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+# Glossary
+
+This document is meant to serve as a reference for ty developers, explaining the meaning of various
+terms used in the codebase and documentation.
+
+## Local type, public type, imported type, attribute type, nonlocal type
+
+To understand the difference between these terms, consider the following example:
+
+`module.py`:
+
+```py
+x_imported = 1
+
+reveal_type(x_imported)  # revealed: Literal[1]
+
+x_imported = 2
+
+reveal_type(x_imported)  # revealed: Literal[2]
+```
+
+`main.py`:
+
+```py
+from module import x_imported
+
+class C:
+    x_attribute = 1
+    x_attribute = 2
+
+    reveal_type(x_attribute)  # revealed: Literal[2]
+
+x_nonlocal = 1
+
+def f():
+    x_local = 1
+
+    reveal_type(x_local)  # revealed: Literal[1]
+
+    # All of the following are considered "public" types:
+    reveal_type(x_imported)  # revealed: Unknown | Literal[2]
+    reveal_type(C.x_attribute)  # revealed: Unknown | Literal[2]
+    reveal_type(x_nonlocal)  # revealed: Unknown | Literal[1, 2]
+
+    x_local = 2
+
+f()
+
+x_nonlocal = 2
+
+f()
+```
+
+The first distinction we make is between "local types" and "public types".
+
+A **local type** refers to the type of a symbol that is defined and accessed within the same scope
+(`x_local`). Local types are subject to flow-sensitive analysis: the type of `x_local` at the usage
+site in `f` is `Literal[1]`, despite the fact that `x_local` is later reassigned to `2`.
+
+In contrast, the **public type** of a symbol refers to the type that is visible to external scopes.
+Since we can not generally analyze the full control flow of the program, we assume that these
+symbols could be modified by code that is not currently visible to us. We therefore use the union
+with `Unknown` for public uses of these symbols.
+
+Public types can be further subdivided into:
+
+- **Imported types**: The type of a symbol that is imported from another module. Notice how the
+    imported type of `x_imported` in `main.py` only includes `Literal[2]`, but not `Literal[1]`. The
+    imported type always refers to the local type that the symbol would have at the *end of the
+    scope* in which it was defined.
+- **Attribute types**: The type of an attribute expression such as `C.x_attribute`. Similar to
+    imported types, the attribute type refers to the local type of the symbol at the *end of the
+    scope* in which it was defined.
+- **Nonlocal types**: Refers to the type of a symbol that is defined in an *enclosing scope*. In
+    contrast to imported and attribute types, we consider *all reachable bindings* of the symbol in
+    the enclosing scope. This is needed in the example above because `f()` is called from different
+    positions in the enclosing scope. The nonlocal type therefore needs to include both `Literal[1]`
+    and `Literal[2]`.