if you forget to turn them off).
- Serverless = A lie—there are still servers, but you don’t manage them. Like AWS Lambda (“run code without crying over Linux updates”).
- Load Balancer = Traffic cop for your servers, so one doesn’t get crushed while others nap.
🎨 “Other Fun Terms You’ll Hear”
- CRUD = Basic operations: Create, Read, Update, Delete.
- SSR / CSR = Where your HTML is rendered (server or client).
- Tech Stack = The lineup of tools you use to build an app.
- DevSecOps = DevOps + baked-in security.
- CI/CD = Automated building + deployment pipelines.