What Coding Can Do
This is what code uses to detect and filter unwanted messages in your inbox.
What is spam filtering?
This type of machine learning uses labeled input-output pairs to train a model to predict outcomes on new data.
What is supervised learning?
A reusable block of code that performs a specific task and can be "called."
What is a function?
This is a programming language that is known for its mascot, a gopher, and was developed by Google.
What is Go/Golang?
This FIFO structure is commonly used for task scheduling and breadth-first search.
What is a queue?
This is what code enables when your photos, notes, or contacts show up on all your devices automatically.
What is cloud syncing / synchronization?
This phenomenon occurs when a model performs very well on training data but poorly on unseen data due to memorizing noise rather than general patterns.
What is overfitting?
A block of code that repeats as long as a condition is true.
What is a loop?
This is a programming language that was created by Guido van Rossum and was first released in 1991.
What is Python?
This structure is ideal for “undo/redo” and function call management because it’s LIFO.
What is a stack?
This is what code does when your phone unlocks using your face or fingerprint.
What is biometric authentication?
This technique augments an LLM's response by gathering relevant external documents before generation, reducing hallucination.
What is Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)?
A variable's accessibility limited to the block or function it's declared in.
What is scope?
This is a language created by Brendan Eich in 1995 and is essential for interactive web pages and runs natively in browsers.
What is JavaScript?
This structure gives O(1) average-time lookup by key using a hash function.
What is a hash table / hash map?
This is what code uses to keep your passwords and bank info safer when sent over the internet.
What is encryption?
This open-source framework developed by Anthropic standardizes how LLM applications connect to external tools, data sources, and context providers.
What is Model Context Protocol (MCP)?
A function passed as an argument to another function, often used for async operations.
What is a callback function?
This is a language developed by Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 that follows the principle "write once, run anywhere.”
What is Java?
This linked structure supports O(1) inserts/removals when you already have the node, but O(n) search.
What is a linked list?
This is what code helps with when a car beeps because you’re getting too close while parking.
What is driver-assist / parking sensors software?
In a RAG pipeline, documents are converted into these numerical representations to enable semantic similarity search.
What is embeddings / vectors?
An optimization technique that stores results of expensive function calls to reuse later.
What is memoization?
This is a functional programming language, known for its use in academic and financial applications, and was developed by Don Syme at Microsoft Research.
What is F#?
This heap property makes it perfect for implementing priority queues and Dijkstra’s algorithm.
What is a min-heap?