p

P

package: A collection of system software routines that's stored as a resource and brought into memory only when needed

See also: manager

Package Manager: A set of routines that loads the packages into memory.

packet: (1) A unit of compressed sampled-sound data. One or more packets make up a sample frame of compressed sampled-sound data

packet-oriented network

See: connectionless network

packing: The process of compacting or 'flattening' a complex data structure into a sequence of bytes

See also: unpacking

pad byte: The extra byte added to make 2 bytes, when you declare a variable of type Byte.

page: 1) The smallest unit, measured in bytes, of information that the virtual memory system can transfer between physical memory and backing store. (2) To transfer pages between physical memory and backing store.

paged memory management unit (PMMU): The Motorola MC68851 chip, used in the Macintosh II computer to perform logical-to-physical address translation and paged memory management.

page fault: An exception that causes a page of data or code needed by the CPU to be read from backing store into physical memory.

page rectangle: The rectangle marking the boundaries of the printable area on a page. The upper-left corner of the page rectangle always has the coordinates (0,0). The coordinates of the lower-right corner give the maximum page height and width attainable on the given printer; these coordinates are specified by the units used to express the resolution of the printing graphics port. For example, the lower-right corner of a page rectangle used by the PostScript LaserWriter printer driver for an 8.5-by-11-inch U.S. letter page is (730,552) at 72 dpi.

paging: The process of moving data between physical memory and a paging file.

paging device: A secondary storage device, such as a hard disk, used for backing store.

paging file: A file used to store unneeded pages of memory

See also: backing store

paint: To draw the outline of a shape and its interior with the pattern of the graphics pen, using the pattern mode of the graphics pen.

PAL

See: Phase Alternation Line (PAL)

Palette Manager: A set of system software routines that allows your application to specify the colors that it needs on a window-by-window basis. The Palette Manager makes the colors available (within application-determined ranges) in a graceful manner.

palindrome looping: Running a movie in a circular fashion from beginning to end and end to beginning, alternating forward and backward. Looping must also be enabled in order for palindrome looping to take effect.

pane: One screen of a multi-screen display inside a single dialog box. Panes are generally selected through tab controls

See also: tab control

panel: (1) A subset of a dialog box used to display and collect related pieces of information. An expanded dialog box may contain one or more panels, each of which is named and associated with an icon. A panel is defined by a panel resource. (2) The area managed by a control panel extension. A panel contains controls and other dialog items related to the features managed by control panel extensions.

paper rectangle: The rectangle that describes the size of a piece of paper on which a page is printed. This rectangle is defined in the same coordinate system as the page rectangle. Thus, the upper-left coordinates of the paper rectangle are typically negative and its lower-right coordinates are greater than those of the page rectangle.

paper-type collection: A collection of items that are relevant to a kind of paper but are not required to define a paper type

See also: collection

paper-type object: A paper-type object represents the paper for which a page is formatted. It specifies the name of the paper, the size, and the printable area

See also: format object

parameter area: The area in the PowerPC stack that holds the parameters for any routines called by a given routine

See also: linkage area

parameter out of range warning: A QuickDraw GX warning indicating that a function parameter is out of the valid range.

parameter RAM: Battery-powered RAM (random-access memory) contained in the clock chip, which preserves settings such as those made with the control panels. Parameter RAM takes up 256 bytes of battery-powered RAM: 20 bytes are commonly accessible by applications, and 236 bytes are reserved by the system software

See also: clock chip

parent directory: The directory in which a file or directory is located.

parent directory ID: The directory ID of the directory containing a file or directory.

parent frame: The main user interface window associated with an applet. The parent frame is created when the applet is instantiated. In an AWT context, the parent frame has the index value 0

See also: frame

parent view port: A property of a view port object. A view port's parent is that view port immediately above it in the view port hierarchy.

parent window: The window in which the user was last working. The determination of a parent window is based on the frontmost window before a new window is created.

parse function: A CSAM-defined function that responds to requests for AOCE parse services from clients of the Catalog Manager.

partial override: An implementation of a printing message override that forwards the message to other message handlers. You typically forward the message at the beginning or end of your override function.

partial pathname: (1) A pathname that begins in some directory other than the root directory. (2) In an AOCE catalog, a value that uniquely identifies a catalog by specifying a dNode number and continuing with the name of each dNode under that one to the dNode in question.

partition: (1) A contiguous block of memory reserved for use by the Operating System or by an application

See also: application partition, file system

partition map: A block of information that describes the organization of partitions on a disk.

part code: An integer between 1 and 253 that stands for a particular part of a control. The FindControl and TrackControl functions return a part code to indicate the location of the cursor when the user presses the mouse button.

