Front End Vocabulary Flashcards
What is git?
Git is a hugely popular version control system. We used the git CLI (command line interface), which means we accesses git from our terminals.
What is GitHub?
GitHub is an online hosting platform for git repositories. GitHub is often used for open-source development.
What’s the difference between HTML classes and id’s?
Classes and id’s are both attributes used to identify HTML elements. Classes are designed to be used more than once. Ids are designed to be unique.
What is the box model in HTML and CSS?
The box model is used to lay out a web page. A “box” consists of a content block’s height, width, border, padding, and margin.
What are some data types that you used in JavaScript?
We primarily used strings, booleans, and integers. We also frequently used composite data types like objects and arrays
What is a Single Page Application (and why is it more efficient)?
A single page application (SPA) is an app that uses JavaScript to change out content on the web page. In a SPA, there is only one HTML file. You’ve been building SPAs this whole time without knowing it!
What’s the difference between =, == and === in JS?
A single equals sign is for assignments. A double equal signs compares two values but doesn’t care if they’re different data types. A triple equal sign will compare two values but DOES care if they’re different data types.
What is state in the context of web applications?
State is a way of tracking what’s currently happening on your web page. For example, if a user changes the value of an input on the page, that change should be reflected in the application’s state. In React, we change state using the useState() hook, which automatically changes what the user sees on the page.
What are props in React?
Props is a fancy word for state that’s being passed around between components. If we’re talking about state in the component where it’s defined, we can just call it state. If we need to use it in a child component, we say that we “pass it down as props”.
What is version control?
Version control is a system to track changes in your code (also called “versions” of your code). Git is by far the most common version control system and it’s the one we used.
What is an ERD? Why are they used?
ERD stands for Entity Relationship Diagram. An ERD is used to map out relationships between tables in your database (one to many, many to many, etc). ERDs are used to get everybody on the same page about an application’s data structure.
What is DRY code?
DRY code stands for “Do Not Repeat Yourself”. It’s generally considered best practice because repetitive code is harder to read and harder to work with as your app gets bigger and more complex over time. DRYing up your code usually means splitting it into smaller, reusable functions (instead of writing big functions that do one specific thing and can only be used one time).
What are functional components in React?
Functional components in React are the only kind we used! The other kind of components are class-based components, which are a little more old school but still used in the industry. You can Google “class based components React” to get a visual on the syntax, but don’t worry about understanding the underlying similarities and differences unless you REALLY want to. A passing familiarity with both should be fine. (We just want you to know that class-based components exist in case someone asks what kind you used.)
What is JSON?
JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation. JSON data is laid out like a stringified JavaScript object and is used to communicate between different programming languages.
When a browser and a server exchange data, the data can only be sent as text. Sometimes the server sends back HTML (in the case of our MVC web apps). Sometimes the server sends back JSON (in the case of our API’s).
We used JSON to send and receive data from APIs. We also used JSON-Server, which is a mock RESTful API (but a separate tool, and not to be confused with regular old JSON).
What is json-server?
JSON-Server is a fake API that’s mostly used for prototyping. For example, if you’re a front end developer and need to build a client-side application, and the server side developer are still working on the real API. You need a way to load data into the app before the real API is up and running. JSON-server lets you build a fake API quickly so that you can work with dummy data. We used it as a learning tool, but that’s generally what it’s used for in the real world.
