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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."

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

Shallow Copy in JavaScript

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

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Shallow Object in JavaScript

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

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 in JavaScript

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

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Static Class Field in JavaScript

A static class field is a property you can only access and modify directly from the class itself.

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Static Initialization Blocks

Static initialization blocks encase the statements you want JavaScript to evaluate during a class's initialization.

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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 in JavaScript

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

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Strict Mode in JavaScript

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 in JavaScript

string is a quoted series of characters representing textual data.

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String Expression in JavaScript

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

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Stub (TDD)

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 in JavaScript

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 in JavaScript

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

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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