Pascal string: An array of characters, consisting of a length byte followed by up to 255 bytes of data

See also: text string

password: (1) A string of characters that a user or application must provide to gain access to a networked file server or to a local machine that requires user authentication. Passwords are frequently encrypted prior to transmission over a network to ensure network security. (2) In digital signatures, a set of characters used as a key to encrypt and decrypt a certificate owner's private key.

password encryption

See: DES encryption

patch: (v) To replace a piece of ROM code with other RAM-based code (by storing a new entry into the trap dispatch table). (n) Any code used to repair or augment an existing piece of code. In the context of Macintosh system software, a patch repairs or augments a system software routine

See also: come-from patch, head patch, tail patch

pathname: (1) A series of concatenated directory names and filenames that identifies a given file or directory. (2) In an AOCE catalog, a string that uniquely identifies a catalog node by specifying the name of each catalog node in the catalog starting from the first node under the root node and including each intervening node to the node in question

See also: dNode number, pathname, partial pathname

path contour: A connected series of straight lines and curves.

path reference number

See: file reference number

path shape: A type of QuickDraw GX shape. The geometry of a path shape is made up of zero, one, or more path contours (each of which is a set of contiguous line segments that can be curved or straight).

pattern: An image that can be repeated indefinitely to form a repeating design when drawing lines and shapes or when filling areas on the screen

See also: bit pattern, pixel pattern, pattern property

pattern grid: A pair of vectors that determine the placement of a pattern shape over the area of another shape.

pattern mode: A specification of which Boolean operation QuickDraw should perform when drawing patterns into bitmaps or pixel maps

See also: source mode

pattern property: A property of a style object that specifies how the area of a shape is to be filled.

pattern shape: A shape copied over the area of another shape at positions specified by a pattern grid.

PC

See: program counter (PC)

PC-relative: A form of instruction addressing in which the destination instruction is some number of instructions before or after the current instruction.

PDD

See: portable digital document (PDD)

PDS

See: processor-direct slot (PDS)

peer-to-peer communication: A connection in which both ends have equal control over the exchange of data and either end can begin or end the session.

peer-to-peer session

See: symmetrical session

PEF

See: Preferred Executable Format (PEF)

PEF container: An addressable entity that contains PEF information.

pen

See: graphics pen

pen position: The screen position where QuickDraw begins to draw a character, as specified by the penLoc field of the active graphics port.

pen width: A style object property. It is the width of the pen used to draw the shape.

perceptual matching: A rendering intent in which all the colors of a given gamut may be scaled to fit within another gamut. The colors maintain their relative positions, so the relationship between colors is maintained.

period: The time elapsed during one complete cycle

See also: frequency

permissions

See: file permissions

persistence: (1) An attribute that causes an item within a collection to be included when the Collection Manager flattens the collection

persistence attribute

persistent VBL task: A VBL task that is executed as scheduled, even when the application that installed it is switched out and is no longer in control of the CPU.

personal catalog: An AOCE catalog created and managed by the Catalog Manager. A personal catalog is an HFS file located on a user's local disk. A personal catalog can store any records that can be kept in a PowerShare catalog and is often used to store frequently used information from such a catalog.

personal MSAM (PMSAM): An MSAM that transfers messages between the user's Macintosh and specific user accounts on an external messaging system. A personal MSAM runs on a user's Macintosh

perspective: The altering of a two-dimensional image to give the impression of a third dimension. A mapping can be used to alter the perspective of a shape.

per-context instantiation: The method of allocating an import library's static data in which one copy of that data is created for each separate application using the library. Using this method, a single application may have only one copy of the static data

See also: global instantiation, per-load instantiation

per-load instantiation: The method of allocating an extension's static data in which one copy of that data is created for each separate connection to the extension. Using this method, a single client may have multiple copies of the static data

See also: global instantiation, per-context instantiation

Phase Alternation Line (PAL): A color- encoding system used widely in Europe, in which one of the subcarrier phases derived from the color burst is inverted in phase from one line to the next. This technique minimizes hue errors that may result during color video transmission. Sometimes called Phase Alternating Line.

phase-locked loop (PLL): A piece of hardware that synchronizes itself to an input signal"for example, a video digitizer card that synchronizes to an incoming video source. The video digitizer component's VDSetPLLFilterType function allows applications to specify which phase-locked loop is to be active.

phoneme: A speech sound in a language that a speaker of the language psychologically considers to be a single unit. A single phoneme may have several allophones.

