P

parent object

An object that lies one level higher than a particular object in a hierarchy of objects.

pickup directory

A disk directory from which an SMTP server retrieves outgoing mail messages. Each message is contained in a separate file with an extension of .eml.

plain text

Text that is completely unstructured and is devoid of formatting sequences. Plain text should not be confused with the single word plaintext, which means unencrypted text.

POP

(Post Office Protocol) An application layer Internet protocol. POP3 is defined by RFC 1081.

Post Office Protocol

See POP.

property

A data attribute exposed by an object. A property represents data that is held inside the object and is inaccessible from outside except through methods of the object’s defined interface. An object can permit read/write access to some of its properties and read-only access to others.

protocol event

See transport event.