Appendix Acronyms P

In the left margin you will find links to the acronyms categorised alphabetically. Some of the pages are quite long and may take a few moments to load if you use a modem.

Acronyms - P

PA Pennsylvania

PA Per Annum

PA Play Aid

PA Power of Attorney

PA Press Agent

PA Private Account

PA Public Address

PA Purchasing Agent

PABX Private Automatic Branch eXchange [Telephony]

PACCOM Pacific Computer Communications network consortium [Networking]

PACX Private Automatic Computer eXchange

PAD Packet Assembler-Disassembler [Networking]

PAH Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon

PAL Phase Alternation Line-rate

PAL Programmable Array Logic

PAM Payload Assist Module [Space]

PAM Pulse Amplification Modulation

PARC Palo Alto Research Center, xerox

PASS Personal Access Satellite System [NASA]

PATROL Program for Administrative Traffic Reports On Line

PBM Play By Mail game

PBS Public Broadcasting System

PBX Private Branch eXchange [Telephony]

PC Peace Corps

PC PerCent; PerCentage

PC Personal Computer (IBM wants you to believe a specific kind)

PC Player Character (see NPC) [Role-playing]

PC Post Card

PC Post Cibum (after meals)

PC Privileged Character

PC Privy Council

PC Program Counter

PC Progressive Conservative party [Canada]

PC Providence College

PC/AT Personal Computer/Advanced Technology

PCB PolyChlorinated Biphenyl

PCB Printed Circuit Board

PC-DOS Personal Computer DOS

PCI Panel Call Indicator

PCIE President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency

PCL Printer Command Language

PCM Plug-Compatible Mainframe

PCM Pulse Code Modulation

PCPC Personal Computers Peripheral Corporation

PCS Permanent Change of Station

PCTE Portable Common Tools Environment

PCTS Posix Conformance Test Suite

PD Per Diem

PD Police Department

PD Potential Difference

PD Public Domain

PDAD Proposed Draft ADdendum

PDE Partial Differential Equation

PDES Product Data Exchange Specifications

PDF Program Development Facility

PDL Page Description Language

PDL Program Design Language

PDN Public Data Network

PDP Plasma Display Panel

PDP Programmed Data Processor

PDP Programmed Data Processor [DEC]

PDQ Pretty Damned Quick

PDS Premises Distribution System [AT&T]

PDT Pacific Daylight Time

PE Phase Encoded

PE Physical Education

PE Prince Edward island

PE Printer's Error

PE Professional Engineer

PE Protestant Episcopal

PEI Prince Edward Island

PEP Productivity Enhancement Project

PEPE Pepe Est Presque Emacs

PERL Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister

PERL Practical Extraction and Report Language

PEX Phigs/phigs+ Extension to X

PFC Plasma Fusion Center [MIT]

PG Parental Guidance (suggested) [Movie rating]

PGA Professional Graphics Adapter

PGA Pure Grain Alcohol

PHA Pulse Height Analyzer (or Analysis)

PHIGS Programmers Hierarchical Interactive Graphics System

PHS Public Health Service

PhysRev Physical Review Journal

PI Principal Investigator

PI Priority Interrupt

PI Private Investigator

PIC Plastic/Polyethelene Insulated Cable [Telephony]

PIC Position Independant Code

PIF Paid In Full

PIT Principal, Interest, and Taxes

PIXEL PIcture ELement

PLA Programmable Logic Array

PLATO Programmed Learning for Automated Teaching Operations (U. Ill., early '70s)

PLC Programmable Logic Controller

PLCC Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier

PLL Phase-Locked Loop

PLM Programming Language for Microcomputers

PLO Palestine (sic?) Liberation Organization (?)

