Basic Computer Terminology- P & Q

Pointer (AKA Cursor): The name of the arrow (or other shape) that tracks across the screen as you move the mouse (or other pointing device) around.

Palette: A small floating window that contains tools used in a given application.

Pac-Man: A video arcade game. The term comes from paku paku which is a Japanese onomatopoeia (written version of a noise) used for noisy eating; similar to chomp. The game was released in Japan with the name Puck- Man, and released in the US with the name Pac-Man, fearing that kids may deface a Puck-Man cabinet by changing the P to an F.

PCMCIA: The standards body for PC card and Express Card, expansion card form factors. The Personal Computer Memory Card International Association is an international standards body that defines and promotes standards for expansion devices such as modems and external hard disk drives to be connected to notebook computers.

Over time, the acronym PCMCIA has been used to refer to the PC card form factor used on notebook computers. A twist on the acronym is People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms.

PEBKAC: An acronym for "Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair",

which is a code frequently used by a customer service representative (CSR) to annotate their notes and identify the source of a problem as the person who is reporting the problem rather than the system being blamed. This is a thinly veiled reference to the CSR's opinion that the person reporting the problem is the problem.

Example: PEBKAC, no resolution possible. See also ID10T.

Pentium: Microprocessor from Intel The fifth microprocessor in the 80×86 series. It would have been called i586 or 80586, but Intel decided to name it Pentium (penta = five) after it lost a trademark infringement lawsuit against AMD due to a judgment that numbers like "286", "386",  and "486" cannot be trademarked. According to Intel, Pentium conveys a meaning of strength, like titanium. Since some early Pentium chips contained a mathematical precision error, it has been jokingly suggested that the reason for the chip being named Pentium rather than 586 was that Intel chips would calculate 486 + 100 = 585.99999948.

Perl: An interpreted scripting language Perl was originally named Pearl, after the "pearl of great price" of Matthew 13:46. Larry Wall, the creator of Perl, wanted to give the language a short name with positive connotations and claims to have looked at (and rejected) every three- and four-letter word in the dictionary.

He even thought of naming it after his wife Gloria. Before the language's official release Wall discovered that there was already a programming language named Pearl, and changed the spelling of the name. Although the original manuals suggested the backronyms "Practical

Extraction and Report Language" and "Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister", these were intended humorously.

PHP: A server-side scripting language Originally called "Personal Home Page Tools" by creator Rasmus Lerdorf, it was rewritten by developers Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans who gave it the recursive name "PHP Hypertext Preprocessor". Lerdorf currently insists the name should not be thought of as standing for anything, for he selected "Personal Home Page" as the name when he did not foresee PHP evolving into a general-purpose programming language.

Pine: e-mail client Acronym for "Program for Internet News & Email". It is also a recursive acronym for "Pine Is Not Elm" (in reference to Elm, another email client)

Ping: Computer network tool used to detect hosts The author of ping, Mike Muuss, named it after the pulses of sound made by a sonar called a "ping". Later Dave Mills provided the backronym "Packet Internet Groper".

PKZIP: Data compression or zipping tool. It was written by Phil Katz and tands for Phil Katz's ZIP program.

Partition: A subdivision of a hard drives surface that is defined and used as a separate drive.

Paste: To insert text, or other material, from the clipboard or copy buffer.

PC: Acronym for personal computer commonly used to refer to an IBM or IBM  clone computer which uses DOS.

PCI: Acronym for Peripheral Component Interchange - the newer, faster bus architecture.

Peripheral: An add-on component to your computer.

Point: (1/72") 12 points = one pica in printing.

Pop-up menu: Any menu that does not appear at the top of the screen in the menu bar. (May pop up or down)

Port: A connection socket, or jack on the Mac.

Power PC: A processing chip designed by Apple, IBM and Motorola (RISC

based).

Power Mac: A family of Macs built around the PowerPC chip.

Print spooler: A program that stores documents to be printed on the hard drive, thereby freeing the memory up and allowing other functions to be performed while printing goes on in the background.

Python: An interpreted scripting programming language.

Q

QuickTime: The Apple system extension that gives one the ability to compress, edit and play animation, movies and sound on the Mac.