5 Glossary 📚

Technical words, jargon and whatchamacallits 🤷‍♂️

Class: A custom-defined datatype which is used as an abstract blueprint for creating objects of that type. Typically used in object-oriented programming, a class' abilities, properties and creation methods can all be defined.

Enumeration: Sometimes referred to as 'enums', these are used restrict options to a known set of pre-determined values.

FilteredElementCollector: A class in Revit's API that is used to rapidly return elements in a model according to customisable and stackable rules. See our page on using the FilteredElementCollector.

Implementation: An implementation of a programming languages uses all the same basic ideas as the language its based on, but with extended or altered functionality to better suit a certain use case. It can be thought of like a 'dialect' of the original programming language.

IronPython: Is an implementation of the Python language that allows it to access and use the .NET Framework's libraries. See our page on IronPython.

Method: These are functions that instances of a class can 'do'. They are defined in the class definition, but since classes are only an abstract set of rules, they cannot perform functions per se. It is the objects of these classes can actually undertake these actions.

Object / Instance: An object is an created instance of a class. While the class is an abstract definition, an object (AKA an instance) is an entity that other objects can potentially interact with.

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP): A programming paradigm that centers on the creation of and interaction between various objects. See our page on object-oriented programming.

Property: As outlined in its class definition, a property is a predetermined quality of an object that is normally readable (just like a Parameter value). It might vary from instance to instance, or be hard-coded to a predetermined value.

Unwrapping: A result of Dynamo and Revit's parallel class libraries, unwrapping process that needs to take place when Dynamo elements are brought into a Python Script node before they can be accessed. See our page on unwrapping.

The .NET Framework: A large suite of software development resources created by Microsoft for use on its Windows OS. This includes libraries for geospatial information, languages, timezones, UI development, web development and database management. See our page on the .NET Framework.

Transaction: Transactions are used to bundle up and send change requests to the Revit document's database. Anything that changes a Revit model must be 'wrapped in a transaction'. See our page on using transactions for more.