WhatIs

/pər-sent-es/

[From the code in C's 'printf(3)' library function used to insert an arbitrary string argument]

n. An unspecified person or object.

"I was just talking to some percent-s in administration."

Compare random.

/pē-än/

n. A person with no special (root or wheel) privileges on a computer system.

"I can't create an account on *foovax* for you; I'm only a peon there."

/pen(t)-səl ən(d) pā-pər/

n. An archaic information storage and transmission device that works by depositing smears of graphite on bleached wood pulp. More recent developments in paper-based technology include improved 'write-once' update devices which use tiny rolling heads similar to mouse balls to deposit colored pigment. All these devices require an operator skilled at so-called handwriting technique. These technologies are ubiquitous outside hackerdom, but nearly forgotten inside it.

/pɛn/

History of Pens: From Traditional Writing Tools to Digital Styluses

In the realm of computing, "Pens" refer to input devices that allow users to interact with digital devices by writing or drawing on a touch-sensitive surface. The concept of digital pens traces its roots back to traditional writing tools like pens and pencils. As technology advanced, these writing instruments were adapted to serve as input devices for electronic devices, paving the way for the development of digital styluses.

/pēk/

n.,vt. (and poke) The commands in most microcomputer BASICs for directly accessing memory contents at an absolute address; often extended to mean the corresponding constructs in any HLL (peek reads memory, poke modifies it). Much hacking on small, non-MMU micros consists of peeking around memory, more or less at random, to find the location where the system keeps interesting stuff.

/pē-dē-pē-twen-tē/

n. The most famous computer that never was. PDP-10 computers running the TOPS-10 operating system were labeled 'DECsystem-10' as a way of differentiating them from the PDP-11.

/pē-dē-pē-ten/

[Programmed Data Processor model 10]

/pē-dē-el/

[acronym for 'Push Down List']

1. In ITS days, the preferred MITism for stack.

2. Dave Lebling, one of the co-authors of Zork; (his network address on the ITS machines was at one time pdl@dms).

/pē-dē/

adj. Common abbreviation for public domain, applied to software distributed over USENET and from Internet archive sites. Much of this software is not in fact public domain in the legal sense but travels under various copyrights granting reproduction and use rights to anyone who can snarf a copy.

See copyleft.

/P-C-i-zəm/

n. A piece of code or coding technique that takes advantage of the unprotected single-tasking environment in IBM PCs and the like, e.g., by busy-waiting on a hardware register, direct diddling of screen memory, or using hard timing loops.

Compare ill-behaved, vaxism, unixism. Also, 'PC-ware' n., a program full of PC-isms on a machine with a more capable operating system. Pejorative.