NET/MASTER Network Control Language (NCL) Programmer's Guide

Language Features
NCL Summary
106160 Tandem Computers Incorporated 2–3
Table 2-3 shows some examples that illustrate where alphabetic characters—and
therefore their case—are not significant in the current context.
Table 2-3. Alphabetic Characters and the Current Context
What You Type Characters Not Important
WRITE DATA=GOOD MORNING After DATA= in the WRITE verb; all letters remain in
uppercase.
SAY Good morning After the SAY core statement; the first letter G remains in
uppercase and all other letters remain in lowercase.
"Good morning" Between quotes; the first letter G remains in uppercase and
all other letters remain in lowercase.
/* Good morninG */ Between comment delimiters (/* and */); both letter Gs remain
in uppercase and all other letters remain in lowercase.
Interpretation of Numeric Characters
NCL recognizes two basic data types: string and numeric. A sequence of numeric
characters can be regarded as either a string or number. How it is regarded depends
on the context in which the sequence appears.
For example, the sequence 99 in the statement &A = &A + 99 is regarded as a number
because the addition operator (+) requires numeric terms. However, 99 in the
statement &A = ABC || 99 is regarded as a string because the string operator (||)
requires string terms.
NCL converts from one data type to another automatically, that is, between string and
numeric. For more information on automatic type conversion, refer to the discussion
on expressions and operators in the NonStop NET/MASTER NCL Reference Manual.
Interpretation of Nonalphanumeric Characters
The meaning of certain nonalphanumeric characters depends on the current context.
Characters that are affected include the:
Parentheses (( ))
Period (.)
Asterisk (*)
Comma (,)
Colon (:)
Semicolon (;)