IT Glossary
Key Terms To Know In The IT Industry

Mainboard

Also known as a motherboard, it's the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expandable systems which holds many of the crucial electronic components.

You will find this term commonly used in Hardware

Mainframe

A powerful computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications, such as processing transactions and managing databases.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT

Mainframe Virtualization

The process of dividing a mainframe's resources into multiple virtual machines, allowing for the efficient utilization and management of these powerful systems.

You will find this term commonly used in Virtualization

Maintenance Programming

The modification of a software product after delivery to correct faults, to improve performance or other attributes, or to adapt the product to a changed environment.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development

Maintenance Release

A software update released to fix bugs, vulnerabilities, and minor performance issues without adding new features to the system.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development, Maintenance

Makefile

A file containing a set of directives used by a make build automation tool to generate a target/goal.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development, Automation

Malicious Software

Software that is intentionally designed to cause damage to a computer, server, client, or computer network.

You will find this term commonly used in Cybersecurity

Malicious Software (Malware)

Any software intentionally designed to cause damage to a computer, server, client, or computer network.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

Malware

Malicious software designed to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorized access to a computer system.

You will find this term commonly used in Cybersecurity

Malware Analysis

The process of examining malware samples to understand their behavior, purpose, and potential impact.

You will find this term commonly used in Cybersecurity

Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attack

A cyber attack where a malicious actor intercepts and possibly alters communication between two parties without their knowledge.

You will find this term commonly used in Cybersecurity

Managed Code

Code that is executed by a virtual machine instead of directly by the CPU, providing features like garbage collection and type safety.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development

Managed Hosting

A service model in which a hosting provider leases dedicated servers and associated hardware to a single client, with the provider managing those systems on the client's behalf.

You will find this term commonly used in Web Hosting, Cloud Computing

Managed Object

In network management, a physical or virtual component of the network that can be managed or monitored.

You will find this term commonly used in Networking, Network Management

Managed Print Services (MPS)

A service offered by external providers to optimize or manage a company’s document output to certain objectives.

You will find this term commonly used in IT Management

Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP)

An IT service provider that specializes in providing security services such as cyber security monitoring and management.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

Managed Services

Managed services refer to the practice of outsourcing the responsibility for maintaining and managing certain IT functions and systems to a third-party service provider.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Outsourcing

Management Console

A graphical user interface or command-line tool that provides administrators and users with the ability to manage and monitor applications, services, or infrastructure.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Networking

Management Information System (MIS)

An organized collection of hardware, software, infrastructure, data, and policies designed to generate and disseminate useful information to managers and other personnel in an organization.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Data Management

Manifest File

A file in software development that contains metadata for a group of accompanying files that are part of a set or project.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development

Manual Penetration Testing

A method of evaluating the security of a computer system or network by simulating an attack from a malicious source, conducted manually by security experts.

You will find this term commonly used in Cybersecurity

Manual Testing

The process of manually testing software for defects by a tester who plays the role of an end user to ensure that all the features of an application are working correctly.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development, Testing

Manufacturing Execution System (MES)

A control system for managing and monitoring work-in-process on a factory floor to ensure the effective execution of manufacturing operations.

You will find this term commonly used in Industrial IT, Manufacturing

MapKit

A programming interface provided by Apple that allows developers to integrate mapping data and services into their applications.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development, Mobile Apps

Mapping

Relates to various computing disciplines including data structures, data storage and retrieval, computer graphics, and networking, referring to the process of linking two or more disparate elements or datasets.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Data Management

MapReduce

A programming model and an associated implementation for processing and generating big data sets with a parallel, distributed algorithm on a cluster.

You will find this term commonly used in Big Data, Cloud Computing

Markdown

A lightweight markup language with plain-text-formatting syntax, designed so that it can be converted to HTML and many other formats.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development, Documentation

Markdown Processing

The process of converting Markdown text (a lightweight markup language) into HTML or other formats, used to create formatted text using a plain-text editor.

You will find this term commonly used in Web Development, Documentation

Market Basket Analysis

A modelling technique based upon the theory that if you buy a certain group of items, you are more (or less) likely to buy another group of items.

You will find this term commonly used in Data Analysis, Marketing

Markup Language

A system for annotating a document in a way that is syntactically distinguishable from the text.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT

Markup Schema

A structured data vocabulary that helps search engines understand the information on web pages and provide richer search results.

You will find this term commonly used in Web Development, SEO

Markup Validation Service

A tool that checks the validity of Web documents written in languages like HTML and XHTML to ensure they comply with standards.

You will find this term commonly used in Web Development

Mashup

A web page or application created by combining data or functionality from different sources to create new services.

You will find this term commonly used in Web Development

Mashup Editor

A tool that allows users to create web pages or applications by combining content, presentation or functionality from different sources.

You will find this term commonly used in Web Development

Mashup Wireframe

A preliminary visual guide or blueprint for a website or application that combines content or functionality from multiple sources to create a new service.

You will find this term commonly used in Web Development, Design

Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMO)

A type of video game that is capable of supporting large numbers of players simultaneously, typically all playing in a vast virtual world.

You will find this term commonly used in Gaming, Online Communities

Master Data

The consistent and uniform set of identifiers and extended attributes that describe the core entities of the enterprise and are used across multiple business processes.

You will find this term commonly used in Data Management

Master Data Management

A process that ensures consistency and accuracy of an organization's core data, such as customer or product information, across multiple systems.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT

Master Page

A template page used in web frameworks (like ASP.NET) that defines common structure and interface elements for the website or web application.

You will find this term commonly used in Web Development

Master-Slave Architecture

A model of communication where one device or process (master) controls one or more other devices or processes (slaves).

You will find this term commonly used in Networking, Software Development

Material Design

A design language developed by Google, expanding on the "cards" that debuted in Google Now, for use in interface design for Android devices.

You will find this term commonly used in UI/UX Design, Web Development

Materialized View

A database object that contains the results of a query which can be updated from the original database periodically and behaves like a table.

You will find this term commonly used in Databases, Data Warehousing

Matrix Management

An organizational structure in which some individuals report to more than one supervisor or leader, relationships described as solid line or dotted line reporting.

You will find this term commonly used in Business Management, IT Management

Maven

A build automation tool used primarily for Java projects, which provides a comprehensive model for projects' build, documentation, and reporting.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development

Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU)

The largest size of a data packet that can be sent over a network. MTU size is an important factor in the performance of network connections.

You will find this term commonly used in Networking

MD5 (Message-Digest Algorithm 5)

A widely used cryptographic hash function that produces a 128-bit (16-byte) hash value, typically rendered as a 32 character hexadecimal number, used for data integrity.

You will find this term commonly used in Cybersecurity, Data Integrity

MDM (Master Data Management)

A method of managing the organization's critical data. It involves the processes, governance, policies, standards, and tools that consistently define and manage the critical data of an organization to provide a single point of reference.