This page gathers the 5,883 dictionary entries belonging to the domain “Computing”, as labelled by Wiktionary. Each word leads to its full entry: definitions, etymology, pronunciation, examples. Page 39 of 59: from “pointy” to “premaster”.
- pointy adj In the Raku programming language: being a block or subroutine that acts as a closure accepting a list of parameters (denoted by the pointed…
- poison verb To place false or malicious data into (a cache, etc.) as part of an exploit.
- poison message noun A message that causes processing to fail, and thus remains in the message queue and prevents processing of further messages.
- poison queue noun A special message queue into which poison messages are diverted, to prevent them from blocking the system.
- poke verb To modify the value stored in (a memory address).
- policer noun A software component that enforces a security policy.
- poll verb To (repeatedly) request the status of something (such as a computer or printer on a network).
- poller noun a task or process that periodically checks for a condition being satisfied, such as the availability of new data
- polling noun A technique that continually interrogates a peripheral or service to see if it has data to transfer.
- poly noun A polygon.
- Polybius square noun A grid used for fractionating plaintext characters so that they can be represented by a smaller set of symbols.
- polyfill noun An algorithm to fill a polygon with a particular color.
- polyglot noun A file that can be interpreted validly as multiple formats.
- polygon soup noun An arbitrary collection of polygons with no particular distinguishing traits, thus possibly difficult to decompose for rendering.
- polymorphic adj Having or relating to the ability to take multiple data types for a single parameter.
- polymorphic iteration noun The use of an iterator class or interface to enable traversal over the members of any type of collection for which there is a corresponding…
- polynomial basis noun Specifically, a basis, of the form {1, α, ..., αⁿ⁻¹}, of a finite extension F_(qⁿ) of a Galois field F_q, where α is a primitive element of…
- polypaint noun A feature allowing the user to "paint" color directly onto the polygons of a three-dimensional model without first creating a texture map.
- polyrepo noun A software project in which different components are located in separate code repositories which can be versioned individually (as opposed…
- polytype noun In the Hindley–Milner type system, a data type containing variables bound by one or more ∀ (for-all) quantifiers.
- pong noun A packet sent in reply to a ping, thereby indicating the presence of a host.
- pool noun A set of resources that are kept ready to use.
- pop noun The removal of a data item from the top of a stack.
- pop in noun A performance issue in three-dimensional graphics, causing objects or textures to "pop" suddenly into view as they are loaded, rather than…
- pop out verb To appear on the screen as a temporary window or menu.
- popout noun A user interface element that opens a small separate section in front of the main content.
- populate verb To fill initially empty items in a collection.
- population noun The number of living cells in a pattern.
- porcelain noun The set of Git commands, such as or , which control the high-level state of the repository, each typically combining the behaviour of…
- port verb To adapt, modify, or recode to work on a different platform.
- port forwarding noun The forwarding of a network port from one device to another; especially, such forwarding when done to provide an external user with access…
- port knocking noun A means of securing ports on a firewall by requiring the host to attempt to connect to a prespecified sequence of closed ports before being…
- port replicator noun A device used to quickly connect multiple peripherals to a laptop through a single interface, typically through a USB port.
- port triggering noun A configuration option on a NAT-enabled router that controls communication between internal and external host machines on an IP network.
- portability noun The ability of a program (or software system) to execute properly on multiple hardware platforms.
- portable adj Of software: able to be run on multiple hardware or operating systems.
- portable computer noun A microcomputer powered by batteries with an integral display screen and integral input device (such as a keyboard) that can be used on the…
- portable executable noun A file format used for executable programs, DLLs, fonts, etc. in Microsoft Windows and some other operating systems.
- portal noun A connecting window between volumes, in portal rendering.
- portal rendering noun An algorithm for determining the visibility of objects in a three-dimensional world, based on partitioning the space into polygonal…
- portation noun The act of porting software between hardware or operating system platforms.
- porter noun One who ports software (makes it usable on another platform).
- portrait noun A print orientation where the vertical sides are longer than the horizontal sides.
- portscan verb To scan (a network host) in order to detect open ports.
- portsweep noun A portscan that connects to numerous host computers in search of a specific open port rather than scanning a single computer for any open…
- posit noun A number format representing a real number consisting of a sign bit, a variable-size "regime" part (which modifies the exponent), up to two…
- position-independent executable noun An executable (a program) that is able to run correctly regardless of what memory address it is loaded into.
- positional adj An argument that is passed to a subroutine according to its position in the invocation code, rather than on its name; compare with named.
