| Term | Description |
|---|
| P-MAIL | Paper Mail
|
| P/N: | Part Number
|
| P/T | Part Time
|
| P2P | Peer To Peer + People To People
|
| P3P | Platform for Privacy Preferences Project
|
| P6 | See PentiumPro. |
| P7 | The code name for a forthcoming CPUchip from Intel. |
| PA-RISC | Precision Architecture-RISC [HP]
|
| PAB | Personal Address Book
|
| PABX | Private Automatic Branch Exchange
|
| PACE | Priority Access Control Enabled [3Com]
|
| PACS | Picture Archiving and Communication System
|
| PACS-L | Public Access Computer Systems List [Internet]
|
| PAD | Packet Assembler/Disassembler
|
| PADS | Pen Application Development System [Slate Corporation]
|
| PAIH | Public-Access Internet Host [Internet]
|
| PAIS | Public-Access Internet Site [Internet]
|
| PAL | Paradox Applications Language [Borland] +
Phase Alternating Line + Programmed Array Logic +
Programming Assembly Language
|
| PALC | Plasma-Addressed Liquid Crystal (display)
|
| Palm DOC | Palm DOC files are quite similar to (but slightly less capable than) Newton books. They were designed for Palm Pilots but can now be read on a couple other platforms, too. They are a specific type of eBook. |
| Palm Pilot | The Palm Pilot (also called both just Palm and just Pilot, officially now just Palm) is the most popular PDA currently in use. It is one of the least capable PDAs, but it is also one of the smallest and least expensive. While not as full featured as many of the other PDAs (such as the Newton) it performs what features it does have quite well and still remains truly pocket-sized. |
| PALS | Principles of the Alphabet Literacy System
|
| PAM | Pluggable Authentication Module (library) +
Pulse Amplitude Modulation
|
| PAN | Personal Area Network [GTE]
|
| Panel | See dialogbox. |
| Pantone | System of color matching designed to ensure thatcolor output will be the color intended whether on-screen or in output from aprinter. |
| PAP | Packet-level Procedure +
Password Authentication Protocol +
Push Access Protocol + Printer Access Protocol
|
| PAR | Personal Animation Recorder + Parallel
|
| PARA | Paragraph
|
| parallel | Loosely speaking, parallel implies a situation where multiple things can be done simultaneously, like having multiple check-out lines each serving people all at once. Parallel connections are by their nature more expensive than serial ones, but usually faster. Also, in a related use of the word, often multitasking computers are said to be capable of running multiple programs in parallel. |
| Parallel Interface | An interfacebetween a computer and a printer in which the computer sends multiple bits ofinformation to the printer simultaneously. Centronics interface is another namefor parallel (which is different from Centronics SCSI,however). |
| Parallel Port | A connection on anIBM PC or compatible computer, usually named LPT1, where you plug in a cable fora parallel printer. Some computers have more than one parallel port and arelabeled LPT2, LPT3, etc. |
| Parallel Printer | A printer with a parallelinterface, which you connect to a parallelport. |
| Parameter | See option. |
| PARC | Palo Alto Research Center [XEROX]
|
| Parity | An error-checking procedure in which the number of1s must always be the same- either even or odd- for each group of bitstransmitted without error. The parity setting is often important incommunications. If you are having difficulty with a modem, check the parity; itcan be odd, even, or none. |
| partition | Sometimes due to hardware limitations, disks have to be divided into smaller pieces. These pieces are called partitions. |
| PASCAL | (Programming Language named for Blaise Pascal)
|
| Passive Matrix Display | A type ofLCDscreen used on portable computers in which parallel wires are run bothhorizontally and vertically in front and behind the display. Pixelsare turned on when both the horizontal and vertical wires which intersect thepixel are energized. Residual current in the wires can partially activate otherpixels, and reduce contrast in the display. For this reason, the passive matrixdisplay is considered inferior to the activematrix LCD. See also Dual-ScanDisplay. |
