MSDN Documentation Glossary

A class that cannot be instantiated directly. It is designed to be inherited by other classes and may contain abstract methods that must be implemented by derived classes.

A set of definitions, protocols, and tools for building software and applications. It specifies how software components should interact.

In .NET, a collection of types and resources that are built and versioned as a single unit. It is the fundamental unit of deployment, versioning, and security.

A tree data structure in which each node has at most two children, referred to as the left child and the right child.

A data type that has only two possible values: true or false. Often used for logical operations and conditional statements.

A hardware or software component that stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster.

A function passed into another function as an argument, which is then invoked inside the outer function to complete some kind of routine or action.

A program that translates source code written in a high-level programming language into a lower-level language, typically machine code or an intermediate language.

An organized collection of structured information, or data, typically stored electronically in a computer system.

A particular way of organizing and storing data in a computer so that it can be accessed and modified efficiently.

The process of finding and resolving defects or problems within a computer program that prevent correct operation.