Terminology Services Certification Exam Guide

This page lists a range of terms, abbreviations and acronyms used in the terminology services course and certification exam. For each of these, we provide the specific meaning that is used within the context of the course and exam. For the definition of SNOMED CT specific terms, please refer to the SNOMED CT Glossary (http://snomed.org/gl).

API - Application Programming Interface: An interface that enables different systems to interact with each other programmatically.

API Endpoint: The location from which APIs can access the resources they need to carry out their function. This is usually represented by a URL of a server or service.

Base URL: The part of the URL which stays the same for a given server API. For example: https://snowstorm-training.snomedtools.org

Branch: The location at which a specific versioned edition of a code system can be accessed, in a terminology server that supports multiple versions, editions or code systems.

Call: The process of constructing the endpoint URL and sending the request to a server.

FHIR: Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources

GET: An HTTP method that involves getting information that already exists.

Git: A distributed version control system commonly used when interacting with code.

Github: A platform for managing Git repositories, which is found at http://github.com.

Github repo: A repository for storing a project's code. 

HL7: The seventh level of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) seven-layer communications model for Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) - the application level.

HL7 International: The not-for-profit organization that publishes a range of electronic health information standards, including FHIR.

HTTP method: A type of interaction with the server. Examples of HTTP methods include GET, POST, PATCH and DELETE.

JSON - JavaScript Object Notation: A lightweight syntax containing objects and arrays, usually used to return information from a REST API.

Operation: A combination of a path and an HTTP method. For example "GET /branches"

OpenAPI: The specification which provides a set of properties that can be used to describe your REST API.

Parameter: An option you can pass with the endpoint to influence the response. There are four types of parameters: header parameters, path parameters, query string parameters, and request body parameters.

Path: The part of a URL that indicates which resource is being requested.

POST: An HTTP method that requests that the data enclosed is accepted by the web server.

Request: An API call that is asking the server to perform a specific operation. The full request URL is constructed as <base-URL>/path.

Request header: Part of an API request that includes meta-data associated with the API request and response.

Response: The information that is returned by the API after a request is made. Responses are usually in JSON or XML format.

REST API - Representational State Transfer: An API that uses web protocols (HTTP) to make requests and provide responses in a language agnostic way. This allows users to choose whatever programming language they want to make the calls.

Snowstorm: SNOMED International's SNOMED CT terminology server. Snowstorm is built on top of Elasticsearch with a focus on performance and enterprise scalability.

Swagger: API tooling associated with the OpenAPI specification.

UI: User interface