- positioning time noun Random-access time: the time required to move the hard disk arm to the desired cylinder (seek time) and for the desired sector to rotate…
- post verb To successfully perform a power-on self-test.
- post-decrement noun A decrement operation that takes place after evaluation of the expression that contains the variable being decremented.
- post-increment noun An increment operation that takes place after evaluation of the expression that contains the variable being incremented.
- post-PC adj After the decline of the personal computer in favour of mobile devices.
- post-WIMP adj Belonging to user interface designs that move away from the traditional windows, icons, menus and pointer in an attempt to find something…
- postamble noun Closing statements of a computer program; final or closing part of data.
- postfiller noun In text processing systems, a pattern of text that is expected to occur after the portion of interest.
- postfix noun A suffix.
- posting noun A message posted to a computerized bulletin board, a newsgroup, a blog, etc.
- postorder adj Of a tree traversal, recursively visiting the left and right subtrees before the root.
- potato noun An underpowered computer or other device, especially when small in size.
- pov noun Initialism of percentage of volume, a type of securities trading algorithm.
- power button noun A button that switches the computer on or off (or, on more recent models, often enables sleep mode).
- power user noun A person who makes heavy use of computers, running many applications and capable of using advanced functionality.
- power wall noun The rapidly increasing loss of efficiency due to overheating as the power/speed of a CPU increases.
- power-cycle verb To turn a device off and then back on again, usually to restore proper function by forcing a malfunctioning or unresponsive device to reset…
- PowerPointer noun One who creates or delivers a presentation using PowerPoint or a similar Web-based slideshow product.
- PowerPointlessness noun The senseless and excessive use of PowerPoint as a communication medium, characterized by an overreliance of superficial visual effects…
- powerwash noun The process of resetting a Chromebook or any other ChromeOS device to its factory settings, by deleting all data from the unit.
- PPD noun Initialism of pixels per degree (“a measurement of the visual fidelity of a virtual reality headset”).
- PR noun Initialism of pull request.
- pragma noun A compiler directive; data embedded in source code by programmers to indicate some intention to a compiler.
- pre-decrement noun A decrement operation that takes place prior to evaluation of the expression that contains the variable being decremented.
- pre-echo noun A digital audio compression artifact where a (typically percussive) sound is heard before it should occur.
- pre-hook noun A section of code that runs immediately before a hook call.
- pre-increment noun An increment operation that takes place prior to evaluation of the expression that contains the variable being incremented.
- preamble noun A syncword.
- precedence rule noun A set of rules specifying the order in which parts of an expression are parsed, especially when parentheses are not present.
- precertificate noun A special type of SSL/TLS certificate used in Certificate Transparency (CT) for logging purposes. It's a precursor to the actual SSL/TLS…
- prechart noun Part of a chart that must be traversed with a successful outcome in order for the main chart to have a successful outcome.
- precomposed adj Describing a character that can also be represented an equivalent string of other characters (typically a letter and a diacritical mark).
- preconfigure verb To set up or configure a software system or hardware device with standard settings before selling or implementing it.
- predeclare verb To declare some source code element (such as a class) in advance of its full description, so that other preceding parts of the code can…
- predecoding noun The process of partially decoding machine instructions prior to their storage in the instruction cache, typically to identify instruction…
- predefined function noun Any of a set of subroutines that perform standard mathematical functions included in a programming language; either included in a program…
- predicate noun An operator, expression, or function that returns either true or false.
- predication noun The parallel execution of all possible outcomes of a branch instruction, all except one of which are discarded after the branch condition…
- predictive adj Describing a predictor.
- predictive text noun A system for inputting text on a device where individual buttons correspond to several characters that attempts to guess which word was…
- preemption noun The temporary interruption of a task without its cooperation and with the intention of resuming it at a later time.
- prefab noun A reusable object in a video game world.
- prefetch verb To load data or instructions in anticipation of their need
- prefiller noun In text processing systems, a pattern of text that is expected to occur before the portion of interest.
- prefix noun An initial segment of a string of characters.
- prefix coding noun A coding system that uses (typically variable-length) codes that are distinguished by their "prefix property", which requires that there is…
- preflight adj Serving to confirm that requests can be accepted, before sending an actual request.
- prefork verb To fork (a process) in advance, so that additional similar processes are immediately available if required later.
- preimage attack noun An attack on a cryptographic hash function that is able to find a preimage for a hash; that is, it is able to determine (faster than by…
- preinstall adj Prior to installation.
- prelude noun A standard module or library of subroutines and functions to be imported, generally by default, into a program.
- premaster verb To make a master copy of (data) on a hard disk before writing it to optical disc.