phoneme callback procedure: An application-defined procedure that is executed whenever the Speech Manager is about to pronounce a phoneme.

phoneme descriptor record: A structure that contains information about all phonemes defined for the current synthesizer. Defined by the PhonemeDescriptor data type.

phoneme information record: A structure that contains information about a phoneme. Defined by the PhonemeInfo data type.

phonemic representation of speech: The representation of speech using a series of phonemes.

phonetic representation of speech: The representation of speech using a series of allophones.

physical address: A memory address represented by bits on a physical address bus. The physical address may be different from the logical address, in which case the CPU translates the logical address into a physical address.

physical block: A fixed location on a storage device that is defined by the physical characteristics of the device

See also: logical block

physical end-of-file: The position of 1 byte past the last allocation block of a file; equal to 1 more than the maximum number of bytes the file can contain.

physical memory: Electronic circuitry contained in random-access memory (RAM) chips, used to temporarily hold information at execution time

See also: virtual memory

physical queue: The actual data of a message queue residing on a disk. A physical queue can have any number of associated virtual queues

See also: virtual queue

physical size: The actual number of bytes a memory block occupies in its heap zone, including the block header and any unused bytes at the end of the block.

picture: A saved sequence of QuickDraw drawing commands (and, optionally, picture comments) that your application can play back later with the DrawPicture procedure; also, the image resulting from these commands.

picture comment: A command or data used for special processing by output devices, such as printer drivers. Picture comments are usually stored in the definition of a picture or are included in the code an application sends to a printer driver.

picture hierarchy: A picture shape that contains other picture shapes as items.

picture item: An element of a picture shape's geometry. Each picture item contains a reference to a shape and, optionally, a reference to an overriding style, an overriding ink, and an overriding transform.

picture opcode: A number that the DrawPicture procedure uses to determine what object to draw or what mode to change for subsequent drawing.

picture shape: A type of QuickDraw GX shape that represents a collection of other shapes.

Picture Utilities: A set of system software routines for extracting information"such as pixel depth an d colors"in pictures and pixel maps.

Pinyin: A system for writing Chinese ideographs by using Roman letters to represent the sounds.

pitch: A listener's subjective interpretation of a sound's frequency

See also: speech pitch

pitch modulation: A fixed-point value defined on a scale from 0.000 to 100.000 that indicates the maximum amount by which the frequency of generated speech may deviate from that corresponding to the speech pitch in either direction. A value of 0.000 corresponds to a monotone.

pixel: Short for picture element, the smallest dot that QuickDraw can draw; also, the visual representation of that dot on the screen.

pixel depth: The number of bits per pixel in a pixel image. Pixels on indexed devices can be 1, 2, 4, or 8 bits deep. (A pixel image that is 1 bit deep is equivalent to a bit image.) Pixels on direct devices can be 16 or 32 bits deep

See also: pixel size

pixel image: A collection of pixels in memory that forms a grid"a rectangular pattern of pixels. The pixel image is pointed to in the baseAddr field of a PixMap record

See also: bit image

pixel map: A data structure of type PixMap that represents the positions and states of a corresponding set of color pixels. A handle to a pixel map is contained within a color graphics port

See also: bitmap

pixel pattern: An image that can be repeated indefinitely to form a design (such as stripes) or tone (such as gray) when drawing lines and shapes or when filling areas on the screen. A pixel pattern can use color at any pixel depth and can be of any width and height that is a power of 2

See also: bit pattern

pixel size: The number of bits required to represent the color information for each pixel in a bitmap. Also called pixel depth.

pixel value: A number used by system software and a graphics device to represent a color. The translation from the color that an application specifies in an RGBColor data structure to a pixel value is performed at the time the application draws the color. The process differs for indexed and direct devices.

placard: A rectangular control used to display information.

platinum appearance: The default appearance for Mac OS 8, which features a 'three-dimensional' appearance

See also: appearance

playback quality: A relative measure of the fidelity of a track in a QuickTime movie. You can control the playback (or language) quality of a movie during movie playback. The Movie Toolbox chooses tracks from alternate groups that most closely correspond to the display quality you desire. In this manner you can create a single movie that can take advantage of the hardware configurations of different computer systems during playback.

playthrough: A feature of sound recording that allows the user to hear, through the speaker of a Macintosh computer, the sound being recorded.

play from disk: The ability of the Sound Manager to play sampled sounds stored on disk (either in a sound file or a sound resource) continuously without audible gaps.

