Editorial policy
How this dictionary is made
Every page goes through the same four steps, and none of them is skipped. This is the road a term takes from its first source to the page you read.Last updated
From source to page
01
Research
Each term starts from its primary sources: the standard or RFC that defines it, its official documentation, or the paper that introduced it.
02
Draft
The page is written to one fixed shape: a one-sentence answer, a plain explanation, key points, a short example and the questions readers ask.
03
Human review
A person reads the whole page, checks it against the sources, edits it and approves it. Without that approval, nothing is published.
04
Upkeep
Pages are revisited when the technology moves on or a reader reports a mistake. The date under each title shows the last update.
How we use AI
We use AI tools for research, drafting and checking. They never publish anything: every page is read, edited and approved by a person before it goes live, and that person answers for what it says.
What AI tools help with
- Gathering what the sources say about a term
- A first draft in the page's fixed shape
- Spotting mistakes, gaps and uneven wording
- A first draft of the other language's edition
A person's approval
Nothing goes live without it.
What a person always does
- Reads and edits every page in full
- Checks the facts against the sources
- Approves each page before it's published
- Handles every correction readers send
What you can count on
Sources
Where a term has a document that defines it, the page lists it under Sources, with its own title. We prefer standards bodies such as the IETF, WHATWG, W3C, Ecma and NIST, the official documentation of a tool, and the paper that introduced an idea.
Every link is opened and checked when it's added. General ideas such as a variable or a loop have no single defining document, so their pages have no Sources list.
Two languages, one dictionary
The English and Turkish editions say the same thing, with the same structure, examples and figures, and go through the same review.
Turkish pages use the words Turkish developers actually say, and keep the English term where that is the one people use.
Corrections
If you spot a mistake, use “Suggest an edit” at the end of the page, or the contact page. Factual errors are fixed as soon as we can.
When a change alters what a page says, it is listed under Page history at the end of that page, with its date. Typo fixes and small rewordings are not listed.
Independence
Software Dictionary is an independent project. Definitions describe concepts, not products, and no company pays to be mentioned or to shape what a page says.
Sponsored ads, when they appear, are labelled as such and kept apart from the text.
Found something to fix?
A wrong detail, a missing term or a sentence that could be clearer: every message is read, and every fix goes through the same review.