COBOL Manual for TNS/E Programs (H06.03+)

Glossary
HP COBOL Manual for TNS/E Programs—520347-003
Glossary-37
user library
user library.
1. An object code file that the operating system links to a program file at run time. A
program can have only one user library. See also TNS user library, TNS/R native
user library, and TNS/E native user library.
2. A library loadfile associated with a program so that it emulates the user library
feature of the operating system on TNS systems. For PIC programs on TNS/R and
TNS/E systems, the user library is a dynamic-link library (DLL). It is treated as if it
were the first library in the program's libList; thus it is searched first for symbols
required by the program. However, a user library does not appear in the program's
libList; instead, its name is recorded internally in the program's loadfile. A program
can be associated with at most one user library; the association can be specified
using the linker at link time or in a later change command, or at run time using the
process creation interfaces. (The /LIB …/ option to the RUN command in TACL
uses these interfaces.)
value parameter. See content parameter.
variable. A data item whose value a process can change.
variable-length record. A record associated with a file whose file description entry or sort-
merge file description entry permits records to contain a varying number of character
positions.
variable-occurrence data item. A table element which is repeated a variable number of
times. Such an item must contain an OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause in its data
description entry, or be subordinate to such an item.
verb. A word that expresses an action for the COBOL compiler or an object program to
take.
volume. A logical disk, which can be one or two magnetic disk drives. In HP NonStop™
S-series systems, volumes have names that begin with a dollar sign ($), such as
$DATA.
word. An instruction-set-defined unit of memory that corresponds to the width of registers
and to the most common and efficient size of memory operations. A TNS word is 2
bytes (16 bits) wide, beginning on any 2-byte boundary in memory. A MIPS RISC word
is 4 bytes (32 bits) wide, beginning on any 4-byte boundary in memory. An Intel®
Itanium® word is also 4 bytes (32 bits) wide, beginning on any 4-byte boundary in
memory.
Working-Storage Section. The section of the Data Division that describes Working-Storage
data items, which can be noncontiguous data items or Working-Storage records or
both.