Common acronyms
From MoodleDocs
An alphabetical list of common acronyms that you may encounter when reading about or discussing Moodle, with links to more information where appropriate. Some of these are purely technical, with software development, open source origins; some are creations of the e-learning community, and others are part of online culture.
A to E
- AMPP - Apache, MySQL, PHP and Perl
- CMS - Course Management System (or more generally "Content Management System"), is the term for the category of software that Moodle belongs to. Some people prefer the terms Learning Management System or Community Management Systems to shift the focus from things to people, their interactions and aims.
- API- Application Program Interface
- CSS - Cascading Style Sheets, used to control the way web pages look.
- CSV - Comma Separated Values, a simple text format for tabular data. Can be created and edited with MS Excel or, if done with care, any text editor.
- CVS - Concurrent Versioning System, a software tool that allows many people to collaborate on and access program code over the internet.
F to H
- FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions, a document containing the answers to commonly asked questions. A good place to start when looking for info and a way to reduce the need to repeatedly answer the same questions.
- FE - Further Education in the UK is post-16 non-compulsory education where institutions offer anything from low level basic training through to foundation degrees
- FLOSS - Free, Libre and Open Source Software, an inclusive term that encompasses both Free Software and Open Source Software while emphasising that Free is intended to represent Freedom (Libre in Spanish) and not without cost (Gratis in Spanish).
- GNU - Gnu's Not Unix - a unix-like operating system. Most "Linux" distributions are actually GNU/Linux. Moodle's "GPL" licence (see below) is based on the GNU GPL licence.
- GPL - General Public Licence, the software licence under which Moodle is made available. Its intention is to ensure that people who sell or distribute Moodle (or other GPL software) share any modifications.
- HE - Higher Education in the UK is post 18 non-compulsory education where students tend to study academic degrees at universities although other options are available
- HTH - Hope that helps. Usually appears at the end of a post offering advice
- HTML - HyperText Markup Language, which is used to write web pages or with the HTML editor
I to M
- IE - Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser
- IMHO - In My Humble Opinion. A polite yet brief way to indicate in text communication that the preceding or following statement is not a statement of fact but merely expressing an opinion.
- JSR - Java Service Request, a standard such as JSR 170.
- K-12 - Kindergarten through 12th grade, a North American term inclusive of both primary and secondary education, roughly encompassing students from age 4 to 18.
- LDAP - Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. It provides an efficient way of storing information about people, groups, relationships, applications, computing resources, rules, and more.
- LAMP - Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP. This is a very common set up for Moodle and indeed most webservers
- Localhost - a website that is installed and only available on that computer
- MOODLE - Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment, though over time it has become common to treat Moodle as a simple name and verb e.g. "let's Moodle" or "I've been Moodling" or "He's a Moodler". In fact in big dictionaries you can find it as a word meaning roughly a cross between musing and doodling.
N to Z
- PHP - PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, a programming language used extensively in the creation of Moodle. That the P in PHP also stands for PHP is an obscure programmer in-joke.
- RSS - Really Simple Syndication is a family of XML web feeds and can be used to receive forum posts and podcasts
- SCORM - Sharable Content Object Reference Model. A collection of standards and specifications for web-based e-learning which can be package in a zip file.
- SSO - Single Sign On. Where a user signs on to one application and this authenticates them automatically in another application (Moodle).
- SQL - Structured Query Language, used to describe the information you wish to retrieve from a database.
- TCO - Total Cost of Ownership is a managerial accounting measure of the costs of a service or asset over its entire life. This includes a cost period from purchase and acquisition to its disposal or retirement. TCO uses many assumptions, projections and estimates that may vary with each organization or context.
- TLA - Three Lettered Acronym. A term sometimes used to mock a tendency to boil down a thing to 3 letters.
- UI - User Interface is what the someone sees in an application like Moodle
- VLE - Virtual Learning Environment, a term popular in the UK which is roughly interchangeable with Course Management System, Learning Management System, Learning Platform or Online Learning Environment.
- XML - Extensible Markup Language
- XAMP or XAMPP or XAMPPlite - Apache, MySQL and PHP automatic installer, part of the Moodle complete package download.
- WYSIWYG- "What You See Is What You Get" Sounds like Whiz e wig. The graphic result of creating a page in text mode.