pTAL Conversion Guide

Glossary
pTAL Conversion Guide—527302-002
Glossary-3
PIC (position-independent code)
PIC (position-independent code). Executable code that need not be modified to run at
different virtual addresses. External reference addresses appear only in a data area
that can be modified by the loader; they do not appear in PIC code. PIC is also called
shared code.
Portable Transaction Application Language (pTAL). A dialect of the HP Transaction
Application Language (TAL) that supports only those TAL constructs that are portable
to other processor architectures (particularly architectures based on RISC and
Itanium®). pTAL also adds new constructs that replace some of the unsupported TAL
constructs.
pTAL. See Portable Transaction Application Language (pTAL).
pTAL compiler. The compiler that takes pTAL source code as input and generates TNS/R
native object code. Compare to EpTAL compiler and TAL compiler.
public name. A specification within a procedure declaration of a procedure name to use in
Binder, not within the compiler. Only a D-series EXTERNAL procedure declaration can
include a public name. If you do not specify a public name, the procedure identifier
becomes the public name.
reduced instruction set computing (RISC). A processor architecture based on a relatively
small and simple instruction set, a large number of general-purpose registers, and an
optimized instruction pipeline that supports high-performance instruction execution.
Compare to complex instruction set computing (CISC) and explicitly parallel instruction
set computing (EPIC).
release version update (RVU). A collection of compatible revisions of NonStop OS
software products, identified by an RVU ID, and shipped and supported as a unit. An
RVU consists of the object modules, supporting files, and documentation for the
product revisions. An RVU also includes a set of documentation for the overall RVU.
RISC. See reduced instruction set computing (RISC)
.
RVU. See release version update (RVU)
.
TAL. See HP Transaction Application Language (TAL).
TAL compiler. The compiler that takes TAL or pTAL source code as input and generates
TNS object code. Compare to pTAL compiler and EpTAL compiler.
TNS. Refers to fault-tolerant HP computers that support the HP NonStop™ operating
system and are based on microcoded complex instruction-set computing (CISC)
technology. TNS systems run the TNS instruction set. Compare to TNS/R and TNS/E.