Common Glossary
For convenience sake, the glossary from the OSLC Core Specification has been copied here. These are oft-used terms in the OSLC community and in OSLC specifications. Please also see the OSLC Core Specification appendix for Common Properties and Resources.
The following definitions are standard W3C concepts. OSLC uses these concepts without modification – their definitions are summarized here for the convenience of the reader. See http://www.w3c.org.
Resource: A network data object or service that can be identified by a URI. Resources may be available in multiple representations (e.g. multiple languages, data formats, size, resolutions) or vary in other ways. (reference: HTTP)
Representation: An HTTP payload entity, included in an HTTP response, that is subject to content negotiation. There may exist multiple representations. associated with a particular HTTP response status. (reference: HTTP)
URI: Uniform Resource Identifiers are simply formatted strings which identify–via name, location, or any other characteristic – a resource (reference: URI Syntax)
Here are some OSLC specific terms coined by the OSLC community:
OSLC Domain: an OSLC Domain is one ALM or PLM topic area such as Change Management, Requirements management or Automation. Each OSLC Domain will have its own OSLC specification that complies with the Core specification.
OSLC Service: a set of capabilities that enable a web client to create, retrieve, update and delete resources managed by an ALM or PLM product or online service offering and associated with one OSLC Domain.
OSLC Service Provider: a product or online service offering that provides an implementation of one or more OSLC Services, which may themselves implement different OSLC Domain specifications.
OSLC Resource: a resource that is managed by an OSLC Service, may have properties and may link to other resources including those provided by other OSLC Services.
OSLC Defined Resource: a resource that is defined by an OSLC specification, see OSLC Defined Resources below.
OSLC Defined Properties: resource properties that are defined by an OSLC specification, defined by an OSLC Resource Shape or both.
OSLC Resource Shape: defines the set of OSLC Properties expected in a resource for specific operations (i.e. creation, update or query) for each their value types, allowed values, cardinality and optionality. Examples of such operations include OSLC Creation Resource and Query Resource. Other examples might include applications that display data in tables.
OSLC Creation Factory. An OSLC Service may provide one or more creation factories to enable the creation of new resources. A creation factory provides a URI used to create new resources via HTTP POST and may also provide Resource Shapes that describe the types of resources that may be created.
OSLC Query Capability: An OSLC Service may provide one or more query capabilities to enable query of resources. A query capability provides a base URI for forming query resource URIs and, optionally, Resource Shapes that describe the property values that may be used in query expressions and returned in query results.
OSLC Response Info Resource: An OSLC Defined Resource that provides information about a paged resource representation, e.g. the next page in a multi-page query result representation.
Here are some industry terms that we use regularly:
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM): ALM is the marriage of business management to software engineering made possible by tools that facilitate and integrate requirements management, architecture, coding, testing, tracking, and release management (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_lifecycle_management).
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM): In industry, product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_lifecycle_management).
