Technology

SaaS (Software as a Service) is software you rent by subscription and use in a browser or an app, with nothing to install. The vendor hosts and updates it.

Front-end is the part of a website or app that users see and use, such as text, buttons, forms and images, built with HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Back-end is the part of a website or app that users never see: it saves orders, checks stock, charges cards and keeps accounts, running on a server.

Full-stack describes a developer, or a team, who builds both what users see (the front-end) and the server and database behind it (the back-end).

A client, in computing, is the program, such as a browser or an app, that sends a request to a server and shows you the answer. It is not your paying customer.

A server is a computer, or a program on one, that receives requests from other programs, such as a visitor's browser, processes them and sends back an answer.

A database is an organised collection of information, usually tables of rows and columns, that software can search, update and link, like customers to orders.

An API (application programming interface) is the agreed way one program asks another for data or an action and gets an answer, so your tools can work together.

A webhook is an automatic message one system sends to an address you gave it the moment something happens, like a payment. You stop asking, it tells you.

The cloud, or cloud computing, is renting a provider's servers, storage and software over the internet instead of running your own, paid monthly or by use.

Hosting is a service that rents you space on a server connected to the internet all the time, so your website is available to every visitor.

A domain is your unique name on the internet, like example.co.il, rented for a set period through a registrar. Through DNS it points to your site and email.

DNS (Domain Name System) is the internet's phonebook: it turns a name like example.co.il into an IP address, and its records set where your site and email go.

Git is free version control software: it saves a version of the code each time a developer commits, so you see who changed what and can go back.

Deployment, or a deploy, is the step where a new version of a site or app goes live: the code is built, tested and moved to a server, with a quick way back.

Staging is a private copy of a website or app, kept as close to the live one as possible, where a change is checked before it reaches customers.

Production is the live version of your website or app, the one real customers use with real data. Any fault there costs sales, so it changes only after testing.

Authentication is the check that a user is who they claim to be, using something they know, something they have or something they are.

Technical debt is the future work created by choosing a quick code solution today over the right one. Unpaid, the interest builds and development slows.

Vibe coding is building software by telling an AI what you want, running what it writes and never reading the code. Great for a prototype, risky with customers.