+---+
     | P |
     +---+

P-USE

See predicate data use.

PARTITION TESTING

See equivalence partition testing. [Beizer]

PATH

A sequence of executable statements of a component,
from an entry point to an exit point.(BCS)

PATH COVERAGE

The percentage of paths in a component exercised by a
test case suite.(BCS)

PATH SENSITIZING

Choosing a set of input values to force the execution
of a component to take a given path.(BCS)

PATH TESTING

A test case design technique in which test cases are
designed to execute paths of a component.(BCS)

PERFORMANCE TESTING

Testing conducted to evaluate the compliance of a
system or component with specified performance
requirements. [IEEE]

PIVOT YEAR

When a windowing remediation technique is used, dates
continue to be represented with two-digit years, but
are interpreted within a 100-year window, for example,
1950 to 2049.  A pivot year is a two-digit value that
can be used to document and interpret a windowed date.
Any two-digit year value greater than or equal to the
pivot year is interpreted as having a prefix of "19",
while any two-digit year value less than the pivot year
is interpreted as having a prefix of "20".  Thus, for
example, in a system supporting a 1950 to 2049 window,
the pivot year of 50 causes year values between 50 and
99 to be interpreted as 1950 to 1999, and year values
between 00 and 49 to be interpreted as 2000 to 2049.
(IEEE)

PLATFORM

Any hardware or software that is required to develop,
maintain, support or run an application.  Platforms can
include hardware, embedded software, utilities,
development tools and environments, data management
software, programming languages and interpreters,
middleware, end user tools, and so on.

PORTABILITY TESTING

Testing aimed at demonstrating the software can be
ported to specified hardware or software
platforms.(BCS)

PORTFOLIO

A grouping of systems / platforms to support a business
unit or enterprise.  The portfolio would typically
include the systems that have dependencies and that
should be tested together.

PORTFOLIO TESTING

The testing of two or more systems together to probe
the intefaces and interactions between systems.

PRECONDITION

Environmental and state conditions which must be
fulfilled before the component can be executed with a
particular input value.(BCS)

PREDICATE

A logical expression which evaluates to TRUE or FALSE,
normally to direct the execution path in code.(BCS)

PREDICATE DATA USE

A data use in a predicate.

PREDICTED OUTCOME

The behaviour predicted by the specification of an
object under specified conditions.(BCS)

PROGRAM INSTRUMENTER

See instrumenter.

PROGRESSIVE TESTING

Testing of new features after regression testing of
previous features. [Beizer]

PSEUDO-RANDOM

A series which appears to be random but is in fact
generated according to some prearranged sequence.(BCS)