| Password | Once secret word or phrase spoken to a guard togain admission. Passwords are now commonly used to protect computer resources.You may need to enter a password when you turn on your computer, to use aprinter, or to gain access to a network resource. When selecting a password, donot use your name or any part of it. Do not use words that are found in adictionary or that are common around your office. Secure passwords shouldcontain a combination of upper and lower case letters and may contain symbols ornumbers. |
| PAT | Port Address Translation
|
| Path | Specifies the location of a file. Forexample (in MS-DOS), the path of the file BOB.DOC which is located in theDOCUMENT directoryin the SALES directory on the C drive,is C: |
| PATN | Promotional Port Access Telephone Number
|
| PAX | Portable Archive Exchange [Unix]
|
| PB | Petabyte (1,024 terabytes)
(One Million Billion characters of information)
|
| PBA | Printed Board Assembly
|
| PBC | Plain-Text Block Chaining
|
| PBE | Prompt By Example
|
| PBGA | Plastic Ball Grid Array
|
| PBR | Policy-Based Routing [Cisco]
|
| PBX | Private Branch Exchange
|
| PC | Personal Computer + Printed Circuit + Program Counter
|
| PC Card | See PCMCIA. |
| PC-DOS | Personal Computer - Disk Operating System [IBM]
|
| PC-I/O | Program Controlled I/O
|
| PCACIAS | Personal Computer Automated Calibration Interval
Analysis System
|
| PCB | Printed Circuit Board + Program Control Block
|
| PCBC | Plain/Propagating Cipher Block Chaining
|
| PCC | Proof Carrying Code
|
| PCD | Photo Compact Disk
|
| PCEB | PCI to EISA Bridge [Intel]
|
| PCI | Peripheral Component Interconnect/Interface
|
| PCIC | PC-Card Interrupt Controller
|
| PCL | Printer Command Language [HP] + Process Control Language
|
| PCM | Personal Computer Manufacturer +
Printer Cartridge Metric [HP] +
Pulse Code Modulation
|
| PCMA | Paired Carrier Multiple Access
|
| PCMC | PCI, Cache, Memory Controller [Intel]
|
| PCMCIA | Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
|
| PCMIM | Personal Computer Media Interface Module
|
| PCN | Personal Computer Network
|
| PCNFS | Personal Computer Network File System
|
| PCO | Point of Control and Observation
|
| PCS | Patchable Control Store +
Personal Communication Services/System +
Personal Conferencing Specification +
Planning Control Sheet + Print Contrast Signal +
Process Control Systems + Program Counter Store +
Project Control System
|
| PCT | Private Communications Technology
|
| PD | Phase-Change Dual + Public Domain
|
| PDA | Personal Digital Assistant
|
| PDC | Primary Domain Controller
|
| PDD | Physical Device Driver + Portable Digital Document
|
| PDF | Package Definition File + Portable Document Format +
Portable Document File + Processor Defined Function +
Program Development Facility
|
| PDH | Plesiosynchronous Digital Hierarchy
|
| PDIAL | Public Dialup Internet Access List [Internet]
|
| PDL | Page Description Language +
Program Description\Design Language
|
| PDM | Product Data Management
|
| PDN | Public Data Network
|
| PDO | Portable Distributed Objects [Next]
|
| PDP | Parallel Data Processing + Plasma Display Panel +
Programmable Data Processor +
(DEC Computer System Designation, i.e. PDP-8, PDP-11)
|
| PDS | Packet Driver Specification + Partitioned Data Set +
Planetary Data System + Portable Document Software +
Processor Direct Slot [Macintosh]
|
| PDSN | Packet Data Serving Node
|
| PDSS | Post Development and Software Support
|
| PDT | Performance Diagnostic Tool [IBM] +
Programmable Drive Table
|
| PDU | Plug Distribution Unit + Protocol Data Unit
|
| PE | Parity Even + Processing Element + Protect Enable
|
| PEA | Pocket Ethernet Adapter
|
| PEL | Picture Element [IBM]
|
| PEM | Privacy-Enhanced Mail [Internet]
|
| PEN | SDK Pen Computing Software Development Kit
|
| Pentium | A CPUchip produced by Intel,used in IBM compatible machines. The Pentium is the equivalent of the 586 (ofthe 80x86chip family). |
| Pentium Pro | A CPUchip produced by Intel,which has some substantial architectural changes from the Pentium, including abuilt in L2cache. The Pentium Pro was called P6 during development. |
| PEP | Packet Exchange Protocol +
Packetized Ensemble Protocol [Telebit]
|
| PERC | Power Edge RAID Controller
|
| Peripheral | A hardwareitem that can be attached to a computer to increase its functionality, such as aprinter or monitor. |
| PERL | Practical Extraction and Report Language [Unix]
|
| PERT | Program Evaluation and Review Technique
|
