API Acronyms and Abbreviations

Acronym Expanded Description
API Application Programming Interface A well-defined programmatic interface to a software component. The programmatic interface to the Torrent Server database and software functionality is through the API described in this document.
AJAX Asynchronous JavaScript and XML JavaScript examples in this documentation use AJAX to make requests to the server using the REST API. (wikipedia AJAX)
CRUD Create, Read, Update. Delete This common acronym lists the REST API methods. (wikipedia CRUD)
CSS Cascading Style Sheets Style sheets are used in some examples in this documentation. (http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS)
HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol A request-response communication model for client-server computing architectures, commonly known as the underlying communication mechanism of the Web. The protocol defines message for create, read, update and delete (CRUD), among others, used by the REST communication model. ( http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2616 )
JSON   JSON is a language-independent data interchange format using JavaScript conventions. JSON is currently the only data transport format supported by the Torrent Suite™ Software API. See XML. ( http://www.json.org/)
JSONP JSON with Padding JSONP is an extension of the JSON data format to support cross-domain data transfer. JavaScript restricts such cross-domain operations using simple JSON, for security reasons. Implementing applications using the REST API with JavaScript necessitates using JSONP.
MVC Model View Controller MVC describes a common architectural pattern used to implement web-based application servers, where core functionality is decomposed into three components: model, view, and controller. The model part is the back-end database component, the view part is the UI or presentation component, and the controller part implements the application logic. While Django may not strictly implemented the MVC pattern, it is conceptually similar enough to discuss the Torrent Suite architectural framework in MVC terms. ( wikipedia)
REST Representation State Transfer A client-server communication model for transferring representations of resources, which can be database or functional components. REST uses HTTP as the communication mechanism without assuming that resource state is maintained between request messages. The Torrent Suite™ Software API uses REST as the underlying communication model between client application programs and server resources. Using a noun-verb abstraction, the REST methods are the verbs that operate on resources as nouns. Resources are addressable by their URI. ( wikipedia REST)
RPC Remote Procedure Call A Remote Procedure Call is similar to a programming language subroutine call, except that the “call” is to a remote system and the parameters and data associated with the call are contained in a message. A synchronous RPC is also like a subroutine call in that the calling function pends on the response, or completion. REST is a form of RPC.
SGE Sun Grid Engine An opensource distributed computing solution from Sun Microsystems that enables multiple computers or servers to be linked. The SGE provides a mechanism for creating and managing a job queue to distribute computing tasks over a cluster of machines, reducing CPU utilization on any single machine. The SGE is used to schedule plugins among compute resources, including running in parallel on a single server as resources permit.
SQL Structured Query Language Torrent Server uses a PostgreSQL database for persistent backend data storage. PostgreSQL supports access to the data using standardized SQL. Django integrates PostgreSQL as the model of an MVC framework and exports an SQL-like interface, using Tastypie, through the REST API.
URI Uniform Resource Identifier REST resources are addressable by their HTTP URI global identifier. (http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986)
XML Extensible Markup Language A set of rules for encoding documents. XML is one the REST API data transfer formats but is not currently supported by the Torrent Suite™ Software API. (http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS, http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml)

Previous topic

Torrent Suite™ Software API FAQ

Next topic

About These Documents

This Page