Terms starting with "S"
Server-Side Includes (SSI) Injection
Attacker-controlled SSI directives (`<!--#exec ... -->`) injected into pages parsed by Apache or another SSI-enabled server, achieving file disclosure or remote command execution.
CWE-97 OWASP A3:2021
1w ago
security intermediate
9.8
Shadow DOM
A browser feature that attaches a scoped, encapsulated DOM subtree to an element — styles and IDs inside the shadow tree do not leak in or out, enabling true component isolation on the web.
3w ago
frontend intermediate
Software Composition Analysis (SCA)
The practice and tooling for identifying all open-source and third-party components in a codebase, detecting known vulnerabilities (CVEs) in them, and flagging licence risks — distinct from static analysis of your own code.
3w ago
security intermediate
Script Loading (defer, async, type=module)
How and when browser downloads and executes JavaScript — defer, async, and type=module control whether scripts block HTML parsing and in what order they run.
1mo ago
frontend intermediate
Structured Data — JSON-LD
Machine-readable schema markup embedded in a <script type='application/ld+json'> block, enabling Google rich results — star ratings, FAQs, breadcrumbs, events, and recipes in search.
1mo ago
frontend intermediate
SELECT FOR UPDATE
A locking read that acquires exclusive row locks — preventing other transactions from modifying selected rows until commit.
1mo ago
database advanced
Soft Delete Pattern
Marking records as deleted with a deleted_at timestamp instead of physically removing them — preserving data for auditing and recovery.
1mo ago
database intermediate
SQL Window Functions
Window functions (ROW_NUMBER, RANK, LAG, LEAD, SUM OVER) perform calculations across a set of rows related to the current row without collapsing them into a single aggregate — enabling rankings, running totals, and comparisons within result sets.
1mo ago
database intermediate
Structured Logging PHP 8.0+
Emitting log entries as machine-parseable key-value pairs (JSON) rather than free-form strings — enabling filtering, aggregation, and alerting.
1mo ago
observability intermediate
Safe Mode — What It Was & Why It Failed PHP 3.0+
PHP's safe_mode (PHP 3–5.3) attempted to restrict multi-user PHP hosting at the language level — it was removed in PHP 5.4 after being proven ineffective and breaking legitimate code.
2mo ago
php intermediate
Saga Pattern
The Saga pattern manages distributed transactions across services using a sequence of local transactions — each step publishes an event, and compensating transactions undo completed steps on failure.
2mo ago
messaging advanced
Scalar Type Declarations (PHP 7.0) PHP 7.0+
PHP 7.0 added int, float, string, bool type declarations for function parameters — the biggest type safety leap in PHP history, enabling static analysis.
2mo ago
php beginner
Scheduler API (scheduler.postTask) ES2021
The Scheduler API (scheduler.postTask) lets you prioritise async tasks — user-blocking, user-visible, or background — giving the browser hints to schedule work optimally.
2mo ago
javascript advanced
Semantic Search
Search that matches by meaning and intent rather than exact keywords — a query for 'how to prevent database attacks' finds SQL injection documentation even if those exact words never appear.
2mo ago
ai_ml intermediate
Semaphore
A semaphore is a generalised mutex that allows N concurrent accesses — a counting semaphore with value N lets N threads proceed, blocking the (N+1)th.
2mo ago
concurrency intermediate
Service Discovery Patterns
The mechanism by which services in a distributed system locate each other's network addresses — eliminating hardcoded IPs by maintaining a registry that services register with and query at runtime.
2mo ago
architecture intermediate
Service Worker
A JavaScript file that runs in the background separate from the web page, intercepting network requests to enable offline support, background sync, and push notification delivery.
2mo ago
mobile intermediate
Short Open Tags History & Why to Avoid PHP 3.0+
PHP's short tags (<? ?> and <?= ?>) have been problematic since PHP 3 — disabled by many hosting providers, conflicting with XML, and inconsistent across environments.
2mo ago
php beginner
SimpleXML — Parsing XML in PHP PHP 5.0+
SimpleXML provides the fastest way to read well-formed XML in PHP — simplexml_load_string() or simplexml_load_file() returns an object where elements are properties and attributes are array-accessed, requiring no tree traversal.
2mo ago
php beginner
Simplifying Complex Conditional Logic
Complex conditionals can be simplified with De Morgan's laws, guard clauses, decomposing into named predicates, and consolidating duplicate conditions.
2mo ago
style intermediate