Web Dev Terminology

Question 1

Compiling

Answer 1

The process of translating developer code into another language or a different version of the same language that can be understood by the browser.

Question 2

Minifying

Answer 2

The process of removing unnecessary code formatting and comments without changing the code’s functionality to improve the application’s performance by decreasing file sizes.

Question 3

Bundling

Answer 3

The process of resolving file dependencies and merging or ‘packaging’ the files or modules into optimized bundles for the browser to reduce the number of requests for files when a user visits a web page.

Question 4

Code splitting

Answer 4

The process of splitting the application’s bundle into smaller chunks required for each entry point/URL to improve the application’s initial load time by only loading the code required to run the page.

Question 5

Build time

Answer 5

The process of preparing application code for production

Question 6

Runtime

Answer 6

The period of time when your application runs in response to a user’s request (after the application has been built and deployed).

Question 7

Client

Answer 7

The browser on the user’s device that …

• sends a request to a server for your application code
• turns the response received from the server into a UI the user can interact with

Question 8

Server

Answer 8

A computer that …

• stores application code,
• receives requests from the client,
• sends back an appropriate response to the client

Question 9

Rendering

Answer 9

The process of converting React code into the HTML representation of your UI.

** REVIEW THIS ANSWER

Question 10

Pre-rendering

Answer 10

The external data is fetched and React components are turned into HTML before the result is sent to the client.

Question 11

Client-side rendering

Answer 11

An empty HTML page is sent to the client along with instructions on how to construct the UI, which happens on the user’s device.

Question 12

Server-side rendering

Answer 12

The HTML of the page is generated on the server for each request.

The generated HTML, JSON data and JS instructions to make the page interactive are then sent to the client.

The user sees a non-interactive version of the page first while React uses the data and instructions to make the page interactive.

Question 13

Hydration

Answer 13

The process of using JSON data and JavaScript instructions to make initially non-interactive pages into interactive components.

Question 14

Static Site Generation

Answer 14

The HTML is generated on the server, but content is only created once, at build time when the application is deployed and the HTML is stored in a CDN and re-used for each request.

Question 15

Origin Servers

Answer 15

The main computer that stored and runs the original version of your application (as opposed to DCN servers and Edge servers)

Question 16

CDN Servers

Answer 16

Content Delivery Network servers that store static content (such as HTML and image files) in multiple locations around the world, placed between the client and origin server.

The CDN server closes to a request can respond with the cached result of your application to reduce the load on the origin and make it faster for the user.

Question 17

Edge servers

Answer 17

Servers at the edge of the network, closest to the user, distributed to multiple location around the world - similar to CDNs.

Unlike CDNs, some Edge servers can run code, not just store static content, so caching and code execution can be done at the Edge closer to the user.