Accelerator Manual (G06.24+, H06.03+)

Glossary
Accelerator Manual—527303-002
Glossary-4
program file.
program file. An executable object file. See “object file.”
reduced instruction-set computing (RISC). A processor architecture based on a
relatively small and simple instruction set, a large number of general-purpose registers,
and an optimized instruction pipeline that supports high-performance instruction
execution. Contrast with “complex instruction-set computing (CISC).”
register-exact point. A location in an accelerated program at which the values in both
memory and the register stack are the same as they would be if the program were
running on a TNS processor. Register-exact points are also memory-exact points.
Contrast with “memory-exact point” and “nonexact point.”
relative pathname. A pathname that does not begin with a slash (/) character. A relative
pathname is resolved beginning with the current working directory. Contrast with
“absolute pathname.”
RISC. See “reduced instruction-set computing (RISC).”
RISC instructions. Register-oriented 32-bit machine instructions that are directly executed
on TNS/R processors. RISC instructions execute only on TNS/R systems, not on TNS
systems. Contrast with “TNS instructions.”
RISC word. An instruction-set-defined unit of memory. A RISC word is 4 bytes (32 bits)
wide, beginning on any 4-byte boundary in memory. Contrast with “TNS word” and
“word.”
shared run-time library. A user library that can contain global variables.
signal. A software interrupt that provides a way of handling certain events, such as
detection of a hardware (or software) fault, a timer expiration, a lack of system
resources, a process sending a signal to itself, or (for OSS processes) a change in the
execution state of another process or another process sending a signal. A signal is an
often an indication of a run-time event that requires immediate attention; many such
events preclude continuing the interrupted instruction stream. Signals are generated
for TNS/R native Guardian processes and all OSS processes. (TNS Guardian
processes receive traps instead.) The signal mechanism is much richer for OSS than
for Guardian processes. A SIGILL signal indicates that an instruction could not be
executed because the instruction or its data were invalid. Compare to trap.
StmtDebug. An Accelerator option that directs the Accelerator to optimize instructions only
within the code produced for any one statement. Instructions are not optimized across
statements. This option typically produces less-optimized code than the ProcDebug
option. However, debugging is easier than with the ProcDebug option because the
beginning of every statement in the source program is a memory-exact point. Contrast
with “ProcDebug.”
TNS. HP computers that support the HP NonStop operating system and that are based on
complex instruction-set computing (CISC) technology. TNS processors implement the
TNS instruction set. Systems with these processors are the NonStop II, NonStop TXP,