Introduction to Pathmaker

Glossary
067867 Tandem Computers Incorporated Glossary–1
application. A set of programs designed to perform a specified task, usually involving
operations on a database.
application developer. A programmer using the Pathmaker product or some other
means to create an application.
application screen. The data entry screen or menu screen for an application.
Application screens are displayed to end users when they run a Pathmaker
application.
An application screen can be designed entirely by setting screen layout parameters in
the Requester Definition screen and in its related screens, or the application screen can
be enhanced by using the screen painter.
catalog. See project catalog.
catalog subvolume. See project subvolume.
COBOL85. The Tandem compiler and run-time support for the American National
Standard Programming Language, COBOL, X3.23-1985.
code generator. A component of the Pathmaker product used to generate Pathmaker
requesters and servers.
code macro. See macro.
context-free. A term applied to services and servers that specifies that they do not save
any information about a request to be used by subsequent requests. All Pathmaker
services and servers must be context-free.
custom application. A type of Pathmaker application created to handle the high volume
online transaction processing needs of a business. In addition to database access tasks,
a custom application can be created to perform database integrity checks, complex
editing, data manipulation, and calculations. A custom application is usually
composed of one or more TRNS (transaction) requesters, one or more custom services
(packaged into custom servers), and one or more menu requesters.
custom server. A Pathmaker server that contains code for executing custom services.
custom service. A unit of work performed by a server, corresponding to a single SEND
operation in a Pathway environment. Custom services are written in COBOL85 or C
to perform a specific transaction. A custom service might be one that inserts an airline
flight reservation record or transfers money from one bank account record to another.
custom source file. An EDIT file that contains code written by an application developer
for one or more Pathmaker custom services. In previous versions of the Pathmaker
product, these files were called Transaction Copy Libraries.
Data Definition Language. See DDL.
data field. A portion of the application screen dedicated to accepting data typed in by
the end user and displaying data from the application. A data field consists of a set of
contiguous positions on the screen and can be underlined for emphasis. Data fields
have an associated DDL or NonStop SQL data definition.