| P2P |
Stands for "Peer to Peer." In a P2P network, the "peers" are computer systems which are connected to each other via... |
| Packet |
This is a small amount of computer data sent over a network. Any time you receive data from the Internet, it comes to... |
| Page Orientation |
Page orientation describes the way a document is printed or displayed on a screen. The two main types are "Portrait... |
| Page View |
Each time a user visits a Web page, it is called a page view. Page views, also written "pageviews," are tracked by... |
| Parallel Port |
This interface is found on the back of older PCs and is used for connecting external devices such as printers or a... |
| Parse |
No, this is not a typo of the word "sparse." The word "parse" means to analyze an object specifically. It is commonly... |
| Partition |
A partition is a section of a hard disk. When you format a hard disk, you can usually choose the number of partitions... |
| Password |
A password is a string of characters used for authenticating a user on a computer system. For example, you may have an... |
| Paste |
Just like you can paste a note on a sheet of paper, you can paste data into a document on a computer. The paste... |
| Path |
A path, also known as a "file path" or "directory path," defines the location of a file or folder. Paths can either be... |
| Payload |
When data is sent over the Internet, each unit transmitted includes both header information and the actual data being... |
| PC |
Stands for "Personal computer." PCs are what most of us use on a daily basis for work or personal use. A typical PC... |
| PCB |
Stands for "Printed Circuit Board." A PCB is a thin board made of fiberglass or a similar material. Electrical wires... |
| PCI |
Stands for "Peripheral Component Interconnect." It is a hardware bus designed by Intel and used in both PCs and Macs... |
| PCI Express |
First came PCI, then PCI-X, then PCI Express. PCI Express can be abbreviated as PCIe or, less commonly and more... |
| PCI-X |
Stands for "Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended." Once again, "Ex" is abbreviated with an "X" instead of an... |
| PCMCIA |
Stands for "Personal Computer Memory Card International Association." It can also mean, perhaps more appropriately... |
| PDA |
Stands for "Personal Digital Assistant." These are the little electronic devices you see people jotting stuff down on... |
| PDF |
Stands for "Portable Document Format." PDF is a multi-platform file format developed by Adobe Systems. A PDF file... |
| Pebibyte |
A pebibyte is a unit of data storage that equals 2 to the 50th power, or 1,125,899,906,842,624 bytes.
While a... |
| Peopleware |
Peopleware refers to the role of people in the computing process. While hardware and software make up a computer... |
| Peripheral |
A computer peripheral is any external device that provides input and output for the computer. For example, a keyboard... |
| Perl |
Perl actually stands for "Practical Extraction and Report Language," but you don't really need to know that unless you... |
| Permalink |
Short for "permanent link." A permalink is a URL that links to a specific news story or Web posting. Permalinks are... |
| Personal URL |
A personal URL, or "purl," is a custom Web address that you can select for your profile page within a website... |
| Petabyte |
A petabyte is 2 to the 50th power, or 1,125,899,906,842,624 bytes. However, petabytes are often estimated as 10 to the... |
| Petaflops |
Petaflops (also PFLOPS) is used to measure the performance of a computer's floating point unit (FPU). One petaflops... |
| Pharming |
Pharming is yet another way hackers attempt to manipulate users on the Internet. While phishing attempts to capture... |
| Phishing |
Phishing is similar to fishing in a lake, but instead of trying to capture fish, phishers attempt to steal your... |
| PHP |
Stands for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor." (It is a recursive acronym, if you can understand what that means.) PHP is... |
| Phreaking |
Phreaking refers to experimenting with or exploiting a telephone system and is often considered to be the predecessor... |
| Piconet |
A piconet is a network that is created using a wireless Bluetooth connection. Some examples of piconets include 1) a... |
| PIM |
Stands for "Personal Information Manager." A PIM is a software application that serves as a planner, notebook, and... |
| Ping |
This term refers to a golf equipment brand, as well as the sound made by striking your glass with a spoon at the dinner... |
| Pinterest |
Pinterest is a website created for women. It allows users to share photos about topics such as cooking, clothing, and... |
| Pipeline |
Computer processors can handle millions of instructions each second. Once one instruction is processed, the next one... |
| Piracy |
When someone installs and uses commercial software without paying for the program, it is called "pirating" the... |
| Pixel |
The term "pixel" is actually short for "Picture Element." These small little dots are what make up the images on... |
| Plain Text |
Plain text is another name for unformatted text. Unlike rich text, plain text does not support italics, underlining... |
| Platform |
In the computer world, a "platform" typically refers to a computer's operating system. For example, a Dell computer... |
| Plug and Play |
Plug and Play, sometimes, abbreviated PnP, is a catchy phrase used to describe devices that work with a computer system... |
| Plug-in |
A plug-in (also "plugin") is software add-on that adds extra features and capabilities to an application. Typically... |
| PMU |
Stands for "Power Management Unit." The PMU is a microcontroller, or integrated circuit, that controls the power... |
| PNG |
Stands for "Portable Network Graphic." This format was designed as an alternative to the GIF format (which has been... |
| Podcast |
The name "podcast" combines the terms iPod and broadcast into a single catchy word. As the name suggests, podcasts are... |
| Pop-Up |
The term "pop-up" has two computer-related meanings. One refers to a window and the other is a type of menu.
