The goal of this page is to help keep documentation, discussions, and APIs consistent.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Activator | Part of a Registration that, given a Context and a set of Parameters, can create a Component Instance bound to that Context |
| Argument | A formal argument to a constructor on a .NET type |
| Component | A body of code that declares the Services it provides and the Dependencies it consumes |
| Instance | A .NET object obtained by Activating a Component that provides Services within a Container (also Component Instance) |
| Container | A construct that manages the Components that make up an application |
| Context | A bounded region in which a specific set of Services is available |
| Dependency | A Service required by a Component |
| Lifetime | A duration bounded by the Activation of an Instance and its disposal |
| Parameter | Non-Service objects used to configure a Component |
| Registration | The act of adding and configuring a Component for use in a Container, and the information associated with this process |
| Scope | The specific Context in which Instances of a Component will be shared by other Components that depend on their Services |
| Service | A well-defined behavioral contract shared between a providing and a consuming Component; generally these are interfaces, or some abstraction of a Component |
Admittedly this seems a bit low-level to fit with the typical idea of a 'universal language', but within the domain of IoC containers and specifically Autofac these can be viewed as concepts rather than implementation details.
Some more detail on the relationship between a Service and a Component Registration in Autofac terms can be found in the :ref:`registration documentation <registration-services-vs-components>`.
Wild deviations from these terms in the API or code should be fixed or raised as issues to fix in a future version.
The terms Application, Type, Delegate, Object, Property etc. have their usual meaning in the context of .NET software development.