Skip to content
Merged
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Changes from 8 commits
Commits
Show all changes
26 commits
Select commit Hold shift + click to select a range
9dc677d
Add draft explanation What is a Glossary?
bruce-esrig Mar 28, 2025
2a2b0d7
Corrected errors ... note that there's no glossary (yet?), so the ter…
bruce-esrig Mar 28, 2025
91eca0f
Merge branch 'canonical:main' into gloss-explain
bruce-esrig Mar 28, 2025
d08fbc5
Caught up w oda/main. Fixed typo in links for authors. Updated custom…
bruce-esrig Mar 28, 2025
cecd913
Added mini-glossaries. Removed some excess headings.
bruce-esrig Apr 2, 2025
2e93826
Deleting another two excess headings.
bruce-esrig Apr 2, 2025
4ce203b
Add appendices for mechanics and locally-defined terms. rST and MyST …
bruce-esrig Apr 3, 2025
73d27c3
Merge branch 'canonical:main' into gloss-explain
bruce-esrig Apr 4, 2025
e986bac
Update website/docs/explanation/glossary_what.md
bruce-esrig Apr 15, 2025
79c5382
Update website/docs/explanation/glossary_what.md
bruce-esrig Apr 15, 2025
f9c4ded
Update website/docs/explanation/glossary_what.md
bruce-esrig Apr 15, 2025
5d08c72
Update website/docs/explanation/glossary_what.md
bruce-esrig Apr 15, 2025
0b7f809
Update website/docs/explanation/glossary_what.md
bruce-esrig Apr 15, 2025
dc1494c
Update website/docs/explanation/glossary_what.md
bruce-esrig Apr 15, 2025
d197584
Update website/docs/explanation/glossary_what.md
bruce-esrig Apr 15, 2025
26dbeaf
Update website/docs/explanation/glossary_what.md
bruce-esrig Apr 15, 2025
6d67e4b
Update website/docs/explanation/glossary_what.md
bruce-esrig Apr 15, 2025
fbaecec
Update website/docs/explanation/glossary_what.md
bruce-esrig Apr 15, 2025
6f650a3
Update website/docs/explanation/glossary_what.md
bruce-esrig Apr 15, 2025
2d726e5
Update website/docs/explanation/glossary_what.md
bruce-esrig Apr 15, 2025
9af28da
Update website/docs/explanation/glossary_what.md
bruce-esrig Apr 15, 2025
d7ecba1
Use 4-space indentation for quoted markup. Explain glossary entry < d…
bruce-esrig Apr 16, 2025
f913bce
Merge branch 'canonical:main' into gloss-explain
bruce-esrig Apr 20, 2025
0ab2e44
Merge branch 'main' into gloss-explain
s-makin Apr 22, 2025
e850bcb
Merge branch 'canonical:main' into gloss-explain
bruce-esrig Apr 29, 2025
578cc1b
Merge branch 'canonical:main' into gloss-explain
bruce-esrig May 7, 2025
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension

Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
24 changes: 24 additions & 0 deletions website/.custom_wordlist.txt
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -5,38 +5,62 @@ AngularJS
AsciiDoc
backends
bootable
Center
Ceph
CLA
connectionless
Coursera
Ctrl
Datagram
datagram
DDNS
DIT
DITA
DNS
docsacademy
DTLS
FC
Fiber
freesewing
GnuTLS
golang
Hackmamba
howto
https
IoT
JIRA
KDE
LaTeX
LDAP
lifecycle
MAAS
md
MDX
mentorship
MicroStack
Multipass
Netplan
ODA
onboarding
OpenLDAP
OpenStack
organize
prized
PRs
rebase
rebasing
repo
repos
reStructured
RST
rST
scalable
Snapcraft
specialized
specializes
SSL
TLS
UDP
WSL
Hackmamba
Coursera
Expand Down
1 change: 0 additions & 1 deletion website/conf.py
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -209,7 +209,6 @@

# myst_enable_extensions = set()


# Custom Sphinx extensions; see
# https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/extensions/index.html

Expand Down
129 changes: 129 additions & 0 deletions website/docs/explanation/glossary_what.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
# What is a glossary?

A *glossary* gives the meanings of *terms* in a work or domain.
It is presented as a list of terms in alphabetic order, each with a *gloss* that explains the term.

Each explanation gives the reader enough understanding to become familiar, and perhaps even comfortable, with the term.

Simplicity is prized. A glossary entry should aim to make the reader one step more comfortable with the term.

## Structure

### Definition

A definition is a statement of fact that conveys the meaning of a term.
Copy link
Collaborator

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Suggested change
A definition is a statement of fact that conveys the meaning of a term.
A definition, or *gloss*, is a statement of fact that conveys the meaning of a term.

Copy link
Contributor Author

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

A gloss is more than a definition since it can include all kinds of extra features (See also, etc.).

Second, I was hiding a question about terms with multiple meanings. Is the gloss everything after the entry, or is a gloss what is written about an individual numbered sense? I'm inclined to define gloss as the smaller of the two, so that each numbered sense has its own gloss.

