Glossary for web, etc. P

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PAD Packet Assembler/Disassembler

PAL Phase Alternate Line - British TV broadcasting standard.

parentElement - in javascript, a tags parent tag object.
See all and children.

parseInt - a JavaScript method:
It converts a string to an integer of a given base (default 10) and returns the value. It continues to convert until it hits a non-numeric character and then returns the result. If the first character cannot be converted to a number, the function returns "NaN".
parseInt( s, 10 ) returns the numeric string s as a number. So if s="16" then s+1 = "161" and parseInt(s) +1 = 17.
See Independent Functions, Operators, Variables, and Literals (Oernii).

PCI Peripheral Component Interconnect - bypasses the PC ISA bus.

PCM Pulse Coded Modulation

PCMCIA Personal Computer Memory Card International Association - credit-card (non-volatile) memory etc for portable PCs.

PCNFS Personal Computer Network File System

PD Public Domain - s/w can be used without permission or payment.

PDA Personal Digita Assistant - eg Amstrad Penpad, Casio Zoomer.

PDC Primary Domain Controller Windows Networking has three concepts of a group of related computers- workgroups, domains and a domain hierarchy. Domains are the more formal entities, and are are created and managed by a PDC process that runs on an NT or Windows 2000 server.

PDM (Microsoft) Process Debug Manager is an integral element of Microsoft Script Debugger.

PDN Public Data Network

PDU Protocol Data Unit - message between SNMP agent & manager.

PE Portable Executable 32-bit file format (derived from COFF)

Perl PeSIT - a protocol initially for connecting banking processing centres. It integrates sophisticated compression and restart mechanisms, and has is widely used for X25 communications and now also for TCP/IP.
- see GSIT Q & A.

PIF Windows: Program Information File

Pipes - data channels between various places; e.g. 32-bit and 16-bit environments. Pipes are either named or anonymous.
Named pipes are opened like files, and the server and client may even be on different PCs.
Anonymous pipes, which can be allocated in some specific functions such as CreateProcess.
Windows 95 and 98 cannot create Named Pipes for reading and for writing, and are for most purposes restricted to using Anonymous Pipes. These can be linked from a 32-bit program to the standard IO channels of a 16-bit program, but only if the 32-bit starts the 16-bit.
See Portability Issues for a description of W95 pipes.

PnP Plug 'n' Play

Pointers - the hard part of C++. The missing part of Java.
Pointers to arrays:

int *p; int a[10];

p = a; // legal assignment, p & a are of same type

p = a+n; // *p is a[n]

p[n] == a[n] == *(p+n) == *(a+n).

Pointers to a whole array work up to a point:

int(* pa )[10];	// get "non-standard" warning if use [] instead of [10].
p = *(pa+n);	// but just try and do a type cast to the type of pa.

Pointer to functions: in the following, by the cunning use of brackets, pFn points to a function such as "bool bFn( char ch ){...}":

bool (*pFn)( char ch );
The pointed to function is executed by eg.:

(*(pFn))( 'A' );
See The (C++) Function Pointer Tutorials.

Polymorphism - giving different functions the same name so you never know which one you are in. When every function has the same name ("function") a source of much error will have been removed.
Also known as overloading. Used mainly to describe functions with the same name but different numbers or types of parameters. C++ templates automate this to an extent, and javascript obviates the "different types" aspect by not having any differences.
Also see overriding.

POP Point Of Presence of Internet provider

POP3 Post Office Protocol - an email transfer protocol.

Pop-Up Windows Use target='WindowName' in an <A...> tag to just open another browser window.
- if the href attribute is to be constructed, the following example works:


	<A id="idA" onmouseover="href='AtbFieldsHelp.html#'+innerText;"> </A>

where idA.innerText has been set previously.

In JavaScript use window.open( URL, "WindowName", "width=100,etc...") for more control;
- note that in the final parameter, there must not be any spaces between the comma and the next attribute.
See e.g. Launching windows using JavaScript.
WebRef: Working with Windows.
Introduction to JavaScript Pop-up Windows and
Opening New Browser Windows and Netscape etc, and Date example.
WebSiteNotes.
irt.org FAQ on JavaScript / Windows.
If no URL is specified, an empty window is created. This can be written to. e.g.

var popup = window.open ("", "APopupWindow", "width=200,height=150,scrollbars=yes");

popup.document.write("Something in the window.<BR/>");

popup.document.write("And something more.<BR/>");
and data can be transferred in either direction by code in the new window:

opener.var1 = var1;

Note that some attributes in the third open parameter are browser specific, such as alwaysRaised (Netscape Navigator).
- to keep the new window always on top, do e.g.

