Abstractions Glossary

Browse 7 abstractions terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

7 Abstractions Terms

Architecture Astronaut Slang
A slang variant of architecture astronaut, referring to someone who spends more energy on abstract system design ideas than on solving concrete delivery...
Code Astronaut
A developer who drifts toward impressive abstraction and theoretical system design instead of grounded delivery. In engineering slang, code astronaut is a...
Code Tower
A tall layered stack of abstractions or services built upward over time. In engineering slang, code tower can be impressive when stable and worrying when the...
Construct
A programming element or conceptual building block such as a loop, class, closure, pattern, or language feature. The term is intentionally broad and usually...
Magic
Behavior in a tool or codebase that works without obvious explanation, often because an abstraction is hiding important mechanics. The word can be admiring...
Pizza as a Service Model
A humorous explanatory model that compares layers of service responsibility to pizza-making, often used to explain SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS tradeoffs.
Under the Hood
Referring to the internal mechanisms of a system rather than its visible interface or marketing description. Engineers use it when digging into what is...

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