Usage glossary for computers letter P

• What is Paint Shop Pro / Professional Support Partnership Definition PSP 1. Paint Shop Pro. A popular and versatile commercial package for manipulating images. 2. Professional Support Partnership compare
• What is Power On Self Test / Act of sending a newsgroup message / To send a message Explain tests performed by a computer's BIOS straight after power up. 2. The act of sending a message to a newsgroup, where others can view and respond to it. The term Post can also be used to refer to that why
• What is Format Document Portable What is PDF Portable Document Format (file). A document format developed by Adobe, for storing and formatting published documents. PDF files are recognised by the file extension .pdf. Relevant links how better
• What is Programmable Logic Controller / Power Line Communications / PublicLimited Company Meaning Power Line Communications. Means the same as Broadband over Power Lines, see BPL for details. 3. Public Limited Company. A registered company in the UK, owned by shareholders when
• What is Exchange Branch Private Abbreviation PBX Private Branch Exchange determines
• What is Program Evaluation Review Technique How to Pert Program Evaluation Review Technique. See also Pert Chart comparing to
• What is Recording Magnetic Perpendicular Help technique for obtaining higher storage capacity from disks. Also known as PR (Perpendicular Recording). Relevant links: www.hitachigst.com/hdd/research/recording_head/pr/ - Information on Perpe depends on
• What is Unit Distribution Power Crossword PDU Power Distribution Unit which
• What is Personal Area Network / Horizontal rotation / To move Examples wireless network that covers a few meters around a person's workspace. A PAN is used for communication between personal devices, such as bluetooth devices like wireless keyboards, headphones, cell difference
• What is Controller Domain Primary Encyclopedia Windows NT domain, one domain controller is the primary domain controller and any other domain controllers are backup ones (BDC). The distinction between PDC and BDC do not exist in Windows 2000 and when
• What is Position Oriented Navigation Code Information about Code. A PON code is a postcode system developed for Ireland that is based on geographic coordinates. A PON Code is a seven character alphanumeric code generated from a longitude and latitude. Each pros and cons
• What is Point Interception Packet Tutorial PIP Packet Interception Point similarities
• What is Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Error Security Standard. A common industry security standard developed from a collaboration between Visa and MasterCard. cf CISP. Relevant links: http://usa.visa.com/business/accepting_visa/ops_risk how much
• What is Private internet like network Answer Intranet Private network using internet type tools, but available only within an organisation how many
• What is Performance Management System / Pantone Matching System Means what Pantone Matching System. A standard system for selecting and matching colours, where each colour and shade is assigned a unique number.Relevant links: www.pantone.com/Pages/Pantone/Pantone.aspx?pg compare
• What is Time Standard Pacific Description PST Pacific Standard Time. Abbreviated name for the time zone used on the West coast of America. PST = UTC - 8 hours why
• What is Board Circuit Printed Definition PCB Printed Circuit Board. See also PWB how better
• What is Public Switched Telephone Network Explain PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network. Relevant links: www.vicomsoft.com/knowledge/reference/pppoe.html www.carricksolutions.com/pppoe.php when
• What is Packing And Postage What is P&P Postage and Packing. Also abbreviated to P+P determines
• What is Port Address Translation / Portable Appliance Testing / Public AccessTerminal / Performance Acceleration Technology Meaning Portable Appliance Testing. Periodic inspection and testing of portable appliances for electrical safety and maintenance. Relevant links: www.pat-testing.info 3. Public Access Terminal. Refers to comparing to
• What is Popular internet browser from the Mozilla Foundation Abbreviation Firefox is a graphical web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and is based on the Mozilla browser. It is cross platform (so runs on a wide range of software platforms), and is widely depends on
• What is Permanent Virtual Channel / Permanent Virtual Circuit / PermanentVirtual Connection How to PVC 1. Permanent Virtual Channel. 2. Permanent Virtual Circuit. 3. Permanent Virtual Connection which
• What is Problem Between Keyboard And Chair Help Chair. Abbreviation indicating that a problem (or cause of a problem) is the user of the computer (and not a hardware or software problem). Similar abbreviations: ESO, PICNIC difference
• What is Ata Parallel Crossword PATA Abbreviation for Parallel ATA. PATA is the term now commonly used for what historically was termed simply IDE.PATA has a maximum data transfer rate of 133MB/sec. See ATA for details. cf SATA when
• What is Chart Management Project Examples for project management. Each task is illustrated as a horizontal bar on a chart, with time along the horizontal axis and tasks along the vertical axis. See also Pert chart pros and cons
• What is Problem In Chair Not In Computer Encyclopedia Computer. An abbreviation indicating that a problem was not computer related but lies with the person in the chair, i.e. a user related problem.Similar abbreviations: PBKAC and ESO similarities
