A reference from Weave

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 terms

  • Change approval time

    Change approval 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 DevOps

  • Change author

    Change author is a practical concept in a pull-request workflow that shapes how people examine, discuss, own, or integrate a proposed change.

    Code review

  • Change failure

    A change failure is a production change that causes an incident, service degradation, rollback, hotfix, or another defined operational problem. The organization must define which outcomes count before calculating a rate.

    DORA and DevOps

  • Change failure analysis

    Change failure analysis is the structured examination of a software change that caused a production failure or required immediate intervention. It connects the change, failure mode, user impact, detection, response, and prevention work so the delivery system can learn.

    DORA and DevOps

  • Change failure definition

    Change failure definition is a release engineering and DevOps concept for controlling how software changes are prepared, introduced, or understood.

    DORA and DevOps

  • Change failure queue

    A change failure queue is the set of failed or suspect changes that still require operational follow-up. It describes unfinished recovery work, not merely the count of failed deployments.

    Flow and capacity planning

  • Change failure rate

    Change failure rate is the proportion of production deployments that require immediate corrective intervention, such as a rollback or urgent fix. It relates failures to deployed changes instead of counting every incident affecting a service.

    DORA and DevOps

  • Change failure rate definition

    Change failure rate definition is a release engineering and DevOps concept for controlling how software changes are prepared, introduced, or understood.

    DORA and DevOps

  • Change lead time

    Change lead time is the elapsed time between a code change being committed to version control and that change being deployed in production. It describes a specific portion of software delivery, rather than the full time from an idea to a customer outcome.

    DORA and DevOps

  • Change lead time definition

    Change lead time definition is a release engineering and DevOps concept for controlling how software changes are prepared, introduced, or understood.

    DORA and DevOps

  • Change management

    Change management is a way to organize, support, or evaluate software work so that teams can make useful progress with less avoidable friction. It is most valuable when connected to a concrete outcome and the local conditions of the team using it.

    Developer productivity

  • Change point

    Change point is a statistical or measurement concept used to describe, compare, or interpret engineering data. Its meaning depends on the unit of analysis, data-generating process, and question being asked.

    Measurement and experimentation

  • Change request

    A change request is reviewer feedback that asks the author to modify a proposed change before it can be accepted.

    Code review

  • Change retry rate

    Change retry 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 DevOps

  • Change scope

    Change scope is a developer productivity concept that helps teams understand change scope in the context of software delivery.

    Developer productivity

  • Change size

    Change size 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 DevOps

  • Change suggestion

    Change suggestion is a practical concept in a pull-request workflow that shapes how people examine, discuss, own, or integrate a proposed change.

    Code review

  • Change traceability

    Change traceability 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 DevOps

  • Change validation time

    Change validation 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 DevOps

  • Change-proneness

    The tendency of a component to be modified repeatedly within a defined period.

    Code quality and technical debt

  • Change-ready queue

    A change-ready queue contains items that are sufficiently clarified, prioritized, and prepared to begin the next delivery step. It is distinct from a broad idea backlog and from active work in progress.

    Flow and capacity planning

  • Characterization test

    Characterization test 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 debt

  • Checklist-based testing

    Checklist-based testing 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

  • Checkpoint

    Checkpoint is a language-model concept about mechanism and information flow. It names a mechanism, representation, training practice, or operational behavior that can change how an AI system processes input and produces output.

    LLM fundamentals

  • Cherry-picking

    Cherry-picking is an analytical risk or quality concern that can make an engineering analysis appear more certain, comparable, or causal than it is.

    Engineering analytics

  • Chi-square test

    Chi-square test is a statistical or measurement concept used to describe, compare, or interpret engineering data. Its meaning depends on the unit of analysis, data-generating process, and question being asked.

    Measurement and experimentation

  • CI feedback time

    CI feedback 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 DevOps

  • Circuit

    Circuit is a language-model concept about serving behavior and operational tradeoffs. It names a mechanism, representation, training practice, or operational behavior that can change how an AI system processes input and produces output.

    LLM fundamentals

  • Circuit breaker state

    Circuit breaker state is a reliability concept used to describe a specific condition, control, or decision in the operation of software services.

    Reliability and observability

  • Citation evaluation

    Citation evaluation is a defined lens for examining AI system behavior with a stated task, evidence, and interpretation rule.

    Evaluations and benchmarks

  • Classifier-based routing

    Classifier-based routing is a model-routing or gateway concept used to manage traffic selection 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 gateways

  • Coaching

    Coaching is a way to organize, support, or evaluate software work so that teams can make useful progress with less avoidable friction. It is most valuable when connected to a concrete outcome and the local conditions of the team using it.

    Developer productivity

  • Code age

    The elapsed time since a selected code element was last modified or introduced.

    Code quality and technical debt

  • Code archaeology

    Code archaeology 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 debt

  • Code Completion

    Code Completion is a software-engineering concept describing how an AI coding system, its tools, or human collaborators handle a defined task.

    AI coding and agents

  • Code coverage

    Code coverage 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

  • Code Generation

    Code Generation is a software-engineering concept describing how an AI coding system, its tools, or human collaborators handle a defined task.

    AI coding and agents

  • Code Generation Acceptance

    Code Generation Acceptance is a software-engineering concept describing how an AI coding system, its tools, or human collaborators handle a defined task.

    AI coding and agents

  • Code Generation API Client

    Code Generation API Client is a software-engineering concept describing how an AI coding system, its tools, or human collaborators handle a defined task.

    AI coding and agents

  • Code Generation Attribution

    Code Generation Attribution is a software-engineering concept describing how an AI coding system, its tools, or human collaborators handle a defined task.

    AI coding and agents

  • Code Generation Authorship

    Code Generation Authorship is a software-engineering concept describing how an AI coding system, its tools, or human collaborators handle a defined task.

    AI coding and agents

  • Code Generation Comment

    Code Generation Comment is a software-engineering concept describing how an AI coding system, its tools, or human collaborators handle a defined task.

    AI coding and agents

  • Code Generation Commit Message

    Code Generation Commit Message is a software-engineering concept describing how an AI coding system, its tools, or human collaborators handle a defined task.

    AI coding and agents

  • Code Generation Completion

    Code Generation Completion is a software-engineering concept describing how an AI coding system, its tools, or human collaborators handle a defined task.

    AI coding and agents

  • Code Generation Configuration

    Code Generation Configuration is a software-engineering concept describing how an AI coding system, its tools, or human collaborators handle a defined task.

    AI coding and agents

  • Code Generation Constraint

    Code Generation Constraint is a software-engineering concept describing how an AI coding system, its tools, or human collaborators handle a defined task.

    AI coding and agents

  • Code Generation Context

    Code Generation Context is a software-engineering concept describing how an AI coding system, its tools, or human collaborators handle a defined task.

    AI coding and agents

  • Code Generation Coverage

    Code Generation Coverage is a software-engineering concept describing how an AI coding system, its tools, or human collaborators handle a defined task.

    AI coding and agents

  • Code Generation Diff

    Code Generation Diff is a software-engineering concept describing how an AI coding system, its tools, or human collaborators handle a defined task.

    AI coding and agents

  • Code Generation Documentation

    Code Generation Documentation is a software-engineering concept describing how an AI coding system, its tools, or human collaborators handle a defined task.

    AI coding and agents