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<section id="glossary">
<span id="id1"></span><h1 id="glossary"><span id="id1"></span>Glossary</h1>
<p>This glossary defines terms and names commonly used throughout the Native Client
documentation.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt>asynchronous programming</dt>
<dd>In the asynchronous programming model, function calls are executed and return
immediately without waiting for a response. Using this model, function calls
are non-blocking; the web browser continues its main thread of execution
and gets notified of asynchronous call completion through callbacks or some
other mechanism.</dd>
<dt>focus events</dt>
<dd>Events that indicate whether certain parts of a web page are
in or out of focus.</dd>
<dt>input events</dt>
<dd>Events that occur when an input device (such as keyboard or mouse)
is used to interact with an module instance.</dd>
<dt>instance</dt>
<dd>A rectangle on a web page that is managed by a Native Client module (the
rectangle can have <code>width=0</code> and <code>height=0</code>, which means that nothing is
drawn on the page).</dd>
<dt>manifest file</dt>
<dd>A file containing metadata or information about accompanying files.</dd>
<dt>message events</dt>
<dd>Events used to pass data between JavaScript and the Native Client
module (see the <a class="reference internal" href="/native-client/devguide/coding/message-system.html"><em>Messaging System</em></a> section).</dd>
<dt>module</dt>
<dd>Depending on context, &#8220;module&#8221; may mean one of two things. First, it may be a
general short-term for for &#8220;Native Client module&#8221;&#8212;compiled C/C++ code
produced with a Native Client toolchain (for example PNaCl). See
<a class="reference internal" href="/native-client/overview.html#link-how-nacl-works"><em>How Native Client works</em></a> for more details.
Second, it may refer to a concrete implementation of the <a class="reference external" href="/native-client/pepper_stable/cpp/classpp_1_1_module">pp::Module class</a> for some Native
Client module.</dd>
<dt>progress events</dt>
<dd>Events generated by the Native Client runtime system during the
module loading process.</dd>
<dt>Var</dt>
<dd>An object in a Native Client module that corresponds to a JavaScript
variable.</dd>
<dt>view change events</dt>
<dd>Events that occur when a change in the browser affects the
module instance (such as resizing the browser window or going to
and from fullscreen mode).</dd>
<dt>web workers</dt>
<dd><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Workers">Web workers</a> provide a
mechanism for running heavy-weight JavaScript code on background threads
so that the main web page can continue to respond to user interaction.
Web pages interact with web workers by using <code>postMessage()</code> to send
messages. The way a web page interacts with a Native Client module
is analogous to the way it interacts with web workers.</dd>
</dl>
</section>

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