AI & Systems Architecture Glossary
Precise, verified technical definitions written for developers and architects. No marketing fluff—just how things actually work under the hood.
RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)
An architectural technique that enhances LLM responses by dynamically querying an external vector or keyword database for relevant context before generating an answer.
Quantization
The mathematical process of reducing the precision of neural network weights (e.g., from 16-bit floating point to 8-bit or 4-bit integers) to shrink memory requirements and accelerate inference speed.
Context Window
The maximum number of tokens (words, characters, and punctuation) that a large language model can accept and reason across in a single conversational turn or API request.
Vector Embeddings
High-dimensional mathematical array representations of text, audio, or images where semantic similarity translates directly to geometric proximity in vector space.
Agentic Loop (ReAct Pattern)
An autonomous software cycle where an AI model reasons through a plan, selects and executes programmatic tools, inspects the tool output, and iterates until the objective is accomplished.
Speculative Decoding
An inference optimization where a small, fast 'draft' model rapidly predicts multiple tokens ahead, and a larger target model verifies them in parallel in a single forward pass.
React Server Components (RSC)
A React paradigm where components execute exclusively on the server, streaming lightweight serialized HTML to the client without sending any JavaScript bundle weight.
Edge Computing & Anycast
A distributed cloud architecture that routes user requests to the nearest physical datacenter in a global network (e.g. Cloudflare, AWS CloudFront) to execute code within milliseconds of the user.