• What is Petabyte / Playback / Lead / Personal Best / Paper Back Information about bytes. 2. Abbreviation for Play Back. 3. In chemistry Pb stands for Lead. Lead is a soft metal, historically commonly used for pipes, roofing and in paint. Less commonly used today because of its da how much
• What is Platform for Privacy Preferences Tutorial P3P Platform for Privacy Preferences. Relevant links: www.w3.org/P3P - Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) Project how many
• What is Peripheral Computer Interface / Payment Card Industry / Payment CardIndustry Data Security Standard Error 32 or 64 bit bus architecture described by the PCI Local Bus Specification. cf ISA. 2. Payment Card Industry. 3. Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard. See PCI DSS compare
• What is Plain Old Telephone Service Answer POTS Plain Old Telephone Service why
• What is Planning and/or management of an operation or campaign Means what Strategy The planning and/or management of an operation or campaign how better
• What is File Address Postcode Description address database for addresses in the UK, containing UK addresses and postcodes. PAF is a licensed product from the Royal Mail.Relevant links: www.royalmail.com/pafnews - For information on PAF from when
• What is Point To Point Tunneling Protocol Definition Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol is a network protocol that provides secure transfer of data from a remote client to a server. PPTP supports multiple network protocols (IP, IPX, and NetBEUI) and determines
• What is Graphics Network Portable Explain compressed loss-less image format. Image files saved using the PNG format are usually given a .png file extension. Relevant links: www.libpng.org/pub/png Contributed by Kenneth Nellis comparing to
• What is Public Relations / Page Rank / Problem Report / Progress Report /Perpendicular Recording What is Usually refers to Google's "PageRank" algorithm. 3. Problem Report. 4. Progress Report. 5. Perpendicular Recording. See PMR (Perpendicular Magnetic Recording depends on
• What is Virtual To Physical Meaning P2V Physical To Virtual which
• What is Percentage with a lower score or rank / percentage with a lower or equal rank Abbreviation distribution with a lower score or rank. For example if 70% of the population were shorter than you, then your height would be said to be at the 70th percentile. See also quintile, decile. 2. The per difference
• What is Pretty Darn Quick / Parallel Database Query How to Quick. Means as soon as possible..Similar in meaning to ASAP. 2. Parallel Data Query (or Parallel Data Queries). Refers to breaking a query down into a number of smaller parts each of which can then when
• What is Pence per minute / Pence per message Help PPM 1. Pence Per Minute - a charge rate per minute. 2. Pence Per Message - a charge rate per message pros and cons
• What is Pay per click, where an advertiser pays for each click through Crossword Pay-Per-Click Pay-Per-Click, often abbreviated PPC. Where a company (or advertiser) pays (a search engine or affiliate site) for each click-through on an advertisement. cf Pay-Per-Click Fraud similarities
• What is Program code made available to others Examples available for view, reuse and modification by others, normally with no license fee or restrictions on use. Relevant links: www.opensource.org/docs/definition_plain.php - The full comp how much
• What is Public service agreement / Public service advert / Public serviceannouncement / Psalms Encyclopedia voluntary program set up by central government, typically with the objective of setting voluntary service or performance targets. 2. Public Service Advert. A type of advertisement served up by how many
• What is Service Rate Premium Information about PRS Premium Rate Service. A service provided at a higher cost but normally with better features or performance than a non-premium rate service compare
• What is Unit Supply Power Tutorial device that converts from the mains AC electrical supply into DC voltage (or voltages) required by an electronic device. A PSU may be internal to the device or external. Typically the larger the why
• What is Improvement Accuracy Positional Error Typically used to refer to a project for improving the positional accuracy of geographic data. Can also be used to refer to techniques to improve the positional accuracy of geographic data how better
• What is Board Wiring Printed Answer but in Japan is normally referred to as PWB to avoid confusion with "Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)" which is a poison. Relevant links: www.interq.or.jp/japan/se-inoue/e_prin when
• What is Part of an intranet accessible externally Means what Extranet An intranet (or part of an intranet) that is accessible to computers outside of the company.  determines
• What is Language Control Printer Description PCL Printer Control Language. A language developed by HP in for controlling printers. Relevant links: www.hp.com - the HP website, use their site search to find further information about PCL comparing to
• What is Point of Interest / Point of Interface Definition used as a general term to refer to a point of interest on a map - for example city centre points could be termed points of interest, as might cash points or petrol stations. 2. Point of Interface depends on
• What is Assistant Digital Personal Explain generic term used to describe any small portable hand-held electronic device that provides a minimum of storage and retrieval functions, such as calendar and address book. PDAs are also referred to which
• What is View Per Pay What is PPV Pay Per View difference
• What is Probe Problem Meaning PRB 1. Abbreviation for "Problem" 2. Abbreviation for "Probe" when
