Glossary of Terms

Term	Definition
adapter	a physical device that bridges communication between a computer and smart home devices
adapter addon	the software that enables an adapter to communicate with the Mozilla Gateway software
add-on	software that adds capabilities or features to the Gateway (like adapter addons)
Aeotec Z-Stick	Brand and product name for a USB adapter that implements the Z-Wave protocol
AMQP	Advanced Message Queuing Protocol - a data communications protocol that allows time ordered date exchange between computers.
Android	An operating system made by Google for cell phones and tablets
Android Things	An operating system made by Google for IoT applications
API	Application Programmer Interface - an agreed data communication standard to allow programmers to leverage each other's software
ARTIK	Samsung's IoT software framework and hardware platforms
authorization	a method of ensuring that only a specific person has access to some computer or resource on a computer
AWS	Amazon Web Services - a cloud service that allows many companies to use computers hosted by Amazon for various Internet centered activities
BLE	Bluetooth low energy
cloud	computers and software usually run by corporations connected to the Internet that allows the creation of data services such as: data storage, computing power, or Web sites
device	a physical thing in the real world that is controlled or sensed
DNS	Domain Name System - an Internet standard that associates domains (like google.com) with IP addresses to make it simple to find Web sites and other resources.
domain	a name (like google.com) used on the Web to find the services offered by someone.
experiment	a feature that we're testing and isn't an official part of the Gateway yet
flash	The act of copying data and programs onto an SD card (or other solid state storage media). In this context, it also makes the SD card bootable.
floorplan	a map of a building onto which icons are placed to signify the locations of devices.
Gateway	The Mozilla software that orchestrates the interactions of users with adapters and things.
gateway.local	a domain that tells a Web browser where to find the Mozilla Gateway on the local network
github	a place where programmers store, develop and share programs, fragments of programs, and other data
GPIO	General Purpose Input/Output - physical electrical signal points on a circuit board that can be used to send and receive signals
HomeKit	the Apple Corporation's implementation of Smart Home
HTTP	A data communication protocol employed by the Web
HUE	Philip's Smart Bulb brand, and a descriptive term regarding of color
IETF	the Internet Engineering Task Force
Internet of Things	IoT - an all encompassing term to describe devices (not necessarily computers) that communicate over the Internet
iOS	The Apple Corporation's operating system for phones and tablets.
IoT	Internet of Things - an all encompassing term to describe devices (not necessarily computers) that communicate over the Internet
IP address	Internet Protocol address. IPv4 is of the form x.x.x.x, IPv6 is a much longer unique string. Each TCP/IP device needs an IP address to communicate with other devices on the network
json	javascript object notation - a hierarchical structured text data format
linux	very popular open source operating system - in this context, the operating system used on the Raspberry Pi
MQTT	Message Queuing Telemetry Transport - a standardized protocol for sending messages between devices over a network
OCF	Open Connectivity Foundation
on/off switch	a simple switch with two states: "on" or "off"
OpenZWave	An open source project that reverse engineered the Z-Wave protocol. It enables software to communicate with Z-Wave compliant devices without licensing expenses.
plugin	a technical implementation detail about how adapter add-ons are implemented (it's a piece of software which runs in its own process and talks to the gateway over IPC).
Project Things	Mozilla's IoT effort in the Emerging Technologies group
Rasperry Pi	A family of inexpensive minimalist computers in the form of a single circuit board used by experimenters
REST	REpresentational State Transfer - a protocol employing HTTP to create data centric (rather than user centric) Web services
rule	a condition and an action to take when that condition is met
smart home	a home populated with devices that can communicate with each other for the purpose of automation
smart plug	a device plugged into an electrical outlet that offers its own outlet that can be on/off controlled by a computer.
speech command	a spoken command delivered to the Gateway by clicking the microphone button
subdomain	a domain that has a prefix and a dot: subdomain.domain.com
thing	a device that controls or senses in the real world, but is controlled or read through a data communication protcol
things cloud	many things communicating using a data communication protocol via an Internet data service outside the local network
things framework	A collection of re-useable software components for building Web Things
things gateway	the name of the Mozilla software that orchestrates the interactions of users with adapters and things.
Thread	a networking protocol for the Internet of Things sponsored by Google/Nest Labs and others.
TLS	Transport Layer Security - cryptographic methods for privacy and security on networks - formerly SSL
update
USB Adapter	a device that plugs into a USB port offering something other than just storage space
USB Dongles	another word for USB Adapter
user	you
W3C	World Wide Web Consortium - a community of organizations that work together to develop technical specifications and standards for the Web
Web of Things	Another term for Internet of Things with a bias toward using Web communication standards for control
Web Thing	A device that is connected to the internet and can communicate via HTTP
Web Thing API	a proposal by Mozilla to the W3C for a common data model and API for the Web of Things
WebSockets	a method that the Gateway uses to talk to your browser continuously, allowing updates without refreshing the page
WiFi	wireless internet that is usually provided by a router
Windows IoT	Microsoft's operating system for building IoT devices
ZB mesh	the manner in which ZigBee devices communicate in a web rather than in a sequential line
Zigbee	an open specification for a wireless communications protocol that allows compliant smart home devices to communicate with each other
Z-Wave	a proprietary wireless communications protocol that allows compliant smart home devices to communicate