parity
A system for detecting errors in a stored or transmitted data character. Each data bit is checked out to make certain that the parity is odd or even, as specified. If parity is not achieved, than an error has occurred.

parity check
A verification technique that is used to check that a string of data has been correctly transmitted. A character or number is added to the string of data to make it odd or even, depending on which has been chosen for parity.

paste up
Placing graphics and text in a mechanical, either manually or electronically.

PC
Abbreviation for Personal Computer.

PCL
Abbreviation for Printer Command Language, a page description language that is similar to PostScript but that is mainly used in the office market. PCL was created by Hewlett Packard to provide an efficient method to control printer features across a number of different printing devices. PCL was originally devised for HP’s dot-matrix and inkjet printers. The first printer in HP’s LaserJet series, the "HP LaserJet" (introduced in 1984), released with the PCL 3 language. Currently (annex 2001) available versions of PCL:

• PCL5: designed for more complex desktop publishing, graphic design, and presentation applications.
• PCL5e: provided bidirectional communication between the printer and the PC.
• PCL5c: provided the commands needed to support color printing.
• PCLXL: object-oriented printer language that is tuned for graphics-rich documents.
• PCL6: a dual interpreter consisting of PCL5e or PCL5c and PCLXL.

PCI
Abbreviation for Peripheral Component Interconnect, an expansion bus in PCs and Macs that allows users to plug cards into their system to add extra functions (eg SCSI-card, video card,…). The PCI bus is a 32-bit bus that runs at 33 MHz and has a bandwidth of 132 MByte/s. The PCI 2.0 specs also allow longer 64-bit slots but these still aren’t popular. Some servers and Macs use them. The 2.1 specs also allow for a 66 Mhz bus speed but this is not yet used. PCI Express is the latest incarnation of the standard.

PCMCIA
Abbreviation for Personal Computer Memory Card International Association - (Commission defining a) Standard for expension cards for portable computers. According to some people, PCMCIA stands for ‘People Cannot Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms’.

PCX
Fairly unsophisticated and outdated graphics file format that uses RLE encoding to compress data.

PDF
Abbreviation for Portable Document Format. Half this web site is dedicated to this file format. Click here for a quick introduction.

PDL
Abbreviation for Page Description Language, a programming language that describes the layout of pages in device-independent commands. PostScript and PCL are two prime examples of PDLs.

PE
Abbreviation for Printer’s Error, a problem with either the type, color separation, plates or printing; the cost of the correction will be borne by the printer or the prepress service, rather than the author, designer or publisher.

peaking
- A color scanner unsharp masking function that electronically adds two signals and increases the edge contrast of an image to be reproduced.
- Electronic edge enhancement produced on the color separation negatives by exaggerating the density different of image edges.

peer-to-peer
Network architecture in which computers exchange information as equals; the opposite of client-server.

pel
Acronym for picture element. Pixel is more commonly used than pel. Pel refers to video picture elements.

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