The letter P

• P-mail n. Physical mail, as opposed to email. Synonymous
• P.O.D. /P-O-D/ Acronym for `Piece Of Data' (as opposed to a
• padded cell n. Where you put lusers so they can't hurt
• page in [MIT] vi. 1. To become aware of one's surroundings again
• page out [MIT] vi. 1. To become unaware of one's surroundings
• pain in the net n. A flamer.
• paper-net n. Hackish way of referring to the postal service,
• param /p*-ram'/ n. Shorthand for `parameter'. See also
• PARC n. See XEROX PARC.
• parent message n. What a followup follows up.
• parity errors pl.n. Little lapses of attention or (in more severe
• Parkinson's Law of Data prov. "Data expands to fill the space
• parm /parm/ n. Further-compressed form of param. This term
• parse [from linguistic terminology] vt. 1. To determine the
• Pascal n. An Algol-descended language designed by Niklaus Wirth
• pastie /pay'stee/ n. An adhesive-backed label designed to be
• patch 1. n. A temporary addition to a piece of code, usually as a
• patch space n. An unused block of bits left in a binary so that
• path n. 1. A bang path or explicitly routed {Internetaddress}
• pathological adj. 1. [scientific computation] Used of a data set
• payware /pay'weir/ n. Commercial software. Oppose shareware
• PBD /P-B-D/ [abbrev. of `Programmer Brain Damage'] n. Applied
• PC-ism /P-C-izm/ n. A piece of code or coding technique that
• PD /P-D/ adj. Common abbreviation for `public domain', applied
• PDL /P-D-L/, /pid'l/, /p*d'l/ or /puhd'l/ 1. n. `Program
• pdl /pid'l/ or /puhd'l/ [abbreviation for `Push Down List'] n.
• PDP-10 [Programmed Data Processor model 10] n. The machine that
• PDP-20 n. The most famous computer that never was. PDP-10
• peek n.,vt. (and poke) The commands in most microcomputer
• pencil and paper n. An archaic information storage and
• peon n. A person with no special (root or wheel)
• percent-S /per-sent' es'/ [From the code in C's `printf(3)'
• perf /perf/ n. Syn. chad (sense 1). The term `perfory'
• perfect programmer syndrome n. Arrogance; the egotistical
• Perl /perl/ [Practical Extraction and Report Language, a.k.a
• person of no account [University of California at Santa Cruz] n.
• pessimal /pes'im-l/ [Latin-based antonym for `optimal'] adj.
• pessimizing compiler /pes'*-miz`ing k*m-pil'r/ [antonym of
• peta- /pe't*/ [SI] pref. See quantifiers.
• PETSCII /pet'skee/ [abbreviation of PET ASCII] n. The variation
• phage n. A program that modifies other programs or databases in
• phase 1. n. The offset of one's waking-sleeping schedule with
• phase of the moon n. Used humorously as a random parameter on
• phase-wrapping [MIT] n. Syn. wrap around, sense 2.
• phreaking /freek'ing/ [from `phone phreak'] n. 1. The art and
• pico- [SI a quantifier
• pig, run like a v. To run very slowly on given hardware, said of
• pilot error [Sun from aviation] n. A user's misconfiguration or
• ping [from the TCP/IP acronym `Packet INternet Groper', prob.
• Pink-Shirt Book "The Peter Norton Programmer's Guide to the IBM
• PIP /pip/ [Peripheral Interchange Program] vt.,obs. To copy;
• pistol [IBM] n. A tool that makes it all too easy for you to
• pizza box [Sun] n. The largish thin box housing the electronics
• pizza, ANSI standard /an'see stan'd*rd peet'z*/ [CMU] Pepperoni
• plaid screen [XEROX PARC] n. A `special effect' that occurs
• plain-ASCII /playn-as'kee/ Syn. flat-ASCII.
