IT Glossary - ITU Online IT Training
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IT Glossary
Key Terms To Know In The IT Industry

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Patch Tuesday

The second Tuesday of each month when Microsoft releases security patches and updates for its software products.

You will find this term commonly used in Cybersecurity, General IT

Pathfinding

The computational problem of finding a good path or route from one point to another. It is widely used in AI for navigating maps or graphs, especially in video games and robotics.

You will find this term commonly used in AI, Robotics

Payload

The data transmitted within a packet, excluding header information.

You will find this term commonly used in Networking, Security

PCB (Printed Circuit Board)

A board used in electronics for mounting and electronically connecting electronic components. It features paths or tracks etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate.

You will find this term commonly used in Hardware, Electronics

PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)

A computer bus for attaching peripheral devices to a computer motherboard, designed to allow many types of devices to be added to a computer, enhancing its capabilities.

You will find this term commonly used in Hardware

PDF (Portable Document Format)

A file format developed by Adobe in the 1990s to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT

Peer Review

The process of evaluating and providing feedback on work by one's peers or colleagues.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Software Development

Peer-to-Peer (P2P)

A decentralized network architecture where participants share resources directly without a central server.

You will find this term commonly used in Networking

Pen Input

Input method using a stylus or digital pen on touch-sensitive devices.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Mobile Devices

Penetration Rate

In cybersecurity, it refers to the percentage of successful attacks against a network or system. In marketing, it refers to the percentage of a market captured by a product.

You will find this term commonly used in Cybersecurity, Marketing

Penetration Testing

Penetration testing, also known as ethical hacking, is the practice of assessing computer systems, networks, and applications for security vulnerabilities by simulating real-world cyber attacks to identify potential weaknesses.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

Perceptron

The simplest type of artificial neural network, essentially a linear classifier used for binary classification tasks.

You will find this term commonly used in AI, Machine Learning

Performance

The speed and efficiency with which a system, application, or device operates.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Software Development

Performance Counter

A tool or feature in computing that helps monitor the performance of various aspects of a system, such as CPU usage, memory usage, and network traffic.

You will find this term commonly used in System Monitoring

Performance Metrics

Quantifiable measures used to evaluate the performance of a system, application, or process.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Software Development

Performance Testing

Evaluating the responsiveness, speed, and stability of a system under various conditions.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Software Development

Performance Tuning

Optimizing system parameters and configurations to improve the performance of hardware or software.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Software Development

Peripheral

An external device connected to a computer, such as a keyboard, mouse, or printer.

You will find this term commonly used in Hardware, General IT

Perl

A high-level programming language known for its text processing capabilities.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Software Development

Permission

Authorization granted to a user, allowing access to specific resources or actions.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

Permutation

The arrangement of all or part of a set of objects, with regard to the order of the arrangement. It's a concept used in various computing fields, including cryptography and algorithms.

You will find this term commonly used in Algorithms, Cryptography

Persistence

The ability of data to remain stored and accessible even after the application or system is shut down.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Data Storage

Persistent Storage

Storage that retains data even when power is turned off, such as hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs).

You will find this term commonly used in Data Storage, General IT

Personal Area Network (PAN)

A network connecting devices in close proximity, typically within the range of an individual person, such as Bluetooth devices.

You will find this term commonly used in Networking, General IT

Personal Identification Number (PIN)

A numeric or alphanumeric password used in the process of authenticating a user accessing a secure system or device.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, General IT

Personalization

Tailoring products, services, or content to individual user preferences or characteristics.

You will find this term commonly used in AI, Web Development

PGP (Pretty Good Privacy)

A data encryption and decryption program used for secure communication and data storage.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cryptography

Phablet

A mobile device that combines the features of a phone and a tablet.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Mobile Devices

Phantom Power

A method of transmitting electrical power through microphone cables to operate microphones that contain active electronic circuitry. It is also used in various computing and audio devices.

You will find this term commonly used in Electronics, Audio Tech

Phase-Shift Keying (PSK)

A digital modulation process which conveys data by changing (modulating) the phase of a reference signal (the carrier wave). It's widely used in wireless communications.

You will find this term commonly used in Telecommunications

Phishing

A cyberattack where perpetrators attempt to trick individuals into revealing sensitive information, such as passwords or financial data.

You will find this term commonly used in Cybersecurity

Phishing Email

A fraudulent email that attempts to deceive recipients into revealing sensitive information or taking malicious actions, often by impersonating trusted entities.

You will find this term commonly used in Cybersecurity, Security

Photonic Computing

The use of photons (light particles) for computing, rather than traditional electrons. It promises much faster data processing speeds and lower energy consumption than electronic computing.

You will find this term commonly used in Computing, Research

PHP

A server-side scripting language commonly used for web development.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Programming

Physical Layer

The first and lowest layer in the OSI model of computer networking. It is concerned with the transmission and reception of the unstructured raw bit stream over a physical medium.

You will find this term commonly used in Networking

Physical Security

Measures taken to protect physical assets, premises, and resources from unauthorized access, damage, or theft.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

PID Controller

A control loop feedback mechanism widely used in industrial control systems. A PID Controller calculates an error value as the difference between a desired setpoint and a measured process variable and corrects it based on proportional, integral, and derivative terms.

You will find this term commonly used in Automation, Control Systems

Piggybacking

The unauthorized access of a wireless LAN. In a broader sense, it can refer to using someone else's resources for your own purposes without permission.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Networking

PII (Personally Identifiable Information)

Information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context.

You will find this term commonly used in Security, Privacy

Ping

A utility used to test the reachability of a host on a network.

You will find this term commonly used in Networking

Ping of Death

A type of cyber attack that exploits vulnerabilities in the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP).

You will find this term commonly used in Cybersecurity, Networking

Ping Sweep

A technique used to discover active hosts within a specific range of IP addresses.

You will find this term commonly used in Networking, Security

Pixel

The smallest unit of a digital image or graphic that can be displayed and edited on a computer screen. Composed of one or more bits of data, pixels are the building blocks of digital images.

You will find this term commonly used in Graphics, Web Design

PKI (Public Key Infrastructure)

Already included as "Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)"

You will find this term commonly used in -

Placeholder

Text or graphics used in a document or web form to indicate where user input or content should be placed. It provides hints about what information is needed or how it should be entered.

You will find this term commonly used in Web Development, UI Design

Plaintext

Unencrypted text or data that is readable without the need for decryption. It is the original message or data that is input into an encryption algorithm.

You will find this term commonly used in Cryptography

Platform

A hardware or software environment where programs run.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT

Platform Agnostic

A term used to describe software or applications that are compatible with multiple operating systems or platforms without requiring modification.

You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Software Development

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

A cloud computing model where providers offer a platform allowing customers to develop, run, and manage applications without dealing with infrastructure.

You will find this term commonly used in Cloud Computing, Software Development

Platform Integration

The process of enabling various software and hardware platforms to work together, often involving the integration of applications, systems, and services within an enterprise or between enterprises.

You will find this term commonly used in Software Development

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