PLL

See: phase-locked loop (PLL)

plug-in: A shared library that must be explicitly prepared by the client application before use. Plug-ins typically contain code and data that extend the capabilities of an application. Also called an application extension or a drop-in addition

See also: import library

PMMU

PMSAM

point: The intersection of a horizontal grid line and a vertical grid line in the coordinate plane. Defined by the Point data type

See also: control point, geometric point, grid point, point shape

pointer: A variable containing the address of a byte in memory

See also: handle, cursor

pointer record: The kind of record contained in an index node in a B*-tree file. The structure of a pointer record depends on the kind of B*-tree in which it is contained.

point shape: A type of QuickDraw GX shape. The geometry of a point shape specifies an x-coordinate and a y-coordinate. Point shapes appear as a single pixel (if the pen width is 0) or as a cap shape (if the pen width is greater than 0).

point size: The size of a font's glyphs as measured from the baseline of one line of text to the baseline of the next line of single-spaced text. In the United States, point size is measured in typographic points.

point size factor: A specific point size that you force onto a style run to create custom kerning

See also: kerning adjustments array, scaling factor

point-to-point translation: A translation group with one source type and one destination type.

polar coordinate: A coordinate system in which a point is specified by the length of the radius vector r from the origin to the point and the direction of the vector is specified by the polar angle a. A point is defined by specifying the coordinates r and a in the format (r, a). The polar origin has the coordinates (0, a), where a is any angle

See also: Cartesian coordinate

polite notification: A notification in which a small icon blinks in the menu bar at the location of the Apple menu icon (the Apple logo) or the Application menu icon.

polled transfer: A Macintosh-specific method of transferring data between memory and the SCSI controller hardware, in which the SCSI Manager senses the state of the internal registers of the SCSI controller to determine when the controller is ready to transfer another byte

See also: blind transfer

polling: When the ADB Manager repeatedly sends each ADB device a Talk Register 0 command to see if it has new data to return.

polygon: A graphic shape defined by any sequence of points representing the polygon's vertices, connected by straight lines from one point to the next.

polygon contour: A connected series of straight lines.

polygon shape: A type of QuickDraw GX shape. The geometry of a polygon shape is made up of zero, one, or more polygon contours (each of which is a set of contiguous straight-line segments).

polymorphism: In object-oriented programming, the ability to call objects of different classes with the same method. For example, a program might use the same method to draw objects defined by different classes.

polyphonic sound

See: stereo sound

poor man's search path: The list of directories that the File Manager searches whenever it cannot find a specified file in the specified directory.

pop-up menu: A menu that appears somewhere other than the menu bar, typically as part of a pop-up menu button

See also: pop-up menu button

pop-up menu button: A button that, when pressed, presents a menu. The button's label indicates the current menu setting

See also: pop-up menu

port: (1) A portal through which an open application can exchange information with another open application using the PPC Toolbox. A port is designated by a port name and a location name. An application can open as many ports as it requires so long as each port name is unique within a particular computer. (2) A connection between the CPU and main memory or a device (such as a terminal) for transferring data. (3) A socket on the back panel of a computer where you plug in a cable for connection to a network or a peripheral device

See also: audio port, graphics port

portable digital document (PDD): A print file that can be viewed without the application or fonts that created it. It is created by printing with the PDD Maker GX printer driver

See also: print file

portable Macintosh computer: Any Macintosh computer that can be battery powered.

port font: The font for drawing text in a graphics port, as specified in the txFont field of the graphics port record.

port name: A unique identifier for a particular application within a computer. The port name contains a name string, a type string, and a script code. An application can specify any number of port names for a single port so long as each name is unique

See also: port

port rectangle: An entry in the graphics port data structure. Ordinarily, the port rectangle represents the area of a graphics port available for drawing"that is, the content region of a window.

positions array: An array that contains positions for the origin of each character or glyph in the shape. These positions, stored as points, can be relative to the advance width of the previous character or glyph, or they can be absolute positions in coordinates.

post: For an error, warning, or notice, to place in an accessible location. QuickDraw GX posts an error, for example, when a function cannot complete successfully.

postcompensation action: The extra processing, such as addition of kashidas and ligature decomposition, that occurs after glyphs have been repositioned during justification.

posting: The process of generating error, warning, and notice messages by QuickDraw GX

See also: debugging version, error, non-debugging version, notice, warning

postmultiplied: A term that describes the order in which matrices are multiplied. Matrix [A] is postmultiplied by matrix [B] if matrix [A] is replaced by [A] X [B]

See also: premultiplied

PostScript imaging system: The imaging system provided by QuickDraw GX that converts QuickDraw GX shapes into PostScript instructions and data for PostScript output devices such as the Apple LaserWriter family of printers.