• plan file [UNIX] n. On systems that support finger, the
• platinum-iridium adj. Standard, against which all others of the
• playpen [IBM] n. A room where programmers work. Compare {saltmines}
• playte /playt/ 16 bits, by analogy with nybble and
• plingnet /pling'net/ n. Syn. UUCPNET. Also see
• plokta /plok't*/ [Acronym for `Press Lots Of Keys To Abort']
• plonk [USENET possibly influenced by British slang `plonk' for
• plugh /ploogh/ [from the ADVENT game] v. See xyzzy.
• plumbing [UNIX] n. Term used for shell code, so called
• PM /P-M/ 1. v. (from `preventive maintenance') To bring down
• pnambic /p*-nam'bik/ [Acronym from the scene in the film
• pod [allegedly from abbreviation POD for `Prince Of Darkness'] n. A
• point-and-drool interface n. Parody of the techspeak term
• poke n.,vt. See peek.
• poll v.,n. 1. [techspeak] The action of checking the status of an
• polygon pusher n. A chip designer who spends most of his or her
• POM /P-O-M/ n. Common abbreviation for phase of the moon. Usage
• pop /pop/ [from the operation that removes the top of a stack,
• POPJ /pop'J/ [from a PDP-10 return-from-subroutine
• post v. To send a message to a mailing list or newsgroup.
• postcardware n. {Shareware} that borders on freeware, in
• posting n. Noun corresp. to v. post (but note that
• postmaster n. The email contact and maintenance person at a site
• PostScript n. A Page Description Language (PDL), based on
• pound on vt. Syn. bang on.
• power cycle vt. (also, `cycle power' or just `cycle') To
• power hit n. A spike or drop-out in the electricity supplying
• PPN /P-P-N/, /pip'n/ [from `Project-Programmer Number'] n. A
• precedence lossage /pre's*-dens los'*j/ [C programmers] n.
• prepend /pree`pend'/ [by analogy with `append'] vt. To
• prestidigitization /pres`t*-di`j*-ti-zay'sh*n/ n. 1. The act
• pretty pictures n. [scientific computation] The next step up from
• prettyprint /prit'ee-print/ (alt. `pretty-print') v. 1. To
• pretzel key [Mac users] n. See feature key.
• prime time [from TV programming] n. Normal high-usage hours on a
• printing discussion [XEROX PARC] n. A protracted, low-level,
• priority interrupt [from the hardware term] n. Describes any
• profile n. 1. A control file for a program, esp. a text file
• proglet /prog'let/ [UK] n. A short extempore program
• program n. 1. A magic spell cast over a computer allowing it to
• Programmer's Cheer "Shift to the left! Shift to the right! Pop
• programming n. 1. The art of debugging a blank sheet of paper (or,
• programming fluid n. 1. Coffee. 2. Cola. 3. Any caffeinacious
• propeller head n. Used by hackers, this is syn. with {computergeek}
• propeller key [Mac users] n. See feature key.
• proprietary adj. 1. In marketroid-speak, superior; implies a
• protocol n. As used by hackers, this never refers to niceties
• provocative maintenance [common ironic mutation of `preventive
• prowler [UNIX] n. A daemon that is run periodically (typically
• pseudo /soo'doh/ [USENET truncation of `pseudonym'] n. 1. An
• pseudoprime n. A backgammon prime (six consecutive occupied
• pseudosuit /soo'doh-s[y]oot`/ n. A suit wannabee; a hacker
• psychedelicware /si`k*-del'-ik-weir/ [UK] n. Syn.
• psyton /si'ton/ [TMRC] n. The elementary particle carrying the
• pubic directory [NYU] (also `pube directory' /pyoob'
• puff vt. To decompress data that has been crunched by Huffman
• punched card alt. `punch card' [techspeak] n.obs. The
• punt [from the punch line of an old joke referring to American
• Purple Book n. 1. The "System V Interface Definition". The
• purple wire [IBM] n. Wire installed by Field Engineers to work
• push [from the operation that puts the current information on a

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The letter Q