BackgroundIndex
Background articles define the general computing concepts the rest of this knowledge base takes for granted. None of them describes anything PointSav built — they are the field's own vocabulary, written up from first principles so a reader can arrive at an architecture or services article already holding the terms it uses. Read them in any order, or read none of them: every platform article stands on its own.
These are meant to be browsed, not consulted. A reader who wants one platform term defined precisely should go to the glossary instead.
Start here: Computer appliance — the hardware-and-software-as-one-sealed-unit pattern that the platform's own appliance images, minimal operating systems, and single-function deployment shapes all descend from.
Appliances and minimal systems
Purpose-built computing units and the stripped-down operating systems they run on.
- Computer appliance — Computing device pairing hardware and software engineered for one well-defined function, deployed as a sealed unit that cannot be repurposed for general computing.
- Virtual appliance — Pre-configured virtual machine image combining a minimal operating system with a specific application, distributed as a self-contained unit for compatible hypervisors.
- Just enough operating system — Operating system philosophy that reduces the OS to the minimum components a specific application needs, shrinking attack surface, memory footprint, and maintenance.
- Lightweight linux distribution — Linux distribution engineered to use far less RAM and processor capacity than full-featured distributions, suited to constrained, embedded, and legacy hardware.
Where computation happens
The distributed-topology terms for moving processing away from a central data centre.
- Edge computing — Distributed computing paradigm that places computation and storage near data sources, cutting latency and bandwidth versus centralized cloud data centers.
- Fog computing — Distributed architecture placing compute, storage, and network services between edge devices and the cloud, defined by Cisco in 2012 and standardized as IEEE 1934-2018.
Interfaces and design practice
How software is addressed by other software, and how it is designed for the person using it.
- Application programming interface — Defined interface that lets software systems communicate by specifying the available calls, how to make them, and the data formats exchanged.
- User interface design — Discipline of designing human-machine interfaces to maximize usability and user experience, governed by the dialogue principles of the ISO 9241 standard.
- User experience design — Multidisciplinary design practice covering every aspect of a user's interaction with a company and its products, coined by Donald Norman at Apple in the early 1990s.
Security practice
- Security through obscurity — Reliance on secrecy of design or implementation as a primary security mechanism, rejected in professional practice since Kerckhoffs' principle of 1883.
See also
- Glossary and Reference — the platform's own lexicon, plus the standards this wiki is written to
- Core Concepts — the reusable mechanisms PointSav built, as distinct from the field concepts defined here
- Security and Trust — what the platform does instead of relying on secrecy