PostScript printer driver: A printer driver that converts each QuickDraw drawing operation into the equivalent PostScript drawing operation. The driver sends the converted drawing operations to the printer"typically, a laser printer. The printer interprets the PostScript drawing operations and renders the image, thereby off-loading image processing from the computer.

PowerPC

See: PowerPC microprocessor

PowerPC application: An application that contains code only for a PowerPC microprocessor

See also: 68K application, fat application

PowerPC compiler: Any compiler that produces code that can execute on a PowerPC

See also: 680x0 compiler

PowerPC microprocessor: Any member of the family of PowerPC microprocessors. Members of the PowerPC family include the MPC601, 603, and 604 CPUs.

PowerPC Numerics: The floating-point environment on PowerPC processor-based Macintosh computers. This environment provides floating-point data types and arithmetic operations, plus some advanced numerical functions (such as logarithmic and trigonometric functions)

PowerPC Numerics library: A C library that implements floating-point transcendental functions and contains type definitions and macros used for floating-point operations. It is contained in the file MathLib.

PowerPC processor-based Macintosh computer: Any computer containing a PowerPC central processing unit that runs Macintosh system software

See also: 680x0-based Macintosh computer

PowerPC runtime architecture: The runtime architecture for Mac OS_based computers using the PowerPC microprocessor. Its characteristics include storage of code and data in contiguous fragments, the absence of an A5 world, and the ability to use shared libraries

See also: CFM-68K runtime architecture, classic 68K runtime architecture

PowerPC software: Any software (that is, application, extension, driver, or other executable code) that consists of code only for a PowerPC microprocessor

See also: PowerPC application

PowerPC-based Macintosh computer: Any computer containing a PowerPC CPU that runs the Mac OS

See also: 68K-based Macintosh computer

PowerShare catalog: An AOCE server-based catalog provided by Apple Computer, Inc

See also: external catalog

PowerShare server: A server installed on an AppleTalk network to provide catalog services to any number of entities on that network. A PowerShare server can also identify and authenticate users to ensure that only authorized people or agents gain access to the catalog information.

PowerTalk Key Chain: The PowerTalk software that sets up and maintains a user's PowerTalk Setup catalog.

PowerTalk Setup catalog: A special personal catalog that contains information about the mail and messaging services, catalog services, and other services available to the owner of the computer

See also: local identity

PowerTalk system software: Apple Computer's implementation of the AOCE system software for use on Macintosh computers. The PowerTalk system software includes desktop services as well as all of the services of the AOCE system software managers.

power cycling: A method of entering the idle state in which power to the CPU is cycled on and off for increasing intervals, until some relevant system activity is detected.

Power Manager: The part of the Mac OS that controls power to the internal hardware devices of battery-powered Macintosh computers. The Power Manager also provides some service unique to portable Macintosh computers"such as reading the current CPU clock speed"that are not directly related to power control.

Power Manager IC: The 50753 microprocessor in the Macintosh Portable computer and some other portable Macintosh computers. The Power Manager IC (along with other circuits) controls power to the various subsystems of the computer. The power control functions may be handled by different hardware on other portable Macintosh computers.

power-saver state: A power conservation state of portable Macintosh computers in which the processor slows from its normal clock speed to some slower clock speed. On the PowerBook 180 computer, for example, the CPU clock speed can be reduced from 33 MHz to 16 MHz in order to conserve power

See also: idle state, sleep state

PPC Toolbox

See: Program-to-Program Communications (PPC) Toolbox

precision: The number of digits required to accurately represent a number. For example, the value 3.2 requires two decimal digits of precision, and the value 3.002 requires four decimal digits. In numeric data formats, the precision is equal to the number of bits (both implicit and explicit) in the significand.

preemptive multitasking: The ability of an operating system to allocate access to the CPU and other operating system services among multiple tasks, thereby allowing multiple programs to execute in a simultaneous or nearly simultaneous manner

See also: cooperative multitasking

preferences file: A file, usually located in the Preferences folder, that records a user's configuration settings for an application.

