FastSort Manual

Glossary
FastSort Manual—429834-003
Glossary-2
program
program. A static set of instruction codes and initialized data, such as compiler output or
the Binder program, that is not currently executing. A program usually resides in a
program file on disk.
scratch file. A temporary work file for FastSort. When a sort-merge operation cannot be
performed in memory, SORTPROG temporarily stores partial information in one or
more scratch files.
serial sort-merge operation. A FastSort operation that uses one SORTPROG process to
sort or merge records.
SORT DEFINE. An operating system parameter that affects sort operations. A DEFINE has
a name and a set of attribute-value pairs. The =_SORT_DEFAULTS DEFINE is also a
SORT DEFINE.
SORT process. The FastSort command interpreter process. SORT accepts interactive
commands from a terminal or through a command file and then uses FastSort system
procedures to send commands to a SORTPROG process. See also SORTPROG
process.
SORTPROG process . The FastSort sort-merge process. SORTPROG can run as a single
process for a serial sort-merge process or as a distributor-collector process with 2 to 8
subsort processes for a parallel sort-merge operation.
SPOOL DEFINE. An operating system parameter that affects output. You can specify a
SPOOL DEFINE to receive sort-merge output. See also list file.
SUBSORT DEFINE. An operating system parameter that affects subsort processes in a
parallel sort operation. A DEFINE has a name and a set of attribute-value pairs.
swap file. The disk file FastSort uses for data swapping during a sort or merge run. Data
swapping involves copying data between physical memory and storage.
system message. A block of information, usually in the form of a structure, that a system
process sends to another process. The receiving process, often a user process, reads
system messages from the $RECEIVE system file. For example, an application that
calls the FastSort SORTMERGEFINISH procedure with the abort parameter set to 1
(which means stop the SORTPROG process immediately) receives a process-deletion
message in its $RECEIVE file. See also $RECEIVE.
$RECEIVE. A special system file through which a process receives and can reply to
messages from other processes.
=_SORT_DEFAULTS DEFINE. The default SORT DEFINE. You can use the
=SORT_DEFAULTS_DEFINE to specify FastSort parameters for applications that
otherwise cannot set the parameters. For example, the =SORT_DEFAULTS_DEFINE
affects all sort operations invoked by NonStop SQL/MP. See also SORT DEFINE
.