Copy link
Collaborator

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

In that case, should we redefine the header "Structure" as "Structure of the gloss" or similar?

Copy link
Contributor Author

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

How about ... (putting the content here till my git fix is in) ...

Structure of a gloss

This section describes a gloss that explains a single sense of a term.

If a term has multiple senses, each sense has its own gloss. In that case, the glosses under the term are numbered. The order of the glosses should be instructive, with the most basic or common senses presented first.

A definition that consists of a simple phrase or sentence may be all the explanation that is needed.

```{glossary}
core
The working memory of a computer.
```

### Abbreviation

If the term is an abbreviation, the gloss starts with its expansion. The abbreviation is explained briefly after its expansion.

```{glossary}
DNS
**Domain Name System**. A system that translates human-readable domain names (canonical.com) to their IP addresses (185.125.190.20).
```

In a conversational style, the definition has more of the structure and tone of a spoken sentence.
For example, the definition may begin by repeating the term being defined.

```{glossary}
FC
**Fiber Channel** is a storage networking protocol used for low-latency communication between a storage device and a node
in a Storage Area Network (SAN).
```

In this definition of FC, the abbreviation SAN is preceded by its expansion as is customary in running text.
This is a good way to handle abbreviations that may be unfamiliar or have not yet been formally defined.

### Cross-references

Cross-references help readers navigate among related terms.

If the gloss for a term discusses a second term, the second term should be linked.

<!-- {term}`DNS` replaced by *DNS* -->
<!-- other terms: LDAP, SSL, TLS, DTLS -->


```{glossary}
DDNS
**Domain Name System**.
A service that automatically updates :term:`DNS` records when the underlying IP address changes (aka, dynamic IP).
```

When a concept that provides depth or broader context is used in a gloss, it can be linked using "See".

```{glossary}
DIT
**Directory Information Tree**. In directory services (See :term:`LDAP`), a hierarchical tree-like structure used to organize and store information.
```

A collection of related topics can be provided at the end of the gloss.

```{glossary}
GnuTLS
**GNU’s Not Unix Transport Layer Security**.
A GNU software package that secures data in transit by implementing the :term:`SSL`, :term:`TLS`, and :term:`DTLS` protocols.

Related topic(s): [GnuTLS (Ubuntu Server documentation)](https://documentation.ubuntu.com/server/explanation/crypto/gnutls/#), [GnuTLS (official site)](https://www.gnutls.org/), Cryptography, Web services, OpenLDAP.

```

## Advanced features

In this treatment, the features considered basic are those focused on meaning.
Copy link
Collaborator

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

This sentence doesn't really add much, since we didn't describe the previous content as basic (and we probably don't need to). I think we can safely remove this sentence without harming the rest of the content :)


There is a further realm of glossary features that are focused on terminology management. Sometimes the origin of a term, or the pronunciation, or an alternate form, or some other aspect of the term is of great interest.

Advanced features can be introduced in glossaries by imitating the features of entries in authoritative dictionaries.

## Appendix 1: Mechanics

This document is written in the following hierarchy of languages (high to low):
* Markedly Structured Text ([MyST](https://myst-parser.readthedocs.io/en/latest/syntax/typography.html#syntax-glossaries))
* reStructured Text (rST)
* Markdown (md)

A reference to a term is coded as follows: ::

:term:`referenced_term`

A complex glossary entry is coded as follows: ::

```{glossary}
Copy link
Collaborator

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

We probably want to also encode this example in a code block too - I suggest using the standard markdown wrappings (the triple backticks at the start and end). I can't create a note suggestion for that because GH doesn't render them properly.

Copy link
Contributor Author

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

To get the triple backticks to show up, I needed to wrap them in a different code block mechanism, so I used 4-space indentation. That's the approach in the file attached to this recent comment on this PR ... #199 (comment)

GnuTLS_example
**GNU’s Not Unix Transport Layer Security**.
A GNU software package that secures data in transit by implementing the :term:`SSL`, :term:`TLS`, and :term:`DTLS` protocols.

Related topic(s): [GnuTLS (Ubuntu Server documentation)](https://documentation.ubuntu.com/server/explanation/crypto/gnutls/#), [GnuTLS (official site)](https://www.gnutls.org/), Cryptography, Web services, OpenLDAP.

```

## Appendix 2: Locally-defined terms

These terms are referenced within the topic to illustrate cross-references.

```{glossary}
datagram
In networking, a self-contained, independent packet sent over a network.
A datagram can be routed from source to destination without relying on earlier or subsequent transfers.

DTLS
**Datagram Transport Layer Security**. A protocol that provides security for :term:`datagram`-based communication, such as UDP.
DTLS offers security features similar to TLS, but is adapted because datagram protocols are connectionless.

LDAP
**Lightweight Directory Access Protocol**.

SSL
**Secure Socket Layer**.

TLS
**Transport Layer Security**.

```
1 change: 1 addition & 0 deletions website/docs/explanation/index.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -5,5 +5,6 @@
:glob:
:maxdepth: 1

What is a glossary <glossary_what>
About the Academy <about>
```