Object Code Accelerator Manual

Glossary
Object Code Accelerator Manual—528144-003
Glossary-2
alternate key
alternate key. A sequence of characters other than the primary key used as an alternate
index to records in a key-sequenced file.
alternate-key file. A key-sequenced file that provides the relationship between alternate
keys and primary keys.
ancestor. The process that is notified when a named process or process pair is deleted.
The ancestor is usually the process that created the named process or process pair.
ANSI. The American National Standards Institute.
API. See application program interface (API).
application program interface (API). A set of services (such as programming language
functions or procedures) that are called by an application program to communicate with
other software components. For example, an application program in the form of a client
might use an API to communicate with a server program.
ASSIGN. An association of a physical file name with a logical file name made by the TACL
ASSIGN command. The physical file name is any valid file name. The logical file name
is used within a program. The ASSIGN is therefore used to pass file names to
programs.
AXCEL. The command used to invoke the Accelerator on a TNS/R or TNS/E system.
binary semaphore. A software tool used to synchronize processes. Binary semaphores
provide a way for several concurrently-executing processes to share a resource.
Using binary semaphores, an executing process can hold exclusive access to the
shared resource. Other processes execute until they need to use the resource, then
enter a wait state until the resource becomes available.
Binder. A programming utility that combines one or more compilation units’ TNS object
code files to create an executable TNS object code file for a TNS program or library.
Used only with TNS object file
s.
Binder region. The region of a TNS object file that contains header tables for use by the
Binder program.
binding. The operation of collecting, connecting, and relocating code and data blocks from
one or more separately compiled TNS object files to produce a target object file.
BREAK mode. A mode of process execution where a process gains exclusive access to a
terminal when the BREAK key is pressed. BREAK mode is established using
SETPARAM function 3 or SETMODE function 11.
BREAK owner. The process that receives the Break-on-device message when the BREAK
key is pressed. The establishment of BREAK ownership is achieved using
SETPARAM function 3 or SETMODE function 11.