Glossary of common terms

Short name for Apache HTTP Server Project. This is the web server environment that Moodle was developed in, a freely downloadable Open Source product from Apache Software Foundation.

Gossip: The original name for Apache Server was "A patchy server", but cooler heads prevailed and named it Apache - didn't matter, it worked so well it celebrated its 15th birthday February 2010 and has been the Web's most popular server environment since April of 1996.

From Apache Friends the Xampp-lite Moodle installation package is a one stop installer for Apache, PHP, MySQL and Moodle. Originally developed for its simplicity of installation, Xampp-lite was designed, essentially, for stand alone computers using Windows, so that courses could be developed offline. It is generally agreed that it is not a suitable environment for a production site.

another PHP Application that can be used to administer your Moodle database. It has an intuitive interface that is actually very basic and it is easy to setup and use.  Is a free tool and is downloadable from the phpMyAdmin site. It has also been bundled with the Xampp-lite/Moodle package.

The term used to describe moving a Moodle site from one server to another.

Proof Of Concept - a prototype created to show that an idea is technically fesible.  While the prototype probably isn't suitable for real-world use, it provides a starting point for discussion and design of a real solution.

Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.

Negative statements made with no real supporting evidence designed to discourage people from taking a particular course of action.  This could be done with malicious intent (e.g. to put potential customers off a competing product), or innocently by passing on received wisdom that is incorrect.

In Moodle, the term "context" may have a specific meaning.

A Moodle context is a place where permissions are assigned to a user (usually through a role).  In Moodle, contexts are layered in a hierachry.  Some examples: a site is the overall context; each course category is a context in the site; each course is a context in it's course category; each topic/section is a context and the resources and activities in a topic/section are contexts.   Blocks, filters and special pages are contexts that are at minimum part of the  site context.    Permissions are passed down automatically. For example, a user who has a teacher role in a course will be assigned that role when a Forum context is created.   Roles for individuals or groups can be changed in a context. This makes it possible for one user to be a teacher in one context and  a student in another. 

A permission is a part of a role which allows or denies a someone to use a feature or function of Moodle.  There are over 450 different permissions settings in any Moodle role.   Each permission has 1 of 4 states that can be assigned to it: "not set", "allow", "prevent", and "prohibit.  Editing or creating new roles on the site level can be complicated. In part because of the hierarchical nature of contexts.  In many contexts, roles or permissions can be overridden, and the permitted user will see a shortened list of permissions appropriate to the context.