1.. _glossary: 2 3######## 4Glossary 5######## 6 7This glossary defines terms and names commonly used throughout the Native Client 8documentation. 9 10asynchronous programming 11 In the asynchronous programming model, function calls are executed and return 12 immediately without waiting for a response. Using this model, function calls 13 are non-blocking; the web browser continues its main thread of execution 14 and gets notified of asynchronous call completion through callbacks or some 15 other mechanism. 16focus events 17 Events that indicate whether certain parts of a web page are 18 in or out of focus. 19input events 20 Events that occur when an input device (such as keyboard or mouse) 21 is used to interact with an module instance. 22instance 23 A rectangle on a web page that is managed by a Native Client module (the 24 rectangle can have ``width=0`` and ``height=0``, which means that nothing is 25 drawn on the page). 26manifest file 27 A file containing metadata or information about accompanying files. 28message events 29 Events used to pass data between JavaScript and the Native Client 30 module (see the :doc:`Messaging System <devguide/coding/message-system>` chapter). 31module 32 Depending on context, "module" may mean one of two things. First, it may be a 33 general short-term for for "Native Client module"---compiled C/C++ code 34 produced with a Native Client toolchain (for example PNaCl). See 35 :ref:`link_how_nacl_works` for more details. 36 Second, it may refer to a concrete implementation of the `pp::Module class 37 <https://developers.google.com/native-client/peppercpp/classpp_1_1_module>`_ 38 for some Native Client module. 39progress events 40 Events generated by the Native Client runtime system during the 41 module loading process. 42Var 43 An object in a Native Client module that corresponds to a JavaScript 44 variable. 45view change events 46 Events that occur when a change in the browser affects the 47 module instance (such as resizing the browser window or going to 48 and from fullscreen mode). 49web workers 50 `Web workers <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Workers>`_ provide a 51 mechanism for running heavy-weight JavaScript code on background threads 52 so that the main web page can continue to respond to user interaction. 53 Web pages interact with web workers by using ``postMessage()`` to send 54 messages. The way a web page interacts with a Native Client module 55 is analogous to the way it interacts with web workers. 56 57