:POM: /P-O-M/ /n./ Common abbreviation for {phase of the moon}. Usage: usually in the phrase `POM-dependent', which means {flaky}.
:pop: /pop/ [from the operation that removes the top of a stack, and the fact that procedure return addresses are usually saved on the stack] (also capitalized `POP') 1. /vt./ To remove something from a {stack} or {pdl}. If a person says he/she has popped something from his stack, that means he/she has finally finished working on it and can now remove it from the list of things hanging overhead. 2. When a discussion gets to a level of detail so deep that the main point of the discussion is being lost, someone will shout "Pop!", meaning "Get back up to a higher level!" The shout is frequently accompanied by an upthrust arm with a finger pointing to the ceiling.
:POPJ: /pop'J/ /n.,v./ [from a {PDP-10} return-from-subroutine instruction] To return from a digression. By verb doubling, "Popj, popj" means roughly "Now let's see, where were we?" See {RTI}.
:poser: /n./ A {wannabee}; not hacker slang, but used among crackers, phreaks and {warez d00dz}. Not as negative as {lamer} or {leech}. Probably derives from a similar usage among punk-rockers and metalheads, putting down those who "talk the talk but don't walk the walk".
:post: /v./ To send a message to a {mailing list} or {newsgroup}. Distinguished in context from `mail'; one might ask, for example: "Are you going to post the patch or mail it to known users?"
:postcardware: /n./ A kind of {shareware} that borders on
{freeware}, in that the author requests only that satisfied
users send a postcard of their home town or something. (This
practice, silly as it might seem, serves to remind users that they
are otherwise getting something for nothing, and may also be
psychologically related to real estate `sales' in which $1
changes hands just to keep the transaction from being a gift.)
:posting: /n./ Noun corresp. to v. {post} (but note that
{post} can be nouned). Distinguished from a `letter' or
ordinary {email} message by the fact that it is broadcast rather
than point-to-point. It is not clear whether messages sent to a
small mailing list are postings or email; perhaps the best dividing
line is that if you don't know the names of all the potential
recipients, it is a posting.
:postmaster: /n./ The email contact and maintenance person at a site connected to the Internet or UUCPNET. Often, but not always, the same as the {admin}. The Internet standard for electronic mail ({RFC}-822) requires each machine to have a `postmaster' address; usually it is aliased to this person.
:PostScript:: /n./ A Page Description Language ({PDL}), based on work originally done by John Gaffney at Evans and Sutherland in 1976, evolving through `JaM' (`John and Martin', Martin Newell) at {XEROX PARC}, and finally implemented in its current form by John Warnock et al. after he and Chuck Geschke founded Adobe Systems Incorporated in 1982. PostScript gets its leverage by using a full programming language, rather than a series of low-level escape sequences, to describe an image to be printed on a laser printer or other output device (in this it parallels {EMACS}, which exploited a similar insight about editing tasks). It is also noteworthy for implementing on-the fly rasterization, from Bezier curve descriptions, of high-quality fonts at low (e.g. 300 dpi) resolution (it was formerly believed that hand-tuned bitmap fonts were required for this task). Hackers consider PostScript to be among the most elegant hacks of all time, and the combination of technical merits and widespread availability has made PostScript the language of choice for graphical output.
:pound on: /vt./ Syn. {bang on}.