COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs

Glossary
HP COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs—522555-006
Glossary-24
PIC
PIC. See position-independent code (PIC).
PIN. See process identification number (PIN).
position-dependent code (non-PIC). Executable code that must be modified to run at
different virtual addresses. External reference addresses appear in non-PIC code.
Non-PIC is also called nonshared code.
position-independent code (PIC). Executable code that need not be modified to run at
different virtual addresses. External reference addresses appear only in a data area
that can be modified by the loader; they do not appear in PIC code. PIC is also called
shared code.
prime record key. A data item in the record description entry of an indexed file whose value
uniquely identifies the record; alternate record keys can be unique, but the prime
record key is the principal key by virtue of being explicitly declared the prime record
key in the RECORD KEY clause of the file-control entry for the file.
procedure. One of these:
•
A paragraph, a group of logically successive paragraphs, a section, or a group of
logically successive sections in the Procedure Division
Such a procedure functions as a unit of code to be executed by a PERFORM,
SORT, MERGE, or USE statement. Although good programming practice dictates
that procedures be composed of physically successive paragraphs or sections,
execution of a GO TO statement can extend the scope of a procedure to
paragraphs or sections that are logically but not physically successive.
•
Routines coded in TAL, as the routines of the operating system are, sometimes are
referred to as procedures.
procedure branching statement. A statement that causes the explicit transfer of control to
a statement other than the next executable statement in the sequence in which the
statements are written in the source program
. The procedure branching statements
are: ALTER, CALL, EXIT, EXIT PROGRAM, GO TO, MERGE (with the OUTPUT
PROCEDURE phrase), PERFORM, and SORT (with the OUTPUT PROCEDURE
phrase).
procedure-name. A paragraph-name
, a qualified paragraph-name, or a section-name in the
Procedure Division.
process.
1. A program that has been submitted to the operating system for execution, or a
program that is currently running in the computer.
2. An address space, a single thread of control that executes within that address
space, and the system resources required by that thread of control.