TNS/E Native Application Conversion Guide

TNS/E Native Application Conversion Guide—529659-003
5-1
5 Converting TAL to pTAL
HP TAL is a higher-level, block-structured language used to write system software and
transaction-oriented applications for NonStop systems.
pTAL is a dialect of TAL with these differences:
•
pTAL does not depend on architecture-specific characteristics of NonStop
processors.
•
pTAL has constructs that replace architecture-specific TAL constructs and that take
advantage of TNS/E processors.
•
pTAL also enforces stricter rules on using certain TAL constructs and operations.
The compilers to which this section applies are:
This section discusses:
•
Using the pTAL Compiler
•
Required Changes
Using the pTAL Compiler
The EPTAL command runs the TNS/E pTAL compiler. The TNS/E pTAL compiler
generates Itanium code. Object code produced by the TNS/E pTAL compiler is
position-independent code (PIC), which can be used to create DLLs.
TNS/E pTAL provides a PC-based cross compiler, which is supported on the Windows
platform. You can run the cross compiler at the Microsoft Windows command prompt
(eptal command) or through ETK (eptal.exe command).
Required Changes
Some of the changes required to convert from TAL to pTAL include:
•
Replace INT and INT(32) declarations holding addresses with new address types
WADDR, BADDR, and EXTADDR.
•
Test condition codes, such as with IF $OVERFLOW, immediately following the
statement returning the condition.
•
Add explicit returns at the bottom of functions.
•
Declare procedure pointers using new pTAL syntax.
•
Specify a RETURNSCC attribute in procedures that return condition codes.
Compiler T Number
TNS/E pTAL T0561
TNS TAL T9250