linux

Advanced 💻 Tech / IT

Definition

An open-source Unix-like operating system that runs everything from your server to your IoT toaster; beloved by developers because it's free and hated by everyone else because the documentation assumes you already know Linux.

Example Usage

Our entire infrastructure runs on Linux servers with custom distributions.

Source: Software and operating systems terminology

Related Terms

Intermediate

Dogfooding

Using your own product internally before inflicting it on customers, based on the phrase "eating your own dog food." If the developers won't use their own software, that tells you everything you need to know about the software.

💻 Tech / IT
Beginner

Bandwidth (Tech)

The amount of data that can travel through a connection, and the reason your video call freezes every time your roommate starts streaming. In the tech world, insufficient bandwidth is blamed for everything from slow websites to existential dread.

💻 Tech / IT
Beginner

centerline

An imaginary line running down the middle of something that divides it into theoretically equal halves, used in everything from engineering drawings to airport runways. It's the line you're supposed to stay on but never quite do. In aviation, it's the stripe pilots aim for when landing, and in manufacturing, it's the reference point for all your measurements.

💻 Tech / IT
Beginner

administrator

The person with elevated privileges and system access who can fix things when they break and break things when they're fixing them. In IT, administrators are responsible for keeping networks, servers, and databases running, which means they're perpetually blamed when anything goes wrong. They possess the sacred power to reset your password and the burden of being everyone's first call during outages.

💻 Tech / IT
Intermediate

canary deployment

A release strategy where you deploy new code to a small subset of users first, watching for problems before unleashing it on everyone. Named after coal miners' canaries—if your users start falling over, you know not to proceed.

💻 Tech / IT
Intermediate

implementation

The actual act of building or putting something into action, as opposed to just talking about it in endless meetings. It's where rubber meets road, theory becomes reality, and developers discover that the "simple" feature actually requires rewriting half the codebase. Also a corporate buzzword for "we finally did the thing we said we'd do six months ago."

💻 Tech / IT

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