Preferences folder: A directory located in the System Folder for holding files that record users' configuration settings for applications on a particular Macintosh computer.

preferred CMM: A user-selected CMM, chosen with the ColorSync control panel, that is used for all color checking and matching operations that the CMM can handle

Preferred Executable Format (PEF): The format of executable files used for PowerPC applications and shared libraries. It is also used for CFM-68K runtime import libraries that have been flattened. CFM-68K runtime applications are stored in a combination of PEF containers and 'CODE' resources

preferred interface: The AppleTalk interface standard designed to be similar to that of the Device Manager and the File Manager. Its routines use parameter blocks to pass input and output values. The interface glue code converts the parameter block values into a Device Manager control call to the appropriate AppleTalk device driver.

preferred partition size: The partition size at which an application can run most effectively. The Operating System attempts to secure this partition size upon launch of the application.

preferred rate: The default playback rate for a QuickTime movie.

preferred volume: The default sound volume for a QuickTime movie.

premultiplied: A term that describes the order in which matrices are multiplied. Matrix [A] is premultiplied by matrix [B] if matrix [A] is replaced by [B] X [A]

See also: postmultiplied

preparation: A general term in CFM-based runtime architectures to describe the actions of the Code Fragment Manager prior to executing a fragment. These actions include identifying imports, bringing fragments into memory, and resolving imports.

prepare: To resolve imports in a fragment to exports in some import library.

preroll: A technique for improving movie playback performance. This technique is used when prerolling a movie. The Movie Toolbox informs the movie's media handlers that the movie is about to be played. The media handlers can then load the appropriate movie data. In this manner, the movie can play smoothly from the start.

preview: A short, potentially dynamic, visual representation of the contents of a file. The Standard File Package can use file previews in file dialog boxes to give the user a visual cue about a file's contents.

preview component: A component used by the Movie Toolbox's standard file preview functions to display and create visual previews for files. Previews usually consist of a single image, but they may contain many kinds of data, including sound. In QuickTime, the Movie Toolbox is the primary client of preview components. Rarely, if ever, do applications call preview components directly.

primary caret: The high caret that is displayed at the primary caret position; part of a dual caret.

primary caret position: When a dual caret appears, the screen location that marks the insertion point for text whose line direction matches the primary line direction.

primary line direction: The dominant line direction (right-to-left or left-to-right) of the current text. The primary line direction is typically specified by the value of the system direction global variable, SysDirection.

prime: To activate a Time Manager task that is already installed in the Time Manager queue.

prime routine: A device driver routine that implements the input and output functions of the driver. This routine is optional and need not be implemented.

primitive form: Having stylistic variations incorporated into the shape type, geometry, and shape fill.

primitive object class: An object class defined in the Apple Event Registry: Standard Suites for Apple event objects that contain a single value; for example, the cBoolean, cLongInteger, and cAlias object classes are all primitive object classes. An Apple event object that belongs to a primitive object class has no properties and contains only one element"the value of the data.

primitive shape: A shape whose shape type, geometry, and shape fill have had stylistic information incorporated into them.

printer

See: desktop printer, formatting printer, output printer

printer driver: A software module that controls how the contents of a document are spooled, rendered, and sent to a specific output device.

printer object: An object that represents the characteristics of a printer, such as its color space and resolution. The output printer and formatting printer are represented by printer objects.

printer resource file: A file containing all the resources needed to run the Printing Manager with a particular printer.

printing alert box: An alert box used by QuickDraw GX printing to display information to the user that must be responded to. The alert box is like a dialog box in that it can contain control items. The user must explicitly dismiss an alert box to remove it from the screen.

printing extension: An add-on software module that allows you to extend printing functionality provided by applications and printer drivers.

printing graphics port: The printing environment defined by a TPrPort record, which contains a QuickDraw graphics port (either a GrafPort or CGrafPort record) plus additional information used by the printer driver and system software. An application prints text and graphics by drawing into a printing graphics port using QuickDraw drawing routines, just as if drawing on the screen.

printing loop: Application-supplied code that handles printing needs, such as presenting the job dialog box and determining the range of pages to be printed.

Printing Manager: A collection of system software routines that your application can use to print from the Macintosh computer t o any type of connected printer.

printing message: A notice that QuickDraw GX sends to the message handlers in a message chain that a certain printing-related condition has arisen or that a certain printing-related task needs to be accomplished

See also: message chain, message handler

printing message override

See: message override

printing objects: QuickDraw GX objects used for printing. Printing objects include the job object, format object, paper-type object, and others.

