Glossary
Glossary–6
107365 Tandem Computers Incorporated
node.
A system of one or more processor modules. Typically, a node is linked with
other nodes to form a network.
node name.
The portion of a file name that identifies the system through which the file
can be accessed.
nonretryable error.
An error condition returned by the file system that cannot be
recovered by retrying the operation even after operator intervention. Contrast with
retryable error.
NonStop SQL.
A relational database management system that provides efficient online
access to large distributed databases.
nowait I/O.
An operation with an I/O device where the process does not wait for the
I/O operation to finish. Contrast with waited I/O.
one-way communication.
A form of interprocess communication where the sender of a
message (the requester) does not expect any data in the reply from the receiver of the
message (the server). Contrast with two-way communication.
operator.
Perform mathematical or logical operations on values.
page.
In Tandem NonStop systems, 1,024 words of contiguous data.
page mode.
A mode of communication between a terminal and its I/O process in
which the terminal stores up to a full page of data (1,920 bytes) in its own memory
before sending the page to the I/O process. Contrast with conversational mode.
PAID.
See process access ID.
PARAM.
An association of an ASCII value with a parameter name made by the TACL
PARAM command. You can use PARAMs to pass parameter values to processes.
partially qualified file name.
A file name in which only the right-hand file name parts are
specified. The remaining parts of the file name assume default values. Contrast with
fully qualified file name.
partitioned file.
A logical file made up of several partitions that can reside on different
disks. Generic key values determine the partition on which a given record resides.
permanent disk file.
A file that remains on disk until it is explicitly purged.
PFS.
See process file segment.
PIN.
See process identification number.
primary extent.
The first contiguous area of disk allocated to a file. See also secondary
extent.
priority.
An indication of the precedence with which a process gains access to the
instruction processing unit.
process.
A program that has been submitted to the operating system for execution.