148 termsEN · 繁中

Glossary 詞彙表

Learn the English term as the operational one: every datasheet, every menu and every conversation on an international crew is in English. The Chinese is there to build the concept, not to replace it.

Learn the English term as the operational one. Every language reference, every error message, every menu and every conversation on an international crew is in English. The Chinese is here to build the concept, not to replace it.

Where a term also appears in showstack, the open index of live entertainment technology, this glossary follows showstack's wording, because that entry carries a source and this one does not. Where it overlaps the glossaries of the other courses I teach, the definitions agree deliberately, so a term does not change meaning when a student walks between rooms.

A. The machine#

English	中文	What it means
Bit	位元	One binary digit, 0 or 1. Physically a voltage above or below a threshold
Byte	位元組	Eight bits, holding 256 values. One DMX slot, one colour channel
Binary	二進位	Base two. How every value is actually stored
Hexadecimal	十六進位	Base sixteen. One hex digit is exactly four bits, which is why it exists
CPU	中央處理器	The part that executes instructions, one after another, very fast
RAM	隨機存取記憶體	Working memory. Fast, and lost when power is removed
Flash	快閃記憶體	Storage that survives power loss. Holds firmware and files
Clock speed	時脈速度	How many cycles per second the processor runs at
Operating system	作業系統	The software that decides which program gets the processor, and when
Kernel	核心	The core of an operating system, which owns the hardware
Process	行程	One running program, with its own memory
Thread	執行緒	One line of execution inside a process
Firmware	韌體	The program running on a device, rather than on a computer
Microcontroller	微控制器	A chip that runs one program forever, with predictable timing
Single board computer	單板電腦	A whole computer on one board, such as a Raspberry Pi
GPIO	通用輸入輸出	A pin that can be an input or an output under program control
Boot	開機	The sequence from power on to running. A Pi takes 20 to 40 seconds
Headless	無頭	Running with no screen or keyboard attached

B. Languages and programs#

English	中文	What it means
Source code	原始碼	The text a person wrote
Compiler	編譯器	Turns source into machine instructions before it runs
Interpreter	直譯器	Executes source as it reads it, so the source is on the machine
Bytecode	位元組碼	Instructions for a pretend machine, executed by a runtime
JIT	即時編譯	Just in time: compiles the hot parts to machine code while running
Toolchain	工具鏈	Everything needed to turn your source into something that runs
Syntax	語法	The rules of how the language is written
Syntax error	語法錯誤	The parser reached a token that cannot follow the previous one
Runtime error	執行時期錯誤	A fault that only appears while running
Token	詞元	One unit of text after lexing. Also, one unit of text to a language model
Parser	剖析器	Assembles tokens into a tree that carries the structure
Variable	變數	A name bound to a value, or to a reference to a value
Type	型別	What a value is, and therefore what may be done with it
Integer	整數	A whole number, stored exactly
Float	浮點數	A number with a fraction, stored approximately
String	字串	Text, in a specific encoding
Boolean	布林值	True or false
List / array	陣列	An ordered collection, addressed by position
Dictionary / map	字典	A collection addressed by key, with instant lookup
Set	集合	A collection of unique items, fast at "is this in it"
Null / None	空值	The deliberate absence of a value
Reference	參照	A name pointing at an object, rather than holding a copy of it
Mutable	可變的	Can be changed in place, which is how two names change together
Function	函式	A named piece of code that takes arguments and returns a value
Signature	函式簽章	The name, parameters and return type. The first thing to read
Parameter	參數	What a function declares it needs
Argument	引數	What you actually pass when calling it
Return value	回傳值	What comes back
Scope	作用域	Where a name is visible
Library	函式庫	Code somebody else wrote that you call
Dependency	相依套件	A library your program will not run without
Loop	迴圈	Repetition. Ask what changes and what stops it
Branch	分支	A decision, taken once, on a condition
Recursion	遞迴	A function that calls itself
Static typing	靜態型別	Types checked before running, so mistakes arrive early
Dynamic typing	動態型別	Types checked while running, so mistakes arrive during the show
IEEE 754	IEEE 754 浮點標準	The floating point standard. Why 0.1 + 0.2 is not 0.3, everywhere
UTF-8	UTF-8 編碼	The text encoding to use. Handles every language including 繁體中文
Off-by-one	差一錯誤	Starting at 1 instead of 0, or missing the last item. Endemic

C. Structure, data and tools#

English	中文	What it means
Data structure	資料結構	The shape you keep data in, which decides what is cheap
Algorithm	演算法	A method for getting from input to output
Complexity	複雜度	How the work grows as the data grows
Linear (n)	線性	Touch each item once
Quadratic (n²)	平方	Every item against every other. A loop inside a loop
CSV	逗號分隔值	Text table. Universal, untyped, and messier than it looks
JSON	JSON 格式	Nested, typed, machine written and machine read
YAML	YAML 格式	Configuration a human maintains by hand. Indentation is meaning
XML	XML 格式	Old, strict, verbose, schema-checkable
SQLite	SQLite 資料庫	A whole database in one file. The answer past a few thousand rows
Schema	綱要	The declared shape of data
Parsing	剖析	Turning text into structure
Serialisation	序列化	Turning structure into text or bytes for storage or sending
Version control	版本控制	Keeping the whole history of a folder
Repository	版本庫	A folder whose history is kept
Commit	提交	A snapshot of every file, with a message saying why
Branch (git)	分支	A line of commits you can start and abandon
Merge	合併	Bringing a branch back
Merge conflict	合併衝突	Both sides changed the same lines. Git declines to guess
Remote	遠端	A copy of the repository somewhere else. This is what makes it a backup
Diff	差異	What changed between two versions
README	說明檔	Ten lines: what this is, how to run it, what it assumes, who to ask
Debugging	除錯	Finding out why, by narrowing the boundary, not by guessing
Bisect	二分搜尋	Halve the search space repeatedly. Ten halvings covers a thousand lines
Traceback	追蹤訊息	The error report naming file, line and cause. Read it from the bottom
Test	測試	Code that proves other code does what you claimed
Edge case	邊界情況	The empty file, the duplicate, the last item. Where show software lives
Regression	迴歸	Something that used to work and now does not
Dry run	試跑	Print what it would do without doing it
Terminal / shell	終端機	The text interface. Eight commands cover most of it
Path	路徑	Where a file is. Absolute from the root, or relative to where you are
Environment variable	環境變數	Configuration from outside the program. Where secrets belong
Virtual environment	虛擬環境	Per-project isolation, so two projects can want different versions