PrintMonitor Documents folder: A directory located in the System Folder for storing spooled documents waiting to be printed.

print dialog box: A dialog box provided by QuickDraw GX that is both movable and modal. Most print dialog boxes have both a normal and an expanded version. The application can customize print dialog boxes by adding panels

See also: panel

Print Documents event: An Apple event that requests that an application print a list of documents; one of the four required Apple events.

print file: The spooled version of a QuickDraw GX shape or set of shapes that is the intermediate stage in printing. A print file consists of a stream of flattened QuickDraw GX objects

print file object: A representation of a print file, which allows an application to access the contents of the file.

print imaging system

See: imaging system

print job

See: job object

priority justification override: A style object property used only by layout shapes. It is a structure that redefines the justification priorities and behaviors for whole classes of glyphs.

priority justification override array: An array that alters the standard justification behavior for all glyphs of a given justification priority.

private connection: A connection that cannot be shared between closures. A fragment can have multiple private connections within a process, all serving the same client. Private connections are not visible as import libraries

private key: A number that is derived from a password and used by an encryption algorithm. The ASDSP initiator and recipient each have a private key, which is used in the authentication process. The private key is also called a user key or client key.

private resource: Any executable resource whose behavior is defined by your application (or other kind of software) alone

See also: accelerated resource

private scrap: A scrap used exclusively by TextEdit.

privileges

See: directory access privileges

privilege model: A set of conventions for controlling access to stored files and directories.

procedure information: A long word that encodes information about a routine's calling conventions, the sizes and locations of the routine's parameters, and the size and location of the routine's result. Defined by the ProcInfoType data type.

procedure pointer: A reference generated by a compiler when taking the address of a routine. On 680x0-based Macintosh computers, a procedure pointer is the address of the routine's executable code (and is defined by the ProcPtr data type). On PowerPC processor-based Macintosh computers, a procedure pointer is the address of the routine's transition vector.

process: (1) An instance of a program at execution time. (2) A prepared application and its associated fragments (including plug-ins). A process holds connections and closures.

processor cache

See: data cache, instruction cache

processor priority: Bits in the status register of the CPU that indicate which interrupts are to be processed and which are to be ignored.

processor-direct slot (PDS): An Apple-specific expansion interface architecture included in some Macintosh computers. It uses a single connector that allows an expansion card direct access to all of the microprocessor signals.

Process Manager: The part of the Mac OS that provides a cooperative multitasking environment by controlling access to shared resources and managing the scheduling, execution, and termination of applications.

process serial number: A number assigned by the Process Manager that identifies a particular instance of an application; this number is unique during a single boot of the local machine. Defined by the ProcessSerialNumber data type.

ProcInfoType

See: procedure information

ProcPtr

See: procedure pointer

profile: A structure that may contain measurements representing a color gamut, including information such as the lightest and darkest possible tones, and maximum densities for red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, and yellow. The International Color Consortium defines several different profile classes. Each profile class must include a different required set of information, but all of these classes follow the same format

See also: abstract profile, color space profile, device profile, named color space profile

profile chromaticities: Color values that define the extremes of saturation that a device can produce for its primary and secondary colors (red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow).

profile data: A property of a color profile object; it consists of a ColorSync color profile structure.

profile identifier: An abbreviated data structure that uniquely identifies, and possibly modifies, a profile in memory or on disk.

profile response curves: A set of curves in a color profile representing the color response of a device as the color intensity ranges from zero to maximum.

program: A series of statements instructing a computer to perform various operations. A program is either compiled or interpreted. A compiled program is first created in source code, then transformed by a compiler and linker into executable code. An interpreted program, such as an AppleScript script, is not compiled but instead translated for execution by a separate program called an interpreter. At launch time, the operating system instantiates a process for a program so that it can be executed by the CPU.

programming interface: The functions and data structures defined by one piece of software, such as an operating system service, for use by client software, such as applications and device drivers. The Mac OS application programming interface provides access to such services as window management and file management.

program counter (PC): A register in the CPU that contains a pointer to the memory location of the next instruction to be executed.

Program-to-Program Communications (PPC) Toolbox: The part of the Macintosh system software that allows applications to exchange blocks of data with each other by reading and writing low-level message blocks.

progress function: An application-defined function that is invoked by the Movie Toolbox or the Image Compression Manager. You can use these functions to track the progress of time-consuming activities, and thereby keep the user informed about that progress.

progress indicator: A control, consisting of a rectangular frame and a variable length bar, that provides a means of measuring process duration or displaying remaining capacity.

prolog: A sequence of code that prepares the stack for a procedure call (by saving registers, adjusting the stack, and so on)

See also: epilog

pronunciation dictionary: A list of words and their pronunciations, installed in a speech channel to override default speech synthesizer pronunciations of words.

pronunciation dictionary resource: A pronunciation dictionary stored in a resource of type 'dict'.

