pTAL Reference Manual (H06.03+)

HP pTAL Reference Manual—523746-005
15-1
15 Built-In Routines
Topics:
•
Privileged Mode on page 15-1
•
Parameters on page 15-2
•
Hardware Indicators on page 15-4
•
Atomic Operations on page 15-4
•
Nonatomic Operations on page 15-11
Built-in routine calls whose results do not depend on the values of variables (such as
$LEN(n ) or $INT(10D)) can be used wherever constant values are allowed.
The syntax descriptions in this section use these terms:
“sINT” and “uINT” are not pTAL data types. This section uses them only to specify how
built-in routines use INT parameters.
Privileged Mode
Many built-in routines can be executed only by processes running in privileged mode.
Routines that operate in privileged mode can:
•
Call other routines that operate in privileged mode
•
Perform privileged operations by means of calls to system procedures
•
Execute privileged instructions that can affect other programs or the operating
system
•
Use system global pointers and 'SG' equivalencing to:
°
Access system tables (which are described in the system description manual
for your system)
°
Access the system data area
°
Compare and move data between the system data area and the user data area
°
Initiate certain input-output transfers
(Only procedures that operate in privileged mode can access system global data.)
Term Definition
sINT Signed 16-bit integer. Range is -32,768 through 32,767.
uINT Unsigned 16-bit integer. Range is 0 through 65,535. Must be an INT variable, not
a STRING or UNSIGNED variable.
word 16-bit word unless otherwise specified