... |
| POP3 |
Stands for "Post Office Protocol." POP3, sometimes referred to as just "POP," is a simple, standardized method of... |
| Port |
As if computer terms weren't hard enough to understand, there are three different meanings of the word "port."
1. An... |
| Portal |
While this term can also refer to a matterless vortex used to travel between different dimensions, an Internet portal... |
| PostScript |
PostScript is a page description language (PDL) that describes a page's text and graphical content. It can be used to... |
| Power Cycle |
While the phrase "power cycle" appears to be a noun, it is actually more commonly used as a verb. In simple terms, to... |
| Power Supply |
A power supply is a component that regulates and provides power to an electrical device. It receives power from a wall... |
| Power User |
When it comes to computers, there are regular users and there are power users. Most people fall into the regular... |
| PowerPoint |
PowerPoint is a presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is included in the standard Office suite along with... |
| PPC |
Stands for "Pay Per Click," and is used in online advertising. PPC advertisements generate revenue for Web publishers... |
| PPGA |
Stands for "Plastic Pin Grid Array" (not the Pretty People Golfer's Association). PPGA is a type of processor design... |
| PPI |
Stands for "Pixels Per Inch." The resolution of a printed photo is often measured in DPI, or "dots per inch." The DPI... |
| PPL |
Stands for "Pay Per Lead." PPL is similar to CPL, but measures the cost per lead from the advertiser's perspective... |
| PPM |
Stands for "Pages Per Minute." PPM is used to measure the printing speed of both inkjet and laser printers. Most... |
| PPP |
Stands for "Point to Point Protocol." It is the Internet standard for dial-up modem connections. PPP is a set of... |
| PPPoE |
PPPoE is short for "Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet" and is pronounced "P-P-P-oh-E." It is a protocol commonly... |
| PPTP |
Stands for "Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol." PPTP is a networking standard for connecting to virtual private... |
| PRAM |
Stands for "Parameter Random Access Memory," and is pronounced "P-ram." PRAM is a type of memory found in Macintosh... |
| Prebinding |
Prebinding is an optimization process that allows faster launching of applications in Mac OS X. Often, when a program... |
| Primary Key |
A primary key is a unique identifier for a database record. When a table is created, one of the fields is typically... |
| Primary Memory |
Primary memory is computer memory that is accessed directly by the CPU. This includes several types of memory, such as... |
| Printer |
A printer is an output device that prints documents from a computer. Common printers include inkjet and laser... |
| Process |
A process is a program that is running on your computer. This can be anything from a small background task, such as a... |
| Processor |
This little chip is the heart of a computer. Also referred to as the "microprocessor," the processor does all the... |
| Program |
Program is a common computer term that can be used as both a noun and a verb. A program (noun) is executable software... |
| Progressive Scan |
Video signals are generated using horizontal lines. An interlaced picture draws every other line and alternates... |
| PROM |
PROM stands for "Programmable Read-Only Memory" and is pronounced "P-ROM." It is a type of ROM used in small... |
| Protocol |
When computers communicate with each other, there needs to be a common set of rules and instructions that each computer... |
| Proxy Server |
Most large businesses, organizations, and universities these days use a proxy server. This is a server that all... |
| PS/2 |
PS/2 is a type of port used by older computers for connecting input devices such as keyboards and mice. The port was... |
| Pseudocode |
Most software programs are developed using a programming language, like (C++|cplusplus) or Java. These languages have... |
| Push |
Push refers to a system in which data is "pushed" to a user's device rather than "pulled" by the user. In other words... |
| Python |
Python is a programming language commonly used for creating Web applications and software plug-ins. It is designed to... |
