Data Definition Language (DDL) Reference Manual — 426798-002
Glossary -1
Glossary
alphabetic character. Any uppercase or lowercase letter or a space.
alphanumeric character. Any ASCII character.
alternate record key. A field other than the primary record key whose value identifies a
record in a structured file.
command interpreter. A process that manages interactive communication between you
and the operating system. In this manual, command interpreter refers to a TACL
process.
compilation. The process of translating a source file to an object file.
constant. A DDL dictionary object that has a name, a data type, and a value. You define a
constant in a CONSTANT statement, and you can refer to a constant value by name in
other DDL statements.
DDL (Data Definition Language). An HP product for defining data objects in Enscribe files
and translating object definitions into source code for programming languages and
other products on HP NonStop systems.
DEF. See definition.
definition (DEF). A DDL dictionary object that describes a data structure, including the
name, data type, size, and other attributes of a field (elementary item) or of a named
group of fields.
dictionary. A set of 14 files that contain information about DDL objects; all 14 files are on
the same subvolume, and a subvolume can contain only one DDL dictionary. The
name of the dictionary is the subvolume name.
Enscribe. The HP database record manager, which provides access to and manipulation of
records in disk files.
extensible structured token. A token to which new fields can be added.
FUP (File Utility Program). A HP product for creating files and altering file attributes.
host language. A programming language available on HP NonStop systems.
locale. The subset of a user’s environment that depends on language and cultural
conventions. It is made up from one or more categories. Each category controls
specific aspects of the behavior of components of the system. It refers to a collection of
rules and text that represent linguistic and cultural conventions for a specific region.
Also is a standard utility that processes locale and character map files to create a
locale database.