Tech & AI, Explained

just-the-lingo

6 min read

Reading path: I want to learn just the lingo

Status: 🟩 COMPLETE Last updated: 2026-06-19 Plain-English tagline: A speed-run through the glossary. Don’t read deep entries — read short definitions for the ~50 terms that come up most. After this, you can FOLLOW any conversation about modern webapps + AI without being lost in vocabulary.

What this is

The fastest path to conversational fluency. Instead of reading entire textbook chapters, you read one paragraph each for the most important terms. This is “build the vocabulary first; deepen later.”

This works because most “I don’t understand” moments aren’t conceptual gaps — they’re vocabulary gaps. Once you know what “JWT” or “RLS” or “CDN” or “MCP” means in one sentence, the surrounding conversation makes sense.

50 terms across 8 categories. Allow ~15-30 minutes to skim, ~1-2 hours to do thoroughly. By the end, you’ll know roughly what each term means and have a glossary link for any time you want to go deeper.

How to use this path

Don’t read the full glossary entries for each term — read just the first 1-3 sentences of each. That’s enough for vocabulary fluency.

Each category below lists terms with their glossary link. The glossary entries are organized A-Z; this path groups by topic for faster mental indexing.

For terms you want to go DEEPER on, follow the glossary’s “See also” link to the textbook entry.

Category 1: The web at the protocol layer (8 terms)

The bedrock of how the web works. Most modern conversations assume you know these.

  1. HTTP — the protocol browsers + servers use to talk
  2. HTTPS — HTTP wrapped in encryption
  3. URL — the address of a web resource
  4. IP address — the numeric address of a computer on the internet
  5. DNS — turns names like “google.com” into IP addresses
  6. CDN — global caches that serve content fast worldwide
  7. Port — like an apartment number on an IP address; what :3000 means
  8. Cookie — small piece of data the browser stores per site

After reading these, you can follow conversations about networking + hosting.

Category 2: Frontend — what runs in the browser (8 terms)

What makes web pages display and behave the way they do.

  1. HTML — the structure of a webpage
  2. CSS — the styling of a webpage
  3. JS — the programming language of the web
  4. TS — JavaScript with type checking
  5. DOM — the live, in-memory representation of a webpage
  6. React — the dominant UI library
  7. Component — a reusable piece of UI in React
  8. JSX — HTML-flavored syntax inside JavaScript

After reading these, you can read React/Next.js conversations.

Category 3: Backend — what runs on the server (8 terms)

Where data lives, where business logic runs.

  1. API — a way for two programs to talk
  2. REST — the most common API style
  3. Node.js — JavaScript running outside the browser
  4. npm — the JavaScript package manager
  5. Serverless — code that runs on demand without managing servers
  6. Edge — small computers close to users globally
  7. Webhook — a service POSTs to your URL when something happens
  8. GraphQL — an alternative API style; clients describe what they want

After reading these, you can read backend conversations.

Category 4: Databases (6 terms)

Where data is stored, retrieved, secured.

  1. Database — a program that organizes and serves data
  2. SQL — the language for talking to relational databases
  3. Postgres — the dominant modern relational database
  4. Supabase — Postgres + auth + storage + APIs, hosted
  5. Schema — the shape (tables + columns + types) of a database
  6. RLS — Row-Level Security — database-enforced “user only sees their own data”

After reading these, you can read database conversations.

Category 5: Tools + workflow (8 terms)

The day-to-day environment around code.

  1. VS Code — the dominant editor
  2. Git — version control system
  3. GitHub — Git hosting + collaboration
  4. Commit — a saved snapshot of code in Git
  5. PR — proposing a change for review before merging
  6. CD — continuous integration / deployment — automated pipelines
  7. Vercel — the dominant Next.js hosting platform
  8. Next.js — the dominant React framework

After reading these, you can read deployment + tooling conversations.

Category 6: Security + auth (6 terms)

The defense layer.

  1. Authentication — proving who you are
  2. Authorization — what you’re allowed to do
  3. JWT — a self-contained signed auth token
  4. OAuth — “sign in with Google/GitHub/etc.” standard
  5. TLS — the encryption layer underneath HTTPS
  6. XSS — a common web attack to know by name

After reading these, you can read security conversations.

Category 7: AI + LLMs (6 terms)

The fastest-changing vocabulary. Knowing these is essential in 2026.

  1. LLM — Large Language Model — the AI behind Claude, ChatGPT, etc.
  2. Token — the unit LLMs work in (roughly a word-piece)
  3. Context window — how much text an LLM can “see” at once
  4. Prompt — what you send to an LLM
  5. Agent — an LLM that can also DO things (run tools)
  6. MCP — Model Context Protocol — Anthropic’s standard for connecting AIs to tools

After reading these, you can follow modern AI conversations.

Category 8: Bonus terms worth knowing (8 terms)

Not strictly essential, but they come up enough to warrant a quick definition.

  • CORS — browser rule about cross-site requests
  • Cache — temporary storage to avoid recomputing
  • Endpoint — a specific URL on an API
  • Hash — one-way fingerprint of data
  • HMAC — signed hash, proves authenticity
  • Idempotent — doing it twice = doing it once
  • Mobile-first — design for phone first, then scale up
  • a11y — accessibility (the 11 letters between “a” and “y”)

When you finish this path

You’ll be able to:

  • âś… Read tech articles and follow them
  • âś… Watch conference talks without constantly googling words
  • âś… Have meaningful conversations with developers without feeling lost
  • âś… Read AI-generated code’s explanations and verify them
  • âś… Know which deeper entry to read when you want to go beyond the definition

You won’t be able to BUILD anything — that requires the deeper paths. But “I can talk fluently about these concepts” is a real and useful skill on its own.

How to deepen, when ready

For any term whose 1-sentence definition isn’t enough:

  1. Open the glossary entry
  2. Read the FULL definition (still short — a paragraph or two)
  3. Click the “See also” → primary textbook entry for the full treatment
  4. Or follow one of the deeper reading paths:

Use this as a reference

This path doubles as an ONGOING reference. When you hit a term you don’t know, search the encyclopedia’s glossary by first letter. The full alphabet is at README.md.

For Bible Quest-scale conversations, the 50 terms above cover well over 95% of vocabulary you’ll encounter day to day.

See also

  • Glossary index — full A-Z listing
  • Absolute beginner đźź© — broader landscape path
  • Section indexes — when you want depth by topic
  • All other reading paths — when you want depth in a specific direction

Sources

  • Each glossary entry linked above (each has its own Sources section)
  • Encyclopedia conventions — how glossary entries are structured

Graph View

Backlinks