P3P Platform for Privacy Preferences Project
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]
.PAK Packed (compressed file name extension) [NoGate
Consulting]
PAL Paradox Applications Language [Borland] +
Phase Alternating Line + Programmed Array Logic +
Programming Assembly Language
.PAL Palette (file name extension)
PALC Plasma-Addressed Liquid Crystal (display)
PALS Principles of the Alphabet Literacy System
PAM Pulse Amplitude Modulation
PAN Personal Area Network [GTE]
PAP Packet-level Procedure +
Password Authentication Protocol +
Printer Access Protocol
PAR Personal Animation Recorder + Parallel
PARA Paragraph
PARC Palo Alto Research Center [XEROX]
PA-RISC Precision Architecture-RISC [HP]
.PAS PASCAL source code (file name extension)
PASCAL (Programming Language named for Blaise Pascal)
.PAT Patch + Pattern (file name extensions)
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
PBE Prompt By Example
PBGA Plastic Ball Grid Array
PBX Private Branch Exchange
PC Personal Computer + Printed Circuit + Program Counter
PCACIAS Personal Computer Automated Calibration Interval
Analysis System
PCB Printed Circuit Board + Program Control Block
PCBC Plain/Propagating Cipher Block Chaining
PCD Photo Compact Disk
PC-DOS Personal Computer - Disk Operating System [IBM]
PCEB PCI to EISA Bridge [Intel]
PCI Peripheral Component Interconnect/Interface
PCIC PC-Card Interrupt Controller
PC-I/O Program Controlled I/O
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
.PCT Picture (file name extension)
.PCX Picture Image (file name extension)
PD Phase-Change Dual + Public Domain
PDA Personal Digital Assistant
.PDB Pilot Database (file name extension) [Palm Pilot]
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
.PDF Printer Description (file name extension)[Borland,Lotus]
PDH Plesiosynchronous Digital Hierarchy
PDIAL Public Dialup Internet Access List [Internet]
PDL Page Description Language + Program Description Language
+ Program 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]
PDSS Post Development and Software Support
PDT Performance Diagnostic Tool [IBM] +
Programmable Drive Table
PDU Plug Distribution Unit + Protocol Data Unit
.PDX Paradox files (file name extension) [Borland] +
Printer Description Extension (file name extension)
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
PEP Packet Exchange Protocol +
Packetized Ensemble Protocol [Telebit]
PERC Power Edge RAID Controller
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]
.PFB Printer Font Binary (file name extension)
PFE Programmer's File Editor
.PFM Printer Font Metrics (file name extension) [Windows]
PFN Page Frame Number
PFR Power-Fail Restart
PGA Pin Grid Array + Professional Graphics Adapter [IBM]
PGC Program Group Control [Microsoft]
PGDN Page Down
.PGL Graphics (file name extension) [Hewlett-Packard]
PGM Program
PGML Precision Graphics Markup Language
PGP Pretty Good Privacy (name of encryption program)
.PGP ProGram Parameter (file name extension) [AutoCAD]
PGUP Page Up
PHIGS Programmers' Hierarchical Interactive Graphics
Standards
.PHO Phone List (file name extension)
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
PKC Public Key Cryptography
PL Plus
.PL Pearl Language (file name extension)
PLA Programmable Logic-Array
PLATO Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations
PLC Programmable Logic Controller
PLCC Plastic Leadless Chip Carrier
PLD Programmable Logic Device
PLDS Pilot Land Data System [NASA]
PLL Phase Locked Loop
.PLL Prelinked Library (file name extension) [Clipper]
PL/M Programming Language for Micros
PLS Primary Link Station
PLV Production Level Video
PL/1 * Programming Language One
PM Presentation Manager [IBM] +
Preventative Maintenance + Process Manager
P-MAIL Paper Mail
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
P/N: Part Number
PNA Programmable Network Access
PNG Portable Network Graphics
PNNI Private Network to Network Interface
PNP Plug And Play
PO Parity Odd
POC Point Of Contact
POD Plain Old Dos + Publishing On Demand
POE Power Open Environment
POH Power-On Hours
POL Problem Oriented Language
POP Point Of Presence + Pop from Stack + Post Office Protocol
POP3 Post Office Protocol, Version 3
POPA Pop All Registers
POPF Pop Flags
POR Power-On-Reset
POS Point Of Sale + Positive + Programmable Object Select
POSIX Portable Operating System Interface for Unix
POST Power-On Self Test
POSTNET Postal Numeric Encoding Technique (bar code)
POTS Plain Old Telephone Service + Plain Old Time-Sharing
POWER Performance Optimization with Enhanced RISC [IBM]
PowerPC Performance Optimization with Enhanced RISC-Performance
Computing
PP Parallel Port
PPA Pixel Processing Accelerator
.PPD Postscript Printer Description (file name extension)
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]
PPS Packets Per Second + Power Personal Systems [IBM]
PPTP Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol [Microsoft]
PQFP Plastic Quad Flat Pack
PRACSA Public Remote Access Computer Standards Association
PRAM Parallel Random-Access Machine +
Parameter Random Access Memory
.PRC Pilot Resource (file name extension) [Palm Pilot]
.PRD Printer Driver (file name extension) [Microsoft]
PRE Preformatted [HTML]
PReP Power PC Reference Platform [IBM/Motorola]
PRF Pulse Repetition Frequency
.PRF Preferences (file name extension) [Grammatik IV]
.PRG Program (file name extension)
PRI Primary-Rate Interface
PRINTF Print with Formatting [C Programming Language]
PRISM Photo-Refractive Information Storage Material
.PRJ Project (file name extension) [Borland]
PRMD Private Management Domain [X.400]
PRML Partial-Response Maximum-Likelihood
.PRO Profile (file name extension)
PROC Procedure
PROFS Professional Office System [IBM]
PROG Program + Programmer
PROLOG Programming In Logic (Programming Language)(See HLL)
PROM Programmable Read Only Memory
PRN Printer
.PRS Printer (file name extension) [WordPerfect]
PRTSC Print Screen
PS Proportional Spacing
.PS Postscript (file name extension)
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)
PSM Printing Systems Manager
PSN Packet Switching Network +
Processor Serial Number
PSP Personal Software Products (group) [IBM] +
Program Segment Prefix
PSPDN Packet-Switched Public Data Network
P-SRAM Pseudo-Static Random Access Memory
PSRT Postscript Round Table [GEnie]
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
PSU Power Supply Unit
PSW Program Status Word
.ps.Z Compressed Postscript (file name extension) [Unix]
PT Page Table
P/T Part Time
PTD Parallel Transfer Disk Drive
PTE Page Table Entry
PTF Problem Temporary/Trouble Fix [IBM]
PTI Packet Type Identifier
PTT Postal Telephone & Telegraph
PUB Public (directory) [Internet] + Publish
.PUB Publication (file name extension) [Ventura]
PUN Physical Unit Number
PUP PARC Universal Packet (protocol)
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
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]
.PX Primary Index (file name extension) [Paradox]