n.md

N

n-based indexing : The option to freely choose the base index of an array. Usually programming languages allowing n-based indexing also allow negative index values and other scalar data types like enumerations, or characters may be used as an array index. †

NACK : A signal sent to reject a previously received message, or to indicate some kind of error (negative acknowledgement). †

NACL : Network → Access Control List

NAK : → NACK

Name binding : → Binding

Name server : A network service for providing responses to queries against a directory service. It translates an often humanly meaningful, text-based identifier to a system-internal, often numeric identification or addressing component. This service is performed by the server in response to a service protocol request. An example of a name server is the server component of the Domain Name System (DNS). †

Namespace : A namespace is a set of symbols that are used to organize objects of various kinds, so that these objects may be referred to by name. A namespace ensures that all the identifiers within it have unique names so that they can be easily identified. Prominent examples include file systems; programming languages that organize their variables and subroutines in namespaces; computer networks and distributed systems that assign names to resources, such as computers, printers, websites, (remote) files, etc.; and operating systems that partition kernel resources (process IDs, users, network sockets) by isolated namespaces to support virtualization containers. †

NaN : → Not a Number

NAT : → Network Address Translation

National Institute of Standards and Technology : A physical sciences laboratory and non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce. Its mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST’s activities are organized into laboratory programs that include nano-scale science and technology, engineering, information technology, neutron research, material measurement, and physical measurement. From 1901 to 1988, the agency was named “National Bureau of Standards.” † ℹ︎ nist.gov

Native : Software or data formats that were designed to run on a particular system. In a more technical sense, native code is code written specifically for a certain processor. The only way to run this code on another processor is to use an emulator, tricking the program into thinking it is using that same processor, which usually comes at the cost of speed. †

NativeScript : A framework to develop mobile apps on the iOS and Android platforms. NativeScript apps are built using JavaScript, or by using any programming language that transpiles to JavaScript, such as TypeScript. NativeScript supports the Angular and Vue.js JavaScript frameworks. It was first released in 2014. † ℹ︎ nativescript.org

Natural interface : → Natural user interface

Natural key : A type of unique key in a database formed of attributes that exist and are used in the external world outside the database (i.e., in the business domain or domain of discourse). In the relational model of data, a natural key is a superkey and is therefore a functional determinant for all attributes in a relation. †

Natural user interface : A user interface that is effectively invisible, and remains invisible as the user learns increasingly complex interactions. The word “natural” is used because most computer interfaces use artificial control devices whose operation has to be learned. Examples include voice assistants, such as Alexa and Siri, touch and multi-touch interactions on today’s mobile phones and tablets, but also touch interfaces invisiblly integrated into the textiles furnitures. †

Navigation : A menu UI element for website navigation. : The process of navigating a network of information resources in the World Wide Web, which is organized as hypertext or hypermedia. The user interface that is used to do so is called a web browser. A central theme in web design is the development of a web navigation interface that maximizes usability. †

Navigator : The guiding and reviewing role in pair programming. : → Netscape Navigator

NDA : → Non-Disclosure Agreement

Negative space : The space around and between the subject(s) of an image or a design. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, and not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape, and when such space is used to artistic effect as the “real” subject of an image. †

Nesting : The organizing of information in layers, or the containing of objects in other objects. Nesting almost always refers to self-similar or recursive structures in some sense. †

Net Promoter Score : A management tool that can be used to gauge the loyalty of a firm’s customer relationships. NPS serves as an alternative to traditional customer satisfaction research and is claimed to be correlated with revenue growth. The Net Promoter Score is calculated based on responses to a single question: “How likely is it that you would recommend our company, product, or service to a friend or colleague?” †

Netscape 4 : → Netscape Communicator

Netscape Communicator : The 4.0–4.8 versions of the Netscape browser memorable for web developers because of their particular support (or lack of support) of web standards.

