The WSS Decoder Ring - WSS Object Model confusion

When developers begin to use WSS, there is often confusion surrounding different terminology used between WSS and its version 1.0 predecessor SharePoint Team Services (STS). For example, the WSS term Site Collection is the equivalent of the old STS term Site. The new WSS term Site is the equivalent of the old STS term Web. The new WSS term Top-level Site is the equivalent of the old STS term Root Web.

Though the WSS team has been consistent using the new WSS terminology in the product documentation, there are still many places that use the term Web when you expect Site and that use the term Site when you expect Site Collection.

For example, the names of classes in the WSS object model are based on the old STS terms. As a result, you program against a site collection using an SPSite object, and you program against a site using a SPWeb object. An SPSite object provides a public property named RootWeb that returns an SPWeb object representing the site site. Once you understand this potential point of confusion, getting up to speed on various aspects of WSS becomes less confusing.