| SAML | Security Assertion Markup Language | A language for exchanging authentication data. | Security | So you can log in to a website via your corporate account. | |
| SAN | Storage Area Network | A storage area network. | Network & Infrastructure | Combines disk arrays so they appear as a single large drive. | |
| SAREF | Smart Applications REFerence ontology | An ontology for smart devices. | Data | So the fridge and the light bulb can understand each other, communicate, and trust each other. | |
| SAS | Statistical Analysis System | A set of tools for statistical analysis and forecasting. | Data | Used in business analytics. | |
| SDK | Software Development Kit | A set of tools for development. | Development | Libraries, documentation, examples. | |
| SHA | Secure Hash Algorithm | Generates a hash sum of data. | Security | Used for integrity checking. | |
| SHACL | Shapes Constraint Language | A language for validating RDF data. | Data | Checks that data conforms to a specified structure. | |
| SIEM | Security Information and Event Management | Collection and analysis of logs to detect attacks. | Security | So you know when you're being hacked. Knowledge is power! | |
| SKOS | Simple Knowledge Organization System | A language for describing dictionaries, taxonomies, thesauri. | Data | For the semantic web. | |
| SLA | Service Level Agreement | A service level agreement. | Management & Processes | Promises the system will be up 99.9% of the time. | |
| SLI | Service Level Indicator | A metric showing how well a service is performing. | Management & Processes | For example, response time. | |
| SMART | Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound | A goal-setting principle. | Management & Processes | To make goals clear and achievable. | |
| SNMP | Simple Network Management Protocol | A protocol for managing network devices. | Network & Infrastructure | Monitoring and configuration. | |
| SOAP | Simple Object Access Protocol | An old protocol for web services. | Architecture | It's like sending a letter by mail, where each envelope is filled out according to a strict standard: return address in the upper left corner, recipient address in the upper right, and the letter itself in XML format inside. It's reliable, but slow. Imagine your interlocutor also responds to you in the same way, only each letter is checked by a notary. | XML |
| SOAR | Security Orchestration, Automation and Response | Automation of incident response. | Security | So you don't have to do everything manually. | |
| SOC | System on Chip | A system on a chip. | General | CPU, memory, peripherals — all on a single chip. | |
| SOLID | Principles of Object-Oriented Design | Five principles for creating flexible and maintainable code. | Development | For OOP. S — single responsibility. O — open/closed. L — Liskov substitution. I — interface segregation. D — dependency inversion. | |
| SOS | Sensor Observation Service | A service for accessing sensor data. | Data | In GIS and IoT. | |
| SOSA | Sensor, Observation, Sample, and Actuator | An ontology for describing sensors and observations. | Data | Used in the Semantic Web. | |
| SPARQL | SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language | A query language for RDF. | Data | A SQL analogue for graph data. | RDF, SQL |
| SQL | Structured Query Language | A language for working with relational databases. | Data | If you don't know it, you're not a programmer. | |
| SQL Server Spatial | Spatial Data in SQL Server | Support for geospatial data in Microsoft SQL Server. | Data | For working with spatial data in SQL Server. | SQL |
| SQLi | SQL Injection | A vulnerability allowing arbitrary SQL queries. | Security | A dangerous thing. | SQL |
| SSH | Secure Shell | A protocol for remote server access. | Network & Infrastructure | Encrypts everything. | |
| SSL | Secure Sockets Layer | An outdated encryption protocol. | Security | Replaced by TLS. | TDD |
| SSO | Single Sign-On | A single sign-on system. | Security | Log in once — and you're everywhere. It's like becoming a governor — greeted with joy everywhere. | |
| SSRF | Server-Side Request Forgery | An attack where a server makes requests to internal resources. | Security | For attacks. | |
| STP | Spanning Tree Protocol | A protocol for preventing loops in a network. | Network & Infrastructure | Builds a tree for redundant links. | |
| SWE | Sensor Web Enablement | A standard for integrating sensors into the web. | Data | For IoT. | |