This is a list of terms that you should know if you want to use D++ (or any other Discord library). These terms are not D++ specific, and are commonly used throughout most of the Discord developer community. This list, with a few exceptions, is Discord specific, that is to say that this is not an explanation of commonly used C++ terms, it is for people who are not familiar with the terminology of the Discord API and libraries themselves.
Glossary
Listed in alphabetical order, with terms in bold, here are the basics on...
- Action row: A collection of up to five components which is attached to a message.
- Application Command: See slashcommand.
- Audit log: A log of events that have happened in a guild.
- Auto mod: Discord's low-code solution to moderation. However, it is very limited in scope.
- Badge: A decoration on someone's profile showing certain things about them, such as if they have Nitro, if they are a Discord developer, etc.
- Bot token: A secret string of characters that is used as a "login" to your bot. If you lose it or it gets leaked you will have to get a new one from the Discord developer portal, so be sure to keep it in a place that is both secure and where you won't forget it.
- Button: A component on a message that can be styled that sends an event when clicked on by a user.
- Cache: A type of storage efficient for things like messages.
- Callback: While not strictly related to Discord, it is used a LOT in D++. A callback is when a function is passed to another function, sort of like how you might give someone a telephone number (you give them the means to do some sort of interaction rather than asking them how to interact), which is used to handle responses to events.
- Cluster: A singular bot application, which is composed of one or more shards, a cluster is the centre of bot development.
- Component: A component is anything that can appear in a bot's message besides text, such as buttons and select menus.
- Drop down/Select menu: A component of a message that upon being clicked drops down and allows the user to select an option.
- Embeds: A widget attached to a message which can contain multiple fields of texts, an image, and much more information.
- Ephemeral: A message only visible to the user being replied to.
- Event: Something that a Discord bot can respond to, such as a message being sent, a button being clicked, or an option being selected, among others.
- Guild: What the Discord API (and most libraries for it) call a server.
- Intents: The right for a bot to receive certain data from the Discord API.
- Interaction: An object that contains information about whenever a user interacts with an application, such as sending a message or clicking a button. It is the main part of an event that will be accessed in an application.
- Modal: A pop up form that contains text that can be sent by a bot.
- Shards: A shard manages part of the workload of your Discord application.
- Slashcommand: The primary way a user interacts with a bot. It is a command sent to the bot with parameters (which may be optional) and is initiated by beginning a message with
/.
- Snowflake: An unsigned 64 bit integer (it can represent anything from 0 to 2^64-1) that is used by Discord to identify basically everything, including but not limited to, guilds, users, messages, and much more.
- Subcommands: A command which is derived from a different command, such as a bot that allows a person to get statistics for Discord might have a
stats guild command and a stats global command, both of which are subcommands of stats.
