Glossary

This glossary defines terms that appear throughout the CARTO.js documentation.

A

Ajax

Asynchronous JavaScript + XML, while not a technology in itself, is a term coined in 2005 by Jesse James Garrett, that describes a “new” approach to using a number of existing technologies together, including HTML or XHTML, Cascading Style Sheets, JavaScript, The Document Object Model, XML, XSLT, and most importantly the XMLHttpRequest object. More info about Ajax at Ajax.

C

Client

Throughout CARTO.js documentation, client refers to the object used as an entry point to CARTO.js features.

It’s the object used to add your account credentials and to manage layers and dataviews.

More info at carto.Client

L

Layer

A layer object is used to visualize geospatial data in CARTO.js. They have a source, where the data comes from, and a style, defining how you want the layer to look like.

They are showed on top of a Leaflet or a Google map.

Layer reference

P

Promise

Promise objects are a standard way for handling asynchronous tasks in Javascript. More info about promises at Using Promises - MDN.