property: (1) A data item associated with an object.(2) An Apple event object that defines some characteristic of another Apple event object, such as its font or point size, that can be uniquely identified by a constant. The definition of each object class in the Apple Event Registry: Standard Suites lists the constants and class IDs for properties of Apple event objects belonging to that object class. For example, the constants pName and pBounds identify the name and boundary properties of Apple event objects that belong to the object class cWindow. The pName property of a specific window is defined by an Apple event object of object class cProperty, such as the word 'MyWindow,' which defines the name of the window. An Apple event object can contain only one of each of its properties, whereas it can contain many elements of the same element class

See also: Apple event object, container

property command: Any command handled by your AOCE template code resource's kDETcmdPropertyCommand routine. The CE calls your code resource with the kDETcmdPropertyCommand routine selector when the user clicks a button or checkbox in your information page, when the user selects an item in a pop-up menu in your information page, and in a few other circumstances.

property ID: A four-character code, which can also be represented by a constant, that identifies a property.

property number: A reference number assigned to a property by an aspect template. The property number uniquely identifies that property within that aspect.

property type: A constant associated with a property that specifies the nature of the data in the property value. For example, a property type can be a number, a string, or a custom type defined by a developer.

property value: The data associated with a property.

proportional font: Any font in which different characters have different widths; thus, the space taken up by words having the same number of letters can vary.

prosody: The rhythm, modulation, and stress patterns of speech.

protected block: A block of memory that should not be moved or purged by a grow-zone function.

protocol: (1) A standard set of rules for coordinating transmission between a sender and receiver. (2) A formalized set of rules that networked computers use to communicate. Network software developers implement these rules in programs that carry out the functions specified by the protocol. AppleTalk consists of a number of protocols, many of which are implemented in drivers.

protocol discriminators: A series of hierarchical type fields in a packet header that incrementally distinguish for which protocol handler a packet is intended. The value of a higher field can affect the possible values of a field that follows it.

protocol handler: A piece of assembly-language code that controls the reception of packets of a given protocol type that are delivered to a node. A protocol handler receives packets for a specific protocol type much like a socket listener receives packets for a specific socket. The data link determines the type of the packet and passes it on to the appropriate protocol handler.

prototype

See: function prototype

proxy: A privilege provided by a user or service to an intermediary. The proxy allows the intermediary to be authenticated as the user or service for a limited period of time.

proxy icon: A small icon in a document window's title bar that serves as a proxy for the document's icon in the Finder. The document proxy icon's behavior should be the same as that of the document's icon in the Finder.

proxy icon region: The area occupied by a window's proxy icon

See also: proxy icon

pseudonym: An alternative name for a record in a Catalog Manager routine.

pseudo-Boolean transfer modes: Transfer mode types in which the result color is achieved by normalizing the source and destination values and performing simple arithmetic operations whose results are analogous to 1-bit Boolean operations.

pseudo-item: A constant that does not represent any actual item in the dialog list of one of the dialog boxes displayed by the Standard File Package.

pseudo-persistent attribute creation ID: A number that uniquely identifies an attribute value within a record. It persists from the time the CSAM is opened at system startup until system shutdown

See also: attribute creation ID

pseudo-random number generator: An algorithm that is designed to return a value that is as random as possible.

public key: One of a pair of keys needed for public-key cryptography. Every user has a public key, which can be distributed to other users.

public validation: The process of checking the validity of the parameters passed by an application

See also: validation

public-key certificate: A document that contains, among other information, the name and public key of a user. The user is the owner of the certificate

See also: signed certificate, certificate set

public-key cryptography: A system of cryptography in which every user has two keys to encrypt and decrypt data: a public key and a private key. Data encrypted with a user's public key can be decrypted only with that same user's private key. Likewise, data encrypted with a user's private key can be decrypted only with that user's public key.

publish: To make data available to other documents and applications through a publisher. When a user creates or edits the data in the publisher and then saves it, the current version of the data is stored in an edition

See also: edition, publisher, subscriber

publisher: A portion of a document that makes its data available to other documents or applications. A publisher stores its data in an edition whenever a user creates or edits the data in the publisher and then saves it

See also: edition, section, subscriber

pull-down menu: A menu that is identified by a menu title (a word or an icon) in the menu bar.

purge: To remove a relocatable block from the heap, leaving its master pointer allocated but set to NIL.

purgeable block: A relocatable block that can be purged from the heap.

purge-warning procedure: A procedure associated with a particular heap zone. The Memory Manager calls this procedure whenever a block is about to be purged from the zone.

push button: A control that appears as a rounded rectangle with a label. When the user clicks a push button, the action described by the label is immediately executed.