DLL Programmer's Guide for TNS/R Systems

Glossary
DLL Programmer’s Guide for TNS/R Systems—522203-002
Glossary-2
indirect reference (of a loadfile): A library in a loadfile’s searchList that is not named
in its libList.
instance: A particular case of a class of items, objects, or events. For example, a
process is defined as one instance of the execution of a program; multiple
processes might be executing the same program simultaneously. Also, instance
data refers to global data of a program or library; each process has a its own
instance of these data.
library: Generically, a collection of functions and data offered for use by clients.
Libraries can exist as source files, linkable object files, archives (aggregated of
linkfiles), and loadable object files. See also loadable library.
libList: The list of libraries to be loaded along with a loadfile. However, it may not be
the complete list of loadfiles that must be loaded; see loadList definition
below.When linking the loadfile, the linker constructs the libList from the names of
libraries specified in the linker's command stream; it stores the libList within the
loadfile.
libname: an attribute of a program loadfile, which can be set by the linker, specifying
the name of a user library to be loaded with this program.
linker: A utility whose basic function is to process one or more linkfiles to create a
loadfile.
linker platform: The system on which the linker executes. Also called host or host
platform.
linkfile: A linkable code file that is input to the linker. The output from a compiler is a
linkfile.
loader: The mechanism that brings loadfiles into memory for execution, maps them
into virtual address space, and resolves symbolic references among them.
Synonyms include run-time loader and run-time linker. The loader for TNS and
non-PIC TNS/R native programs and libraries is part of the operating system. For
PIC loadfiles, the loader is a cooperative venture of the operating system and the
loader library.
loadable Library: A loadfile that offers functions and data to other loadfiles. In this
document, DLLs and hybrid SRLs are such libraries. A library cannot be invoked
externally, e.g., by a RUN command; instead, it is invoked by calls or data
references from client loadfiles. In TNS/R, functions and data can also be obtained
from the system library and millicode.
loader Library: A public library (on TNS/R, a hybrid public SRL named ZRLDSRL) for
loading PIC programs and libraries. It works in close cooperation with the
operating system. It is called "rld" when loading a program and its libraries at
process creation time. It also exports a set of functions for dynamic loading.
loadfile: A code file that is ready for loading and executing on the computer. Loadfiles
are further classified as programs (defining an entry point at which to begin
execution of a process) or libraries (supplying functions or data to a client loadfile).