(1) (
Photonic
Integrated
Circuit) See
photonic chip.
(2) (
Programmable
Interrupt
Controller) An Intel 8259A chip that controls interrupts. Starting with the 286-based AT, there are two PICs in a PC, providing a total of 15 usable IRQs. The PIC has been superseded by an Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller, or 82489DX chip, that is enhanced for multiprocessing. See
IRQ.
(3) A family of 8-bit and 16-bit microcontrollers from Microchip Technology Inc. Used in myriad applications, PIC chips come in a wide variety of packages and configurations. PIC originally stood for "Peripheral Interface Controller." See
microcontroller and
MiWi.
(4) (
Port
Interface
Card) An expansion card that plugs into a router to add network interfaces. PICs may have only one port or multiple ports of the same type.
(5) (
Position
Independent
Code) Instructions that can be placed and executed anywhere in RAM.
(6) A telephone network ID code. See
PIC code.
(7) Various image formats. See
extension P.