Netscape Navigator : A proprietary web browser, and the original browser of the Netscape line, from versions 1 to 4.08, and 9.x. It was the flagship product of Netscape and was the dominant web browser in terms of usage share in the 1990s. By 2002, use of Netscape Navigator had almost disappeared. Netscape Navigator was first released in 1994. †

Network : In computing, a digital telecommunications network which allows nodes to share resources. In computer networks, computing devices exchange data with each other using connections (data links) between nodes. These data links are established over cable media such as twisted pair or fiber-optic cables, and wireless media such as Wi-Fi. Network computer devices that originate, route, and terminate the data are called network nodes. Nodes are generally identified by network addresses, and can include hosts such as personal computers, phones, and servers, as well as networking hardware such as routers and switches. Computer networks support an enormous number of applications and services such as access to the World Wide Web, digital video, digital audio, shared use of application and storage servers, printers, and fax machines, and use of email and instant messaging applications as well as many others. †

Network Address Translation : A method of remapping an IP address space into another by modifying network address information in the IP header of packets while they are in transit across a traffic routing device. NAT has become a popular and essential tool in conserving global address space in the face of IPv4 address exhaustion, as one Internet-routable IP address of a NAT gateway can be used for an entire private network. †

Network Information Center : Known as InterNIC from 1993 until 1998, an organization primarily responsible for Domain Name System (DNS) domain name allocations and X.500 directory services. From its inception in 1972 until 1991, it was run by the Stanford Research Institute, now known as SRI International. From 1991 until 1998, it was run by Network Solutions. Thereafter, the responsibility was assumed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). † ℹ︎ internic.net

Network Mapper : A network scanner. Nmap is used to discover hosts and services on a computer network by sending packets and analyzing the responses. It was created by Gordon Lyon (also known by his pseudonym Fyodor Vaskovich), and first released in 1997. † ℹ︎ nmap.org

Network packet : → Packet

Neutral character : A character that has direction indeterminable without context. Examples include paragraph separators, tabs, and most other whitespace characters. Punctuation symbols that are common to many scripts, such as the colon, comma, full stop, and the no-break space also fall within this category. †

Newbie : A slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in a profession or activity. Contemporary use can particularly refer to a beginner or new user of computers, often concerning Internet activity, online gaming, or Linux use. Depending on the context and spelling variant used, the term can have derogatory connotations (and may be used as a term of abuse in Internet-based games), but is also often used for descriptive purposes only, without any value judgment. †

Newline : A control character or sequence of control characters in a character encoding specification (e.g., ASCII or EBCDIC) that is used to signify the end of a line of text and the start of a new one. Some text editors set this special character when pressing the Enter key (↵). †

News aggregator : Client software or a web application which aggregates syndicated web content such as online newspapers, blogs, podcasts, and video blogs (vlogs) in one location for easy viewing. The updates distributed may include journal tables of contents, podcasts, videos, and news items. Aggregation technology helps to consolidate many websites into one page that can show only the new or updated information from many sites. Aggregators reduce the time and effort needed to regularly check websites for updates, creating a unique information space or personal newspaper. †

Next.js : A frontend development web framework that enables functionality such as server-side rendering and generating static websites for React-based web applications. Next.js was released in 2016. † ℹ︎ nextjs.org

Nexus : A framework for scaled product and software development based on Scrum. ℹ︎ scrum.org/resources/nexus-guide : → WorldWideWeb

NGINX : A web server which can also be used as a reverse proxy, load balancer, mail proxy, and HTTP cache. NGINX was first released in 2004 by Igor Sysoev. As of August 2019, Netcraft estimated NGINX to serve 32% of all active websites ranked, ranking it first just above Apache at 29%. † ℹ︎ nginx.com

Night Mode : → Dark Mode

Ninety-Ninety Rule : A humorous aphorism attributed to Tom Cargill that states: “The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90% of the development time. The remaining 10% of the code accounts for the other 90% of the development time.” This adds up to 180%, making an allusion to the notoriety of software development projects significantly over-running their schedules. †

