TAL Programmer's Guide

Glossary
Glossary–10 096254 Tandem Computers Incorporated
precedence of operators. The order in which the compiler evaluates operators in
expressions.
primary storage area. The area of the user data segment that can store pointers and
directly addressed variables. Contrast with “secondary storage area.”
PRIV procedure. A procedure you declare using the PRIV keyword; a procedure that
can execute privileged instructions. Normally only operating system procedures are
PRIV procedures.
private data area. The part of the data space that is reserved for the sole use of a
procedure or subprocedure while it is executing.
private data block. A BLOCK declaration that specifies the PRIVATE keyword. Global
data declared within such a BLOCK declaration is accessible only to procedures within
the current compilation unit. Contrast with “named data block.”
procedure. A program unit that can contain the executable parts of a program and that
is callable from anywhere in a program; a named sequence of machine instructions.
procedure declaration. Declaration of a program unit that can contain the executable
parts of a program and that is callable from anywhere in a program. Consists of a
procedure heading and either a procedure body or the keyword FORWARD or
EXTERNAL.
process. An instance of execution of a program.
process environment. The software environment that exists when the processor module
is executing instructions that are part of a user process or a system process.
process identification number. See “PIN.”
program. A set of instructions that a computer is capable of executing.
program register. A facility that contains the address of the next instruction to be
executed in the current code segment.
program structure. The order and level at which major components such as data
declarations and statements appear in a source file.
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.
quadrupleword. A 64-bit storage unit for the REAL(64) or FIXED data type.
read-only array. An array that you can read but cannot modify; an array that is located
in the user code segment.
REAL. A data type that requires a doubleword of storage and that can represent a
32-bit floating-point number.
REAL(32). An alias for REAL.