TAL Reference Manual

Procedures

TAL Reference Manual—526371-001

13-8

LANGUAGE

In a D-series EXTERNAL procedure declaration, you can use the LANGUAGE attribute

to specify that the external routine is a C, COBOL, FORTRAN, or Pascal routine. If you

do not know if the external routine is a C, COBOL, FORTRAN, or Pascal routine, you

can use the LANGUAGE UNSPECIFIED option. The following example shows the

LANGUAGE COBOL option and a public name "A-PROC" (in COBOL identifier

format):

PROC a_proc = "a-proc" (a, b, c) !EXTERNAL declaration

LANGUAGE COBOL; ! for a COBOL procedure

STRING .a, .b, .c;

EXTERNAL;

Here are rules for using the LANGUAGE attribute:

•

Use the LANGUAGE attribute only in a D-series EXTERNAL declaration.

•

Specify no more than one LANGUAGE attribute in a declaration.

•

For external TAL routines, omit the LANGUAGE attribute.

Formal Parameter Specifications

A formal parameter specification defines the parameter type of a formal parameter and

whether the parameter is a value or a reference parameter.

VST1306.vsd

;

(

referral

param-name

.EXT

)

param-type