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Web-Related Terms Beginning with S

Scheme (URL)​

A scheme indicates the protocol (set of rules) browsers must use to access a website's resources. Some popular schemes are HTTP, HTTPS, Mailto, and FTP.

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Scope​

Scope refers to the area where an item (such as a function or variable) is visible and accessible to other code.

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Scope Chain​

A scope chain refers to the unique spaces that exist from the scope where a variable got called to the global scope.

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Scrolling Element​

A scrolling element is an element with a non-visible overflow value. In other words, an element has a scrolling mechanism if its overflow property is auto, hidden, overlay, or scroll.

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search() in JavaScript​

search() searches its calling string for the first occurrence of the method's regular expression argument.

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Search Engine​

A search engine is a software program you can use to search for resources on the internet.

In other words, a search engine is like a marketplace where you search for products.

Illustration of a search engine

A woman searches for vegetables at a marketplace – Image by Milada Vigerova

Popular search engines are Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, CC Search, and DuckDuckGo.

Self-Executing Anonymous Function Expression​

An self-executing anonymous function expression is a function expression that invokes itself automatically.

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Self-Invoking Function Expression​

An self-invoking function expression is a function expression that invokes itself automatically.

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Serialization​

Serialization converts a native object to a format that clients and servers can interchange.

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Server (Computing)​

A server is a computer where documents are stored until other computers request them over the internet (or local network).

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setState() in React​

setState() is the method used to update a class component's state.

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SHA-1 Checksum (Git)​

A SHA-1 checksum is a long string that follows the word "commit" in a git log command's output.

In other words, whenever you run the git log command, you will get an output like so:

>_ Terminal
commit z8d2f115010634ea4ae0a2670p7aec61b394c306
Author: Oluwatobi Sofela <contact@codesweetly.com>
Date: Tue Dec 21 12:51:07 2023 +0100

Initialize project

The long string that follows the word "commit" in the snippet above is the SHA-1 checksum.

The SHA-1 checksum is a 40-character string which we sometimes call "commit hash" or "Git commit reference."

CodeSweetly TIP

Add an --abbrev-commit flag to the git log command to display an abbreviated version of the SHA-1 checksum.

Here's an example:

>_ Terminal
$ git log --abbrev-commit
commit z8d2f11
Author: Oluwatobi Sofela <contact@codesweetly.com>
Date: Tue Dec 21 12:51:07 2023 +0100

Initialize project
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Shallow Copy (JS)​

You do shallow copy when you create references while cloning one object into another.

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Shallow Object (JS)​

A shallow object is one that contains only primitive items.

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shift() in JavaScript​

shift() removes its calling array's first item.

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Side Effect​

Side effect occurs in a program whenever you use an external code in your function—which, as a result, impacts the function's ability to perform its task.

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Single-Page Application​

A single-page application (SPA) is a web app in which each of its unique URL file paths refers to a single HTML page that gets loaded only once from the server.

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slice() JavaScript Array Method​

slice() extracts a specified part of its calling array into a new array—without altering the original array.

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slice() JavaScript String Method​

slice() extracts a specified part of its calling string into a new string—without altering the original string.

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Software​

Software is a collection of programs used to instruct the computer on what to do.

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Source Code​

A source code is your original file containing the code you wrote and edited. It is the source code that bundlers compile into a distribution code.

splice() in JavaScript​

splice() alters its calling array by adding or removing a specific number of items to/from it.

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split() in JavaScript​

split() returns an array containing the result of splitting a string into substrings.

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Spread Operator​

A spread operator (...) expands iterables into individual elements.

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Staging Area (Git)​

The staging area is a file Git uses to store details about files it is about to commit into the .git directory.

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Start Of (RegExp)​

Regular expression's start of operator (^) asserts that you wish to find the RegExp pattern at the start of a string.

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State​

State is the data a stateful program is managing.

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State Hook (ReactJS)​

The state hook (useState) allows a function component hook into React's state object.

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Stateful Program​

A stateful program is a program whose output depends on external states (events).

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Stateless Program​

A stateless program is one whose output does not depend on any external event.

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Statement (JS)​

A JavaScript statement is a piece of code used to instruct the computer on an action to execute.

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Sticky (RegExp)​

Regular expression's sticky flag (y) tells the computer to find a RegExp pattern at exactly the lastIndex position—not starting from the lastIndex position.

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Strict Equality Operator (JS)​

The strict equality operator (===) checks if its two operands are strictly of equal type and value.

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Strict Mode (JS)​

JavaScript's strict mode is a way of ensuring the code in a script (or function) are strictly JavaScript code—not generic code nor mistyped JavaScript code.

You can invoke the strict mode by including the literal string "use strict"; as the first statement of your script file (or function statement).

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String (JS)​

A string is a quoted series of characters representing textual data.

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String Expression (JS)​

A string expression is a piece of code that expresses a string value.

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Stub (TDD)​

A stub is a test double used to mimic an external dependency while also returning hand-coded values that you can use to assess your program's behavior with various test case responses from the dependency.

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Styling Language​

A stylist helps to apply styles to an annotated document. So, for instance, CSS helps add artistic touches to the elements of an HTML document.

Subdomain​

A subdomain (third-level domain) is a subset of a specific website. It allows you to categorize your website into one or more sections.

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Submodule (JavaScript)​

A submodule is a script used inside another module.

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Substitutions (Webpack)​

Substitutions—in webpack—refers to the use of bracketed strings to create templates for filenames.

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Substring​

Substring means part of a string. For instance, "Cat" is a substring of "Caterpillar" because "Cat" is part of the "Caterpillar" string.

switch Conditional Statement (JS)​

The switch conditional statement instructs the computer to execute a code block if the block's case value matches the given expression.

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Symbol (JS)​

Symbol is a unique, anonymous value that you can create by invoking the Symbol() function in a JavaScript runtime environment.

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Synchronous Callback​

A synchronous callback is a callback whose execution happens immediately.

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Synchronous Event​

A synchronous event is an activity that must occur at a specific point in time.

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System Software​

System software is the computer programs computers use to accomplish specific tasks.

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