We've already spent a bit of time talking about attributes in the context of Pages, Users and Files. Each of these objects can use Attributes – but attributes aren't specific to each object. Instead, Attributes are their own, general system, and Concrete CMS registers an Attribute Category object for Page, User and File. This tells the attribute system how to join attribute data to the particular target object type.
Attribute Keys are the actual items we want to track about a particular target object. Examples of attribute keys include things like a page's "Meta Name" or "Exclude from Nav", or a file's "Width" and "Height." When using the Dashboard to create additional attributes, an administator is creating a new attribute key.
Not all attribute keys are alike: "Meta Name" displays its form interface as a text input, while "Exclude from Nav" uses a checkbox. A select list is much more complicated than either. Additionally, these attributes store their data and search their data differently, and have a different programmatic interface. That's because these attribute keys are each of different Attribute Types. Attribute types are bundles of presentation and backend controller code that exist in the filesystem and can be registered by an administrator or installed in packages.
Finally, Attribute Values are special objects that store a particular join between attribute keys, attribute categories (and their specific target objects) and the value that they store. Each target object of a particular attribute key category will likely contain a method similar to getAttributeValueObject which returns this particular data.
To dive into the details of programmatically working with attributes, visit the Attributes section.