Engineering & AI glossary
Understand the metrics, models, and methods behind modern engineering. Clear definitions, practical examples, and a closer look at what the numbers actually mean.
All terms
2,008 termsTechnical debt remediation
Work that reduces the cost, risk, or constraint created by a previous technical tradeoff.
Code quality and technical debtTelemetry
Telemetry collects and transmits observations about systems and workflows.
Engineering analyticsTelemetry cost
Telemetry cost is the compute, network, storage, query, and operational expense of observability data.
Reliability and observabilityTelemetry pipeline
Telemetry pipeline moves observations through collection, processing, storage, and presentation.
Engineering analyticsTelemetry signal
Telemetry signal is a distinct form of machine-generated evidence such as a metric, log, trace, or profile.
Reliability and observabilityTell-don’t-ask
A design guideline that favors asking an object to perform behavior instead of extracting its state to decide elsewhere.
Code quality and technical debtTemperature
Temperature is a generation parameter that changes how a language model samples from the probability distribution of possible next tokens. Higher values generally allow more variation, while lower values generally favor higher-probability choices.
LLM fundamentalsTemperature scaling
Temperature scaling is a language-model concept about instruction design and control. It names a mechanism, representation, prompting pattern, decoding control, or context behavior that can change how an AI system processes input and produces output.
LLM fundamentalsTemporary fix
Temporary fix is a software maintenance concern describing a condition that can make future changes, verification, operation, or ownership harder. Its practical importance depends on supported behavior, rate of change, and the consequences of delay.
Code quality and technical debtTenant isolation
Tenant isolation is a model-routing or gateway concept used to manage policy enforcement for AI requests. It describes a distinct decision, control, interface, or observation point between an application and one or more model providers.
Model routing and gatewaysTenant routing
Tenant routing is a model-routing or gateway concept used to manage policy enforcement for AI requests. It describes a distinct decision, control, interface, or observation point between an application and one or more model providers.
Model routing and gatewaysTensor fusion
Tensor fusion is the serving concept concerned with tensor fusion during AI inference.
Inference performanceTensor parallelism
Tensor parallelism is the serving concept concerned with tensor parallelism during AI inference.
Inference performanceTermination drain
Termination drain is a reliability concept used to describe a specific condition, control, or decision in the operation of software services.
Reliability and observabilityTest automation
Test automation is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest automation framework
Test automation framework is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest case
Test case is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest charter
Test charter is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest coverage
Test coverage measures which parts of a program or its behavior are exercised by a set of tests. Code coverage commonly reports executed lines, statements, branches, or functions, while other coverage measures track requirements or scenarios.
Code quality and technical debtTest data
Test data is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest data management
Test data management is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest debt
Test debt is a software maintenance concern describing a condition that can make future changes, verification, operation, or ownership harder. Its practical importance depends on supported behavior, rate of change, and the consequences of delay.
Code quality and technical debtTest determinism
Test determinism is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest duration
Test duration is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest environment
Test environment is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest execution
Test execution is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest execution time
Test execution time is a software delivery concept used to describe a specific event, interval, control, or operating condition in the path from source change to production behavior. A useful definition names the boundary, unit, and decision the measure supports.
DORA and DevOpsTest failure rate
Test failure rate is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest failure triage
Test failure triage is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest fixture
Test fixture is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest impact analysis
Test impact analysis is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest isolation
Test isolation is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest maintenance
Test maintenance is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest observability
Test observability is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest oracle
Test oracle is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest parallelization
Test parallelization is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest pass rate
Test pass rate is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest plan
Test plan is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest quarantine
Test quarantine is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest refactoring
Test refactoring is a software maintenance concern describing a condition that can make future changes, verification, operation, or ownership harder. Its practical importance depends on supported behavior, rate of change, and the consequences of delay.
Code quality and technical debtTest repeatability
Test repeatability is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest reporting
Test reporting is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest reproducibility
Test reproducibility is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest rerun
Test rerun is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest result
Test result is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest review
Test review is a practical concept in a pull-request workflow that shapes how people examine, discuss, own, or integrate a proposed change.
Code reviewTest risk
Test risk is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest run failure rate
Test run failure rate is a software delivery concept used to describe a specific event, interval, control, or operating condition in the path from source change to production behavior. A useful definition names the boundary, unit, and decision the measure supports.
DORA and DevOpsTest scenario
Test scenario is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debtTest selection
Test selection is a software testing or test-design practice used to gather evidence about a defined risk, behavior, boundary, or operating condition. It makes the question under test explicit, identifies the inputs and observations that matter, and gives a team a repeatable basis for deciding whether the result is acceptable.
Code quality and technical debt