Select the first letter of the word from the list above to jump to appropriate section of the glossary or type the term on which you want to search.

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parse

to divide, analyze, and categorize individual components of language into small units so they can be utilized usefully in computer programming.

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partition

to alienate sections of a hard drive for individual uses. Each section acts as a separate disk and improves the overall storage efficiency of the disk. Software applications are available allowing a user to partition a hard disk.

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Pascal

a high level programming language based on Algorithmic Language (AL GOL) developed in the early 1970’s by Niklaus Wirth. The language was named after the seventeenth century mathematician Blaise Pascal who built one of the first mechanical adding machines. Pascal is noted for its highly systematic and methodical structure, making it a popular teaching language.

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passive matrix

a low resolution liquid crystal flat-panel display used for computer monitors. Although the display quality is not quite up to par with the active-matrix display screens, the significant difference in the cost of the passive matrix has caused it to remain popular.

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password

a secret series of characters (that might incorporate numerals or other symbols) which allows a user access to a program, subscriber Website or service, a network, or a computer system. Many people, in an effort to remember a password, use a birthday, anniversary or another easy to remember phrase. This is often what allows unauthorized individuals to easily break into a computer or otherwise gain access to a guarded system. An effective and hard to crack password might be: 8&!m>$t, because such a character string isn’t likely to be easily guessed. It is wise to change a password periodically.

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paste

an efficient way to insert a single letter, word, an entire block of text, or an image from one location within a document or file, to the same or another document or file. To paste, means to place the material, into a document. It’s easy to do. For example, in Windows, say you decide you want to move the first paragraph of a document to the middle of the page. Place the mouse cursor just to the left of the first word in the paragraph. Now, left click the mouse and keep the button down while dragging the mouse over the entire paragraph, until all of the text is highlighted. Release the button. Now, in the menu bar, click Edit, select Copy, and click. The block of text is now temporarily saved on the Windows clipboard. Next, place your mouse cursor at the point in the document where you want the paragraph to appear and click. The screen cursor should be blinking. With your mouse, go back to the Edit command and click on Paste. If you’ve done everything correctly, the paragraph will appear at the point of the blinking cursor, making room for itself by pushing any other text forward. You can also copy and paste in exactly the same way from one application to another. see copy and paste.

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path

in DOS and Windows, the series of directories where an operating system searches for executable files called up by a user.

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PC

(Personal Computer) originally the IBM personal computer, but today the term refers to any IBM clone or compatible computer, or any personal computer that isn’t a Macintosh. Additionally, PCs are considered to have Intel or Intel-compat-ible microprocessors.

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PC Card

any of a number of printed circuit devices conforming to the PCMCIA standard that are easily attached to a computer enhancing its performance by adding or improving features such as memory, video or sound. see PCMCIA.

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PCI

(Peripheral Component Interconnect) the most common I/O bus in use today. It provides a shared data path between the CPU and peripheral controllers in all kinds of computers from laptops to mainframes. Designed by Intel, Compaq and Digital, it first appeared in PCs in 1993 and co-existed with the ISA bus for many years. Today, most PCs have only PCI slots and one AGP slot for a display adapter.