NET/MASTER Network Control Language (NCL) Reference Manual

How to Use This Manual
About This Manual
106126 Tandem Computers Incorporated xxv
How to Use This
Manual
This manual contains a section for each of the following NCL constructs: core
statements, verbs, built-in functions, system variables, panel control statements, and
message profile variables.
The first page of each section has a summary of the type of NCL construct described.
Then there is an outline of the section, followed by a list of the topics discussed in the
section.
Within each section, each construct is summarized in the following format:
Each construct begins with a brief description of what the construct does. After
this brief description, there is a summary of any special features of the construct.
After this summary of the construct, a syntax box of the construct is presented.
The syntax box includes all operands that may be used with the construct. Default
values are indicated by underlines. If no other operands are specified, NCL uses
these default values when this construct is used.
A description of each operand of the construct follows the syntax box. The
operands are listed in alphabetic order whenever the order is optional. If the
operand has more than one possible value, these values are listed in the order that
they appear in the syntax box.
A list of considerations affecting the usage of the construct follows the description
of the operands. These considerations can be conditions that arise when you use
the construct, or results and exceptions that you might expect when you use the
construct.
The last entries in considerations are a list of related NCL constructs. A related
construct is one that uses or affects the same variables as the construct being
described. If these constructs are of the same type as the item being described (for
example, if both are system variables) the list will be prefixed by “See also.”
Lastly, there is at least one example of the use of the construct. Null strings are
indicated in examples by two single quote characters together (‘’). Examples in
this manual are generally not complete NCL procedures. They are supplied as
practical examples of the syntax.
The last four sections provide more general information on the following NCL topics:
Compiler operation
Variables
Expressions and operators
Verb syntax and variable access methods