| PES | Positioning Error Signal + Processor Enhancement Socket
Processor Upgrade Socket
|
| PET | Print Enhancement Technology [Compaq]
|
| PETSCII | The PETSCII character set gets its name from "PET ASCII; it is a variant of the ASCII character set originally developed for the Commodore PET that swaps the upper and lower case characters and adds over a hundred graphic characters in addition to other small changes. If you encounter some text that seems to have uppercase where lowercase is expected and vice-versa, it is probably a PETSCII file. |
| PFE | Programmer's File Editor
|
| PFN | Page Frame Number
|
| PFR | Portable Font Resource + Power-Fail Restart
|
| PGA | Pin Grid Array + Professional Graphics Adapter [IBM]
|
| PGC | Program Group Control [Microsoft]
|
| PGDN | Page Down
|
| PGM | Program
|
| PGML | Precision Graphics Markup Language
|
| PGP | Pretty Good Privacy (name of encryption program)
|
| PGUP | Page Up
|
| Ph | An online directory database system. Used to get info onUniversity people, and used at the UofC for authentication for SLIPaccess and the ovid database (with the user's Ph password). The Ph database'sinformation is not necessarily up to date. |
| PHF | Perfect Hash Function
|
| PHIGS | Programmers' Hierarchical Interactive Graphics
Standards
|
| PHP | Personal Home Pages (original name of this programming
language, now known as PHP Hypertext Preprocessor)
|
| PHS | Personal Handyphone System
|
| PI | Program Interruption
|
| PIA | Peripheral Interface Adapter
|
| PIC | Personal Information Carrier +
Personal Intelligent Communicator +
Platform for Internet Content +
Priority Interrupt Controller +
Program Interrupt Controller
|
| PICS | Platform for Internet Content Selection [W3C]
|
| PICT | Picture
|
| PID | Process Identification Number + Product ID +
Proportional, Integral, Derivative
|
| PIER | Procedures for Internet/Enterprise Renumbering
|
| PIF | Picture Interchange Format File +
Program Information File
|
| PII | Program Integrated Information
|
| PILOT | Programmed Inquiry Learning Or Teaching
|
| PilotACE* | Pilot Automatic Computing Engine
|
| PIM | Personal Information Manager +
Primary Interface Module +
Protocol-Independent Multicast
|
| PIN | Personal Identification Number +
Process Identification Number [Unix]
|
| PINE | Pine Is Not Elm (original usage) +
Program for Internet News & Email (present usage)
|
| PING | Packet Internet Groper
|
| PIO | Parallel Input/Output + Processor Input/Output +
Programmed Input/Output
|
| PIP | Pattern and Information Processing +
Picture In Picture + Problem Isolation Procedure +
Programmable Interconnect Point
|
| PIPO | Parallel In, Parallel Out
|
| PIR | Protocol Independent Routing
|
| PIT | Programmable Interval Timer
|
| PIXEL | Picture Element
|
| PJPEG | Progressive JPEG
|
| PK | Primary Key
|
| PKC | Public Key Cryptography
|
| PKI | Public Key Infrastructure
|
| PL | Plus
|
| PL/1 | Programming Language One
|
| PL/M | Programming Language for Micros
|
| PLA | Programmable Logic-Array
|
| platform | Roughly speaking, a platform represents a computer's family. It is defined by both the processor type on the hardware side and the OS type on the software side. Computers belonging to different platforms cannot typically run each other's programs (unless the programs are written in a language like Java). |
| PLATO | Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations
|
| PLC | Power Line Communications +
Programmable Logic Controller
|
| PLCC | Plastic Leadless Chip Carrier
|
| PLD | Programmable Logic Device
|
| PLDS | Pilot Land Data System [NASA]
|
| PLL | Phase Locked Loop
|
| PLS | Primary Link Station
|
| Plug and Play (PnP) | A hardwarestandard for auto configuration, which requires operating system support.Currently, Windows 95 supports Plug and Play. Also slang for autoconfig. |
| plug-in | A plug-in is a piece of software designed not to run on its own but rather work in cooperation with a separate application to increase that application's abilities. |
| PLV | Production Level Video
|
| PM | Presentation Manager [IBM] +
Preventative Maintenance + Process Manager
|
| PMD | Packet Mode Data
|
| PMMU | Paged Memory Management Unit
|
| PMOS | Positive Channel Metal Oxide Semiconductor
|
| PMR | Problem Management Report [IBM]
|
| PMS | Policy Management System
|
| PN | Processing Node