NIST : → National Institute of Standards and Technology

Nmap : → Network Mapper

Node : A basic unit of a data structure, such as a linked list or tree data structure. Nodes contain data and also may link to other nodes. Links between nodes are often implemented by pointers. † : → Node.js

Node Package Manager : → npm

Node.js : A cross-platform JavaScript runtime environment that executes JavaScript code outside of a browser. Node.js lets developers use JavaScript for the creation of command-line tools, or for server-side scripting to produce dynamic web page content before a page is sent to the user’s web browser. Node.js represents a “JavaScript everywhere” paradigm, unifying web application development around a single programming language, rather than different languages for client- and server-side scripts. † ℹ︎ nodejs.org

nofollow : A setting on a hyperlink that directs search engines not to use the link for page ranking calculations. nofollow is a microformat which is specified as a type of link relation, e.g. <a href=https://example.com/ rel=nofollow>Example</a>. Because search engines may use the number of hyperlinks from other sites to calculate a site’s importance, the nofollow setting allows website authors to indicate that the presence of the link is not an endorsement of the target site’s importance. †

Nolan’s Law : → Bushnell’s Law

Non-Disclosure Agreement : A legal contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish to restrict access to. Doctor-patient confidentiality (physician-patient privilege), attorney-client privilege, priest-penitent privilege, bank-client confidentiality, and kickback agreements are examples, often not enshrined in a written contract between the parties. †

Non-relational database : A database that does not use a tabular model like a relational database, and that is instead optimized for the specific data it is storing. Popular types of non-relational databases are key-value stores, column stores, graph stores, and document stores. Examples for non-relational databases, which are also known as NoSQL databases, include Apache Cassandra, MongoDB, and Couchbase.

Nonce : An arbitrary number that can be used just once in a cryptographic communication (“number once,” “number only used once”). It is often a random or pseudo-random number issued in an authentication protocol to ensure that old communications cannot be reused in replay attacks. †

NonVisual Desktop Access : A screen reader for Microsoft Windows. Work on NonVisual Desktop Access was started in 2006 by Michael Curran. † ℹ︎ nvaccess.org

Noob : → Newbie

Normal form : A database normalization step that aims to reduce data redundancies and anomalies.

Normalization : The process of structuring a relational database in accordance with a series of so-called normal forms in order to reduce data redundancy and improve data integrity. Database normalization was first proposed in 1970 by Edgar F. Codd. Normalization entails organizing the columns (attributes) and tables (relations) of a database to ensure that their dependencies are properly enforced by database integrity constraints. It is accomplished by applying some formal rules either by a process of synthesis (creating a new database design) or decomposition (improving a database design). †

Normalize.css : An alternative, less aggressive form of reset style sheet that does not overwrite some user agent style sheet defaults. Normalize.css was first released in 2011 by Nicolas Gallagher. ℹ︎ necolas.github.io/normalize.css

Normative : Relating to an evaluative standard. Normativity is the phenomenon in human societies of designating some actions or outcomes as good or desirable or permissible and others as bad or undesirable or impermissible. A norm in this normative sense means a standard for evaluating or making judgments about behavior or outcomes. †

NoSQL : A database that provides a mechanism for storage and retrieval of data that is modeled in means other than the tabular relations used in relational databases. Such databases have existed since the late 1960s, but the name “NoSQL” was only coined in the early 21st century. NoSQL databases are increasingly used in big data and real-time web applications. NoSQL systems are also sometimes called “Not only SQL” to emphasize that they may support SQL-like query languages, or sit alongside SQL databases in polyglot persistent architectures. Motivations for NoSQL include: simplicity of design, simpler “horizontal” scaling to clusters of machines, finer control over availability, and limiting the object-relational impedance mismatch. The data structures used by NoSQL databases (e.g., key-value, column, graph, or document) are different from those used by default in relational databases, making some operations faster in NoSQL. †