D. AI and language models#

English	中文	What it means
Large language model	大型語言模型	A function producing a probability distribution over the next token
Token (LLM)	詞元	About 0.75 of an English word. What you are billed per
Context window	上下文視窗	Everything the model can see at once. Currently around a million tokens
Prompt	提示	What you send. Including the code, files and history the tool added
Inference	推論	Running the model to produce output
Hallucination	幻覺	Confident, plausible, wrong. The same mechanism that makes it work
Fine-tuning	微調	Further training on specific data
RAG	檢索增強生成	Looking things up and putting them in the window before answering
Agentic	代理式	The tool runs commands and edits files by itself, for minutes at a time
MCP	模型上下文協定	A standard way to give a model access to tools and data
Prompt caching	提示快取	A discount for re-reading an unchanged prefix. Stable content first
Temperature	溫度	How much randomness in choosing the next token
Verification	驗證	Reading, running on a copy, and proving against a case you worked out
Provenance	來源出處	Where this code came from, and what licence it carries

E. Show code and hardware#

English	中文	What it means
State machine	狀態機	A set of states, events and transitions. Most show code is one
Transition	轉移	A rule moving the system between states. The missing one is the fault
Blocking	阻塞	Code that stops everything else while it waits. `delay()` is blocking
Non-blocking	非阻塞	Checks the time and returns, so the loop keeps turning
Polling	輪詢	Asking repeatedly whether something has changed
Interrupt	中斷	Hardware calling your code the moment something happens
Debounce	消抖	Ignoring changes for 20 to 50 ms after the first one
Latency	延遲	Time from cause to effect. Budget it, do not hope
Jitter	抖動	Variation in latency. Often worse than latency itself
Deadline	截止時間	When it must have happened by. The whole reason show code is different
Loop budget	迴圈預算	Time available for one pass. 1 kHz means 1 ms for everything
Safe state	安全狀態	What it does when alone and confused. Decide it before you build it
Loss of signal	訊號中斷	Cue stopped arriving. Fixtures hold, amplifiers mute, hoists stop
Watchdog	看門狗計時器	A timer that resets the device if the program stops feeding it
Interlock	連鎖裝置	A physical circuit preventing an unsafe action. Never software alone
Emergency stop	緊急停止	Hardwired, removes power, asks no processor for permission
Serial	序列通訊	Bytes one after another, at an agreed rate
Baud rate	鮑率	Symbols per second on a serial line. DMX is 250 kbit/s
UART	通用非同步收發器	The hardware that shifts serial bits in and out
I²C / SPI	I²C / SPI 匯流排	Short-range buses for talking to sensors and chips
PWM	脈寬調變	Switching fast and varying the on-time. How brightness and servos work
ADC	類比數位轉換器	Turns a voltage into a number. Its accuracy is its reference's accuracy
DMX512	DMX512 控制協定	512 slots per universe, 250 kbit/s, one way, no acknowledgement
Universe	一條 DMX 線路（universe）	512 slots of DMX data, so 170 RGB pixels. A quantity of data, not a cable
OSC	開放聲音控制	Text-ish messages over UDP. Flexible, routable, unacknowledged
MIDI	樂器數位介面	Old, universal, well understood by sound and stage management
Pixel tape	像素燈帶	Addressable LEDs. Three bytes each, rewritten every frame
systemd service	systemd 服務	How a Linux program starts on boot and restarts when it dies
SSH	安全外殼協定	A shell on another machine over the network

F. Media, time and notation#

English	中文	What it means
Frame	影格	One picture. At 25 fps it lasts 40 ms
Frame rate (fps)	影格率	Pictures per second
Codec	編解碼器	How pictures are compressed. H.264, ProRes, HAP
Bitrate	位元率	Data per second of video. Decides file size and quality
Deterministic	確定性的	The same input always gives the same output. Why a result can be trusted twice
Seed	種子	The number that makes randomness repeatable
Idempotent	冪等	Safe to run twice. Worth roughly double a tool that is not
Dry run	試跑	Print what it would do without doing it. Required before anything destructive
Patcher	圖形化編程環境	Boxes and wires: the parser's graph, edited directly
Node	節點	One operation in a patcher. Where the state lives
Wire	連線	What carries a value between nodes. Not where state lives
Cook	運算週期	One evaluation pass in a node environment. Its version of "each pass"
Ladder logic	梯形圖	A graphical language in IEC 61131-3. What runs certified automation
Block language	積木式程式語言	Scratch, MakeCode, Blockly. Removes syntax errors, not the four questions
Spaghetti	義大利麵式結構	What every patcher becomes past a few hundred nodes without discipline