|
| PNA | Programmable Network Access
|
| PNG | Portable Network Graphics
|
| PNNI | Private Network-to-Network Interface
|
| PNP | Plug And Play
|
| PO | Parity Odd
|
| POA | Portable Object Adapter
|
| POC | Point Of Contact
|
| POC-IT | Point Of Care-Information Technology [Johns Hopkins]
|
| POD | Piece Of Data + Plain Old Documentation [Perl] +
Plain Old Dos + Publishing On Demand
|
| POE | Power Open Environment
|
| POH | Power-On Hours
|
| Point | A measurement of printed text. Asingle point is 1/72 of an inch. 12 points, abbreviated 12 pt., is the height ofstandard, 6 lines per inch, typewriter text. |
| Point Size | Also called fontsize. The height of a printed character specified in points. |
| Pointer | See Cursor. |
| Pointing Device | An input device you use to move the pointeron the screen, choose commands, press buttons, select text, create drawings, andso on. A mousein a pointing device. |
| POL | Problem Oriented Language
|
| POP | Point Of Presence + Pop from Stack + Post Office Protocol
|
| Pop-up Program | See TSR. |
| POP3 | Post Office Protocol, Version 3
|
| POPA | Pop All Registers
|
| POPF | Pop Flags
|
| POR | Power-On-Reset
|
| Port | A plug and its associated circuitry in a computer'shardware, used for sending data from computer to its peripheralsor to other computers. Serial,parallel,and SCSIports are commonly used ports. |
| portable | If something is portable it can be easily moved from one type of computer to another. The verb "to port" indicates the moving itself. |
| POS | Packet Over Sonet + Point of Sale + Positive +
Programmable Object Select
|
| POSE | Palm Operating System Emulator
|
| POSIX | Portable Operating System Interface for Unix
|
| POST | Power-On Self Test
|
| POSTNET | Postal Numeric Encoding Technique (bar code)
|
| PostScript | A language designed fordescribing text and graphics, usually built into high-end output devices such aslaser printers and typesetters. Display PostScript is the use of PostScript forthe computer's own display (on a monitor). |
| POTS | Plain Old Telephone Service + Plain Old Time-Sharing
|
| POWER | Performance Optimization with Enhanced RISC [IBM]
|
| PowerPC | Performance Optimization with Enhanced RISC-Performance
Computing
|
| PowerPC Platform (PPCP) | Astandard hardware architecture developed by a consortium including Apple,IBM,and several other companies. PPCP machines use the PowerPCCPU and a PCIbus. A number of operatingsystems, including Copland,AIX,WindowsNT, etc. should be able to run on PPCP machines. Also called the CommonHardware Reference Platform (CHRP). |
| PP | Parallel Port
|
| PPA | Pixel Processing Accelerator
|
| PPC | Pocket Personal Computer
|
| PPCP | See PowerPCPlatform. |
| PPDS | Personal Printer Data Stream [IBM]
|
| PPGA | Plastic Pin Grid Array
|
| PPI | Precise Pixel Interpolation
|
| PPM | Pages Per Minute
|
| PPP | Point-to-Point Protocol [Internet]
|
| PPPOE | Point-to-Point Protocol Over Ethernet
|
| PPS | Packets Per Second + Power Personal Systems [IBM]
|
| PPTP | Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol [Microsoft]
|
| PQA | Palm Query Application
|
| PQFP | Plastic Quad Flat Pack
|
| PQO | Parallel Query Option
|
| PRACSA | Public Remote Access Computer Standards Association
|
| PRAM | Parallel Random-Access Machine +
Parameter Random Access Memory
|
| PRE | Preformatted [HTML]
|
| PREP | Power PC Reference Platform [IBM/Motorola]
|
| Press | Action performed using the mouse.Click the mouse button but do not release it. Continue to hold the mouse button.Pressing is used in selecting items from menus, dragging items, and using scrollbars. |
| PRF | Pulse Repetition Frequency
|
| PRI | Primary-Rate Interface
|
| Print Queue | A list of files that have been sent to aprinter. The list indicates the file currently printing and those waiting to beprinted. |
| Print Server | A deviceand/or program that manages shared printers. |
| printer | A printer is a piece of hardware that will print computer information onto paper. |
| Printer Driver | A series of instructions that allow aprogram to communicate with a specific printer. |
| Printer Fonts | Fontsthat are stored in your printer's memory, or softfonts that are sent to your printer before a document is printed. Becausethe font works only with the printer, the operating system (or environment) musteither approximate the font on-screen or separate screen versions must beinstalled. |