• What is Password / Print Working Directory Abbreviation for "Password". 2. Print Working Directory, or Present Working Directory.PWD is a Unix command which prints (i.e. displays) the full path of the current working directory pros and cons
• What is Information Identifiable Personal How to Personal Identifiable Information is any information which can be used to track back to an individual. PII is therefore any information which can be used to identify an individual, whether directly similarities
• What is Ethernet Over Ppp Help PPPoE Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet. Relevant links: www.vicomsoft.com/knowledge/reference/pppoe.html how much
• What is Point-to-Point Protocol Crossword PPP Point-to-Point Protocol how many
• What is Protocol Authentication Password Examples PAP Password Authentication Protocol compare
• What is Executable Portable Encyclopedia PE Portable Executable. Typically Java (running on a Java Virtual Machine) or .NET (running on CLR why
• What is Phase Alternating Line (tv standard) Information about name of the analogue television standard used in Westren Europe, Australisa, New Zealand and parts of Asia. A PAL picture is made of 625 scan lines of which 575 are visible. cf NTSC, SDTV, HDTV how better
• What is Programmable Read Only Memory Tutorial PROM Programmable Read-Only Memory (Programmable ROM). Semiconductor memory that is non-volatile (so it retains its contents when the power is off) which can be programmed only once when
• What is Parser generator tool available on Unix systems Error YACC Parser generator tool available on Unix systems. YACC stands for Yet Another Compiler Compiler determines
• What is Recorder Video Personal Answer PVR Personal Video Recorder (or Personal Video Recording). Similar in concept to a video recorder, but records in digital typically to solid state storage or to disk comparing to
• What is Proxy Auto-Configuration (file) Means what PAC file (which is a .js file) provides a means to allow browser proxy configuration to be configured through the use of a single JavaScript function FindProxyForURL() Conceptually each time the depends on
• What is Putting something down / Person with little or no knowledge / To kill-file Description something down. For example to plonk a bag on a table would be to put a bag down on a table. 2. Person with Little Or No Knowledge. A derogatory term, cf noob. Whereas someone might describe which
• What is Routing Based Policy Definition links: www.cisco.com/warp/public/732/Tech/plicy_wp.htm - Information about Policy Based Routing. www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/software/ios120/12cgcr/qos_c/qcpart1/qcpolicy.htm#4553 difference
• What is Public Key Cryptography Standard Explain PKCS Public Key Cryptography Standard when
• What is Point Of View / Privately Owned Vehicle What is context, POV may mean any of the following: As a chat abbreviation: POV is an abbreviated way of writing "point of view". The view from a camera. POV here meaning the point of view from pros and cons
• What is Parallel Cache Management / Pulse Code Modulation Meaning PCM 1. In an Oracle database: Parallel Cache Management. 2. Pulse Code Modulation. A scheme for encoding analogue audio data as a series of pulses, i.e. as digital data.  similarities
• What is Point when all database data is written to disk Abbreviation Checkpoint At a database checkpoint the database flushes out data not yet written to disk how much
• What is People / Pay per lead How to 2. Pay Per Lead. An affiliate marketing term meaning that a payment (or commission) is paid for each lead, regardless of whether this ends in a sale. Depending on the content a lead may be a how many
• What is Plug and Play / Pen and Paper Help PnP 1. Abbreviation for Plug and Play. 2. Abbreviation for Pen and Paper compare
• What is Personal Computer / Politically correct / Piece Crossword designed for use by one person at a time.Once generally accepted to refer to an IBM PC compatible (i.e. x86 based system typically running some version of Microsoft Windows or DOS). Typically these why
• What is Package and Deployment Wizard Examples PDW Package and Deployment Wizard how better
• What is Atm Over Ppp Encyclopedia PPPoA Point-to-Point Protocol over ATM when
• What is Pictorial presentation of a logical sequence of steps Information about showing the individual steps and sequence of those steps in a procedure or system. It provides a graphic pictorial representation of the sequence of steps. Relevant links: http://en.wikipedia determines
• What is Portable Application Description file Tutorial Description file. A file containing product descriptions, specifications and other information, expressed in format consistent with the PAD specification (which in turn is an XML file). This allows comparing to
• What is Output Input Programmed Error PIO Programmed Input/Output depends on
• What is PON Code / Price Of Non Conformance Answer postcode addressing system used in Ireland. PONC is pronounced "Punk". See PON Code for details. 2. Price Of Non Conformance. A method used to assign a financial cost to non conformance which
• What is Public Switched Network / Packet Switch Node Means what PSN 1. Public Switched Network. 2. Packet Switch Node difference
• What is Print queue that feeds a collection of printers Description Printer Pool A single print queue that feeds a collection of multiple printers when
• What is Pain In the A*** Definition PITA Chat abbreviation for: Pain In The Arse/Ass. Used to refer to a troublesome problem, which may be a recurring problem or a one-off issue pros and cons
