PCLs

PCLs is an acronym used across several fields to denote different concepts. The two most widely encountered meanings are the Point Cloud Library, a software framework for processing 3D point clouds, and Portable Class Libraries, a historical term in the .NET ecosystem for reusable code across platforms. Other uses exist but are less common and domain-specific.

Point Cloud Library (PCL) is an open-source C++ framework for processing 3D point clouds. It provides modules for filtering, downsampling, segmentation, feature estimation, surface reconstruction, and registration, and supports data formats such as PCD and PLY. PCL is used in robotics, 3D scanning, mapping and object recognition, often in conjunction with VTK for visualization.

Portable Class Libraries (PCLs) were a .NET concept that allowed sharing code across multiple platforms by compiling libraries for several targets. They were superseded by .NET Standard and later unified in .NET 5+, with developers now using multi-targeting or standard libraries instead of legacy PCLs.

Notes: Because PCLs can refer to different concepts in different communities, context is important to determine the intended meaning.