TACL Reference Manual

Glossary
HP NonStop TACL Reference Manual—429513-018
Glossary-11
timekeeping.
timekeeping. A function performed by the operating system that involves initializing and
maintaining the correct time in a processor module.
timestamp. An item containing a representation of the time. A timestamp can be applied to
an object at a critical point, such as the last modification time of a file. transaction
identifier. A four-word identifier that uniquely identifies a transaction within the
Transaction Management Facility (TMF) subsystem.
TMF. See Transaction Management Facility (TMF).
Transaction Management Facility (TMF). HP software that provides transaction protection
and database consistency in demanding online transaction processing (OLTP) and
decision-support environments. It gives full protection to transactions that access
distributed SQL and Enscribe databases, as well as recovery capabilities for
transactions, online disk volumes, and entire databases.
transfer mode. The protocol by which data is transferred between a terminal and the
computer system. See conversational mode and page mode.
two-way communication. A form of interprocess communication in which the sender of a
message (requester process) expects data in the reply from the receiver (server
process). Contrast with one-way communication.
unnamed process. A process to which a process name was not assigned when the
process was created. Contrast with named process.
user ID. A unique pair of numbers that identify a user. A user ID has the form group-
id,user-id, where the group-id identifies the user’s group, and user-id identifies the user
within the group.
user process. A process whose primary purpose is to solve a user’s problem. A user
process is not essential to the availability of a processor module and is created only
when the user explicitly creates it. Contrast with system process.
variable. A named quantity that can assume any of a given set of values.
variable level. A portion of a variable that can be individually addressed. New levels can
be added to the top of a variable stack, pushing down earlier levels, and can be
popped off the top of the stack. When the last level is popped, the variable ceases to
exist. For simplicity, variable levels are referred to as variables in many descriptions in
this manual.
variable line. A portion of a variable level that ends with a binary zero (an internal end-of-
line character). Lines can be removed from the beginning of a variable level with the
#EXTRACT and #EXTRACTV functions and can be added to the end of a variable
level with the #APPEND and #APPENDV function.
variable type. The designation (MACRO, DELTA, STRUCT, TEXT, and so on) of a
variable level that describes its contents and the use for which it is designated.