PLO Please Leave On

PLSS Portable Life Support System [Space]

PM PayMaster

PM Police Magistrate

PM Post Meridiem

PM Post Meridiem (after noon)

PM PostMaster

PM PostMortem

PM Pressurised Module [Space]

PM Preventive Maintenance

PM Prime Minister

PM Provost Marshal

PMC Permanently Manned Capability [Space]

PMIRR Pressure Modulated InfraRed Radiometer (on Mars Observer) [Space]

PMO Prime Minister's Office

PMOS P channel Metal Oxide Semiconductor (P-MOS) (see MOS)

PMS PreMenstrual Syndrome

PMT PhotoMultiplier Tube

PM/X Presentation Manager for X windows

PN Promissory Note

PNP Positive-Negative-Positive (transistor)

PO Petty Officer

PO Post Office

PO Postal Order

PO Purchase Order

POC Port Of Call

POD Pay On Delivery

POE Port Of Embarkation

POE Port Of Entry

POGO Polar Orbiting Geophysical Observatory

POM Phase Of Moon

POP Point of Presence [Telephony]

POP Post Office Protocol [Networking] (esp. TCP/IP)

POPS Paperless Order Processing System

POR Price On Request

POS Point Of Sale

POS Professional Operating System [DEC]

POSI Promoting conference for OSI

POSIX Portable Operating System for unIX

POSIX Portable Operating System Interface

POTS Plain Old Telephone Service [Telephony]

POTV Personnel Orbit Transfer Vehicle [Space]

POV Point Of View

POW Prisoner Of War

PP Parcel Post

PP Past Participle

PP Post Pay (payphone) [Telephony]

PP Primary Point

PPB Parts Per Billion

PPC Pour Prendre Conge' (to take leave)

PPCS Person to Person, Collect, Special [Telephony]

PPM Parts Per Million

PPN Parameterised Post-Newtonian formalism for general relativity

PPN Project Programmer Number

PPP Point-to-Point Protocol (successor to SLIP (q.v.))

Pps Packets per Second

PPS PostPostScriptum

PPT Parts Per Trillion

PPT Pulse Pair Timing

PPT Punched Paper Tape

PQ Province of Quebec

PR PayRoll

PR Public Relations

PR Puerto Rico

PRC Planning Research Corporation

PREPnet Pennsylvania Research & Economic Partnership Network

PRI Primary Rate Interface (ISDN) [Telephony]

PRN pro re nata [Medicine] (as needed?)

PROFS PRofessional OFfice System [IBM]

PROM Programmable Read-Only Memory

PS PicoSecond

PS PostScript

PS PostScriptum

PS Power Steering

PS Power Supply

PS Proposed Standard

PS Public School

PSA Problem Statement Analyzer

PSC Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center

PSC Polar Stratospheric Clouds

PSDN Public Switched Data Network [Telephony]

PSDS Public Switched Digital Service [Telephony, AT&T]

PSE Programming Support Environment

PSF Point Spread Function [Space]

PSG Platoon SerGeant

PSI Performance Systems International [Corporate name, Networking]

PSI Power Systems, Incorporated [Corporate name, Model Railroading]

PSK Phase Shift Keying

PSL Problem Statement Language

PSN Packet Switch Node [ARPANET/MILNET] (replaced IMP)

PSR Product Specific Realizations

PSR PulSaR [Space]

PSS (unknown to me, but something in the UK environment)

PST Pacific Standard Time

PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network

PT Pacific Time

PT Patrol Torpedo (as in PT boat)

PT Physical Therapy

PT Physical Training

PTA Parent-Teacher Association

PTD Parallel Transfer Disk

PTL Praise The Lord (ministry)

PTN Plant Test Number [Telephony] (actual number assigned for 800 service)

PTO Patent and Trademark Office

PTO Please Turn Over

PTO Power Take-Off

PTT Post, Telephone and Telegraph administration

PTV Passenger Transport Vehicle [Space]

PUC Public Utilities Commision

PV Photovoltaic [Space]

PVC Permanent Virtual Circuit (see also VC)

PVC Poly-Vinyl Chloride

PVO Pioneer Venus Orbiter [Space]

PW Prisoner of War (usually POW)

PWG Permanent Working Group

PX Post eXchange (see BX)