<BODY onBlur="self.focus();">
To send the new window to the back: popup.blur()
The new window can close itself at an appropriate time with self.close();
Use if( popup.closed ) to test if a window is still open.
e.g.

<INPUT type=button value="PopUp"

onclick="window1 = window.open( 'MmcGlossP1.html', 'MmcGlossP1', 'resizable=no,width=200,height=40' );">

MmcGlossP1.html:

Type something and double click: <INPUT ondblclick="opener.idW1.value=value; self.close();" >

</BODY></HTML>

POSIX Portable Operating System Interface - OS based on UNIX.

post is one of the two main method= options in a FORM element (the other is get).
The FORM data is conveted to a bulky format (see RFC 2045 MIME Part One: Format of Internet Message Bodies) and shoved back to the server.
The advantage is that much more data can be handled this way than with get.

PPP Point to Point Protocol - proposed Internet standard - 3 layer protocol: modded HDLC + LCP + NCP. Better than SLIP.

Printing

		inches	mm
16		10 x 14
17		11 x 17
8	A3		297 x 420
9	A4		210 x 297
10	A4 Small		210 x 297
11	A5		148 x 210
2	A611Letter Small	8 1/2 x 11
12	B4		250 x 354
13	B5		182 x 257
24	C size sheet
25	D size sheet
26	E size sheet
19	Envelope #9	3 7/8 x 8 7/8
20	Envelope #10	4 1/8 x 9 1/2
21	Envelope #11	4 1/2 x 10 3/8
22	Envelope #12	4 1/2 x 11
23	Envelope #14	5 x 11 1/2
27	Envelope DL		110 x 220
29	Envelope C3		324 x 458
30	Envelope C4		229 x 324
28	Envelope C5		162 x 229
31	Envelope C6		114 x 162
32	Envelope C65		114 x 229
33	Envelope B4		250 x 353
34	Envelope B5		176 x 250
35	Envelope B6		176 x 125
36	Envelope		110 x 230
37	Envelope Monarch	3 7/8 x 7 1/2
38	Envelope	3 5/8 x 6 1/2
7	Executive	7 1/2 x 10 1/2
14	Folio	8 1/2 x 13
41	German Legal Fanfold	8 1/2 x 13
40	German Standard Fanfold	8 1/2 x 12
5	Legal	8 1/2 x 14
4	Ledger	17 x 11
1	Letter	8 1/2 x 11
18	Note	8 1/2 x 11
15	Quarto		215 x 275
6	Statement	5 1/2 x 8 1/2
3	Tabloid	11 x 17
39	U.S. Standard Fanfold	14 7/8 x 11
255	User Defined

- see Paper Size list.

PRMD Private Administrative Domain - inhouse part of eMail system.

Programming for Fun and Profit
a) No comments.
b) With just a little effort, the consecutive steps of each function can be spread over half the planet. The traditional way of doing this is to create states which can be tested in the most unlikely places, enabling logical sequences to be split into many fragments each hidden in a tree of state tests which can snake across the page for thousands of lines.

PS/1 Personal System/1 - extension to PS/2 range. Uses 80286. - aimed at home market.

PS/2 Personal System/2 - VGA. MCA bus: 16 bit for 286 models 50,60; 32 for 386 models 70,80. Model 30 used 8086 & XT bus & MCGA.

PSP Program Segment Prefix

PSS Packet Switched Stream - a public network.

PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network

PSU Power Supply Unit

PTT Poste de Telephony et Telegraph - eg BT, Mercury.

Pure Virtual Function - a Virtual Function which is too difficult to write, so leave it for whoever creates a derived class based on this one. Has =0; instead of a procedure body. Pure Virtual Classes contain only Pure Virtual Functions ("... do such things I know not what, but they shall be the terror of the Earth.").

PXP Packet Exchange Protocol - a Netware transport layer protocol

Python - a scripting language. Freeware: download from Python. And see Documentation and Python Library Reference.
Can import XML - see Python and XML, Charming Python: Tinkering with XML and Python, and Learn SAX Tutorial.
See A SOAP/XML Schema Library for Python.

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