Android Apps, November 2021

Tech Terms, Definitions Without the Detour

Tech Terms is a dictionary of technology vocabulary containing roughly fifteen hundred entries, each written as a short plain language explanation rather than a formal definition.

The case for a dedicated dictionary over a search is narrower than it once was and it still holds in one respect, which is that a search for an unfamiliar technical term returns pages written for people who already know it, or vendor material describing a product rather than the concept. A short explanation written for someone who does not yet know the word is a different piece of writing, and it is genuinely difficult to find quickly. Working offline means it answers just as well without connectivity, which is when the question tends to arise in the field. A daily featured term and a random entry are included, which is a browsing mechanism rather than a reference one, and it is the closest the application gets to teaching rather than answering. The scope is the sensible part, since fifteen hundred entries covers the vocabulary somebody actually encounters, and expanding it toward completeness would make finding the common terms harder rather than easier.

It answers what a word means and does not attempt to explain how anything works, so it is a starting point rather than a reference. Anyone needing precision at a specification level is looking in the wrong place.

Link: Tech Terms on Google Play