| PRINTF | Print with Formatting [C Programming Language]
|
| PRISM | Photo-Refractive Information Storage Material
|
| PRMD | Private Management Domain [X.400]
|
| PRML | Partial-Response Maximum-Likelihood
|
| PRN | Printer
|
| PRNG | Pseudo-Random Number Generation (algorithm)
|
| PROC | Procedure
|
| processor | The processor (also called central processing unit, or CPU) is the part of the computer that actually works with the data and runs the programs. There are two main processor types in common usage today: CISC and RISC. Some computers have more than one processor and are thus called "multiprocessor". This is distinct from multitasking. Advertisers often use megahertz numbers as a means of showing a processor's speed. This is often extremely misleading; megahertz numbers are more or less meaningless when compared across different types of processors. |
| PROFS | Professional Office System [IBM]
|
| PROG | Program + Programmer
|
| Program | See application. |
| Program File | On an IBM PCor compatible computer, an executable file that starts an application orprogram. A program file has an .EXE, .PIF, .COM, or .BAT filename extension. |
| Program Information File | See PIF. |
| PROLOG | Programming In Logic (Programming Language)(See HLL)
|
| PROM | Programmable Read Only Memory
|
| Proportional Font | A fontin which different characters have varying widths, such as Times. Contrast withfixed-widthfont. |
| proprietary | This simply means to be supplied by only one vendor. It is commonly misused. Currently, most processors are non-proprietary, some systems are non-proprietary, and every OS (except for arguably Linux) is proprietary. |
| Protected Mode | An IBM PCor compatible computer's operating mode that is capable of addressing extendedmemory directly. Keeps applications in memory from addressing the samememory location. |
| Protocol | Rules for communicating,particularly for the format and transmission of data.Q |
| PRTSC | Print Screen
|
| PS | Proportional Spacing
|
| PS/2 | Programming System 2 [IBM]
|
| PSAPI | Presentation Space Application Programming Interface
|
| PSC | Personal Super Computer + Print Server Command +
Product Service Center
|
| PSDN | Packet-Switched Data Network
|
| PSDS | Packet-Switched Data Service
|
| PSERVER | Print Server [NetWare]
|
| PSF | Permanent Swap File
|
| PSID | PostScript Image Data
|
| PSINET | (formerly Performance Systems International)
|
| Psion | The Psion is a fairly popular brand of PDA. Generally, it is in between a Palm and a Newton in capability. It runs the EPOC OS. |
| PSM | Platform Specific Model + Printing Systems Manager +
Print Services Facility [IBM]
|
| PSN | Packet Switching Network +
Processor Serial Number
|
| PSP | Personal Software Products (group) [IBM] +
Program Segment Prefix
|
| PSPC | Palm-Sized Personal Computer
|
| PSPDN | Packet-Switched Public Data Network
|
| PSRAM | Pseudo-Static Random Access Memory
|
| PSRT | PostScript Round Table [GEnie]
|
| PSS | Process Status Structure
|
| PSTN | Public Switched Telephone Network
|
| PSU | Power Supply Unit
|
| PSW | Program Status Word
|
| PT | Page Table
|
| PTD | Parallel Transfer Disk Drive
|
| PTE | Page Table Entry
|
| PTF | Problem Temporary/Trouble Fix [IBM]
|
| PTH | Plated Through Hole
|
| PTI | Packet Type Identifier
|
| PTT | Postal Telephone & Telegraph
|
| PUB | Public (directory) [Internet] + Publish
|
| PUN | Physical Unit Number
|
| PUP | PARC Universal Packet (protocol)
|
| PURL | Persistent URL
|
| PUS | Processor Upgrade Socket
|
| PUSHA | Push All Registers
|
| PUSHF | Push Flags
|
| PVC | Permanent Virtual Circuit + Polyvinyl Chloride
|
| PVM | Parallel Virtual Machine +
Pass-through Virtual Machine (protocol) [IBM]
|
| PVP | Parallel Vector Processing
|
| PVR | Personal Video Recorder
|
| PVS | Parallel Visualization Server
|
| PW | Password
|
| PWB | Printed Wire Board +
Programmer's Workbench [Microsoft]
|
| PWD | Print Working Directory [Unix]
|
| PWR | Power
|
| PWSCS | Programmable Workstation Communication Services [IBM]
|
| Python | Python is an interpreted, object-oriented language popular for Internet applications. It is extremely portable with free versions existing for virtually every platform. |
