pTAL Reference Manual (H06.08+)

Glossary
HP pTAL Reference Manual—523746-006
Glossary-14
value parameter
value parameter. An argument for which a procedure or subprocedure passes a value,
rather than the address of the argument, to a called procedure or subprocedure. The
called procedure or subprocedure can modify the passed value but not the original
argument in the caller’s scope. Compare to reference parameter.
variable. A symbolic representation of an item or a group of items or elements. A simple
variable, array, structure, simple pointer, structure pointer, or equivalenced variable. A
variable can store data that can change during program execution.
VARIABLE procedure. A procedure that you declare using the VARIABLE keyword; a
procedure to which you can add formal parameters but then you must recompile all its
callers; a procedure for which the compiler considers all parameters to be optional,
even if some are required by your code. Compare to EXTENSIBLE procedure.
virtual memory. A range of addresses that processes use to reference physical memory
and disk storage.
Visual Inspect. The HP interactive symbolic debugging tool for TNS/R programs. Compare
to Native Inspect.
white space. One or more space or tab characters.
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.
XOR. A bitwise logical operator that performs a bitwise exclusive OR operation.