• What is Personal Identification Number / Performance Improvement Network / Prior Information Notice Explain A general term used to refer to any number used to authenticate a person. For example a PIN number for bank withdrawals is used to authenticate the use of a cash-card, and the cash-card cannot be similarities
• What is Firewall Personal What is PFW Personal Firewall. A firewall intended to protect a single PC. Usually a software firewall how much
• What is Language Job Printer Meaning developed by Hewlett-Packard to provide a method for switching printer languages and for communicating status information between a printer and host computer.Relevant links: http://lprng.sourceforge how many
• What is Practical Extraction and Reporting Language Abbreviation Language.A common scripting language used on both Windows and UNIX platforms. It was originally popular on UNIX platforms but is now common on Windows systems, particularly for server scripting compare
• What is Click Per Pay How to PPC Abbreviation for Pay Per Click why
• What is Please Help Pls Chat abbreviation for "Please" how better
• What is Price on application / Price over average Crossword simply that the price of some commodity is available on request but is not made public otherwise. Price-on-application is used where it is impractical to provide a listed price because of other when
• What is Book Address Personal Examples PAB Personal Address Book, used by Outlook and other Microsoft Windows e-mail programs determines
• What is Id Process Encyclopedia identifier (normally a number) which uniquely identifies a process on a given system. PIDs are assigned by the operating system automatically when a process starts comparing to
• What is Management Data Product Information about PDM Product Data Management depends on
• What is Patter and Component Markup Language Tutorial PCML Patter and Component Markup Language. Relevant links: www.objectventure.com/pcml.html which
• What is Area Global Program Error Global Area. The PGA is a memory region containing data and control information for a single process (server or background). One PGA is allocated for each server process, the PGA is exclusive to that difference
• What is Private Internet eXchange (firewall) Answer of a firewall the design of which was acquired by Cisco systems in 1995.Relevant links: http://www.netcraftsmen.net/welcher/papers/pix01.html - Cisco PIX Firewall Basics when
• What is Pre-boot Execution Environment Means what PXE Pre-boot Execution Environment. An Intel standard for booting across a LAN. A workstation boots into the PXE where it can respond to management configuration before loading the operating system pros and cons
• What is Protocol Office Post Description for accessing e-mail, allowing e-mails to be downloaded form a server, stored locally and therefore available for off-line reading. cf POP 3. See also: IMAP, SMTP. Relevant links: www.ci similarities
• What is Mode Ftp Passive Definition to get around a problem where a firewall will block FTP communications. A firewall protecting a client will allow outgoing connections but block incoming ones. The issue with FTP is that whilst the how much
• What is Inclusion For Pay Explain PFI Pay For Inclusion. Normally refers to a search engine that will only include a site in its database in return for a fee how many
• What is Loss And Profit What is P&L Profit and Loss. Also abbreviated to P+L compare
• What is Infrastructure Key Public Meaning ensures that, for an online transaction, the person is who they say they are and that no-one else has access to the information. Under PKI a digital certificate is generated by a trusted third party why
• What is 3 Version Pop Abbreviation POP 3 Post Office Protocol version 3. Used for accessing email, see POP for details.The version of POP adopted is version 3, hence the name POP 3 how better
• What is Psion computers operating system How to 1997 by Psion computers. Suited for embedded mobile devices, it is used both in many handheld mobile devices, including some mobile phones (for example Nokia). EPOC also forms the basis of of the when
• What is Metrics Font Printer Help PFM Printer Font Metrics. A file that describes fonts for a printer determines
• What is Policy for keeping equipment up to date Crossword software and hardware resources up to date. For example a simple evergreening policy might be to replace all computers older than four years with new models. cf "technology replacement" comparing to
• What is Plan Development Personal Examples normally covering no more than a year, which maps out individual personal development goals. A personal development plan may also indicate how those goals are to be achieved and any achievement depends on
• What is Extension Address Physical Encyclopedia method of allowing Intel 32bit x86 processors to exceed the normal 4GB limit of addressable memory space, allowing access to memory beyond 4GB. Whilst PAE allows the total available memory to extend which
• What is Library Imaging Python Information about that adds image processing capabilities to applications that use Python.Relevant links: www.pythonware.com/products/pil/ - Python Imaging Library, download and information difference

Definitions for computer scientists

Computer library, software engineers in practical use.

Windows Python Imaging Library definition Physical Address Extension explain Personal Development Plan what is Policy for keeping equipment up to date meaning Printer. explain.

What is Paint Shop Pro / Professional Support Partnership definition Power On for developers.