Not a Number : A member of a numeric data type that can be interpreted as a value that is undefined or unrepresentable, especially in floating-point arithmetic. Systematic use of NaNs was introduced by the IEEE 754 floating-point standard in 1985, along with the representation of other non-finite quantities such as infinities. †

npm : A package manager for the JavaScript programming language. npm is the default package manager for the JavaScript runtime environment Node.js. It consists of a command-line client, also called npm, and an online database of public and paid-for private packages, called the npm registry. The registry is accessed via the client, and the available packages can be browsed and searched via the npm website. The package manager and the registry are managed by npm. npm was created in 2010. † ℹ︎ npmjs.com

NPS : → Net Promoter Score

NS : A name server resource record in the Domain Name System (DNS). †

NUI : → Natural user interface

Null : A null value which represents a reference that points, generally intentionally, to a non-existent or invalid object or address. The meaning of a null reference varies among language implementations. In JavaScript, null is one of the primitive values. ‡

Null device : A device file that discards all data written to it but reports that the write operation succeeded. This device is called /dev/null on Unix and Unix-like systems, NUL: or NUL on DOS and CP/M, nul on newer Windows systems (internally \Device\Null on Windows NT), NIL: on Amiga operating systems, and NL: on OpenVMS. In Windows Powershell, the equivalent is $null. The null device provides no data to any process that reads from it, yielding EOF immediately. In IBM DOS/360, OS/360 (MFT, MVT), OS/390, and z/OS operating systems, such files would be assigned in JCL to DD DUMMY. In programmer jargon, the null device may also be called the “bit bucket” or “black hole.” †

Null pointer : A value saved for indicating that the pointer or reference does not refer to a valid object. Programs routinely use null pointers to represent conditions such as the end of a list of unknown length or the failure to perform some action; this use of null pointers can be compared to nullable types and to the Nothing value in an option type. A null pointer should not be confused with an uninitialized pointer. †

Number : In JavaScript, a numeric data type in the double-precision 64-bit floating-point format (IEEE 754). In other programming languages different numeric types exist, like Integers, Floats, Doubles, or Bignums. ‡

Number sign : The symbol “#”, also known as hash, octothorpe, or (in North American usage) pound sign. The symbol has historically been used for a wide range of purposes, including the designation of an ordinal number and as a ligatured abbreviation for “pounds avoirdupois,” having been derived from the now rare “℔”. Since 2007, widespread usage of the symbol to introduce metadata tags on social media platforms has led to such tags being known as hashtags, and from that, the symbol itself is sometimes called a hashtag. †

Numeral : → Numerical digit

Numeric character reference : A character reference that refers to a character by its Universal Character Set or Unicode code point using the format &#nnnn; or &#xhhhh;. †

Numeric up/down : → Spinner

Numerical digit : A single symbol (such as “2” or “5”) used alone, or in combinations (such as “25”), to represent numbers (such as the number 25) according to some positional numeral systems. The single digits (as one-digit numerals) and their combinations (such as “25”) are the numerals of the numeral system they belong to. The name “digit” comes from the fact that the ten digits (Latin digiti, meaning fingers) of the hands correspond to the ten symbols of the common base 10 numeral system, i.e., the decimal (ancient Latin adjective decem, meaning ten) digits. †

Nuxt.js : A web application framework based on Vue.js, Node.js, webpack, and Babel. The framework is advertised as a “meta-framework for universal applications.” The term “universal” refers to the goal of the framework to enable users to create web views in JavaScript via the familiar Vue.js single file component system. These views function both as in-browser single page application (SPA) views as well as server-rendered web views which are then (after server rendering) “rehydrated” to full SPA functionality. Additionally, Nuxt.js enables users to have the content, or parts of it, fully pre-rendered on the server and served in the manner of static site generators. † ℹ︎ nuxtjs.org

NVDA : → NonVisual Desktop Access

Q> Is something important missing, or did you find a mistake? Please share your feedback!