The Picl(System

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The Picl(System

User Reference Manual

©

1985 Pick Systems

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SECTION 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.6 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.11.1 2.11.2 2.11. 3 2.11. 4 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.16 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.6 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS THE PICK COMPUTER SYSTEM?

AN OVERVIEW OF PICK COMPUTER SYSTEM'S MAJOR FEATURES

THE PICK SOFTWARE PROCESSORS OVERVIEW OF TCL

DATA BASE MANAGEMENT PROCESSORS AN OVERVIEW OF SYSTEM UTILITIES AN OVERVIEW OF ACCESS

AN OVERVIEW OF PICK/BASIC AN OVERVIEW OF THE EDITOR AN OVERVIEW OF PROC

AN OVERVIEW OF THE PICK OPERATING SOFTWARE SUMMARY OF PICK IMPLEMENTATIONS

A GLOSSARY OF PICK TERMS FILE STRUCTURE

THE FILE HIERARCHY FILE ACCESS THE DICTIONARIES SHARING OF DICTIONARIES BASE AND MODULO

MODULO SELECTION

ITEM STRUCTURE (PHYSICAL) ITEM STRUCTURE (LOGICAL)

ITEM STORAGE AND THE HASHING ALGORITHM FILE DEFINITION ITEMS

FILE SYNONYM DEFINITION ITEMS Q-POINTERS REFLEXIVE FORM Q-POINTERS : ACCOUNT SPECIFICATION Q-POINTERS : FILE SPECIFICATION Q-POINTERS : MULTI-FILE SPECIFICATION ATTRIBUTE DEFINITION ITEMS

DICTIONARY ITEMS: A SUMMARY INITIAL SYSTEM FILES/DICTIONARIES OVERVIEW OF FILE MANAGEMENT PROCESSORS CREATING NEW FILES: THE CREATE-FILE PROCESSOR CLEAR-FILE PROCESSOR

DELETE-FILE PROCESSOR

COPYING DATA: THE COPY PROCESSOR COPYING DATA: FILE TO FILE COPY

COPYING DATA: THE COPY PROCESSOR OPTIONS TERMINAL CONTROL LANGUAGE

INTRODUCTION TO TCL TCL VERB TYPES TCL-I VERBS TCL-II VERBS

LOGON AND LOGOFF PROCESSORS LOGTO

CHARGE-TO AND CHARGES LOGON PROCS

TERM

TABS : SETTING TAB STOPS TIME

SLEEP

pa.ge 1 2 3 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 17 21 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 39 41 43 43 44 44 46 47 49 61 62 64 66 66 67 69 61 62 64 65 66 67 69 70 71 72 74 76 76

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3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.4.1 4.4.2 4.4.3 4.5 4.6.1 4.5.2 4.5.3 4.6.4 4.5.5 4.5.6 4.5.7 4.6 4.6.1 4.6.2 4.7 4.7.1 4.8 4.8.1 4.8.2 4.8.3 4.8.4 4.8.5 4.9 4.9.1 4.9.2 4.10 4.10.1 4.10.2 4.10.3 4.10.3.1 4.10.3.2 4.10.3.3 4.10.3.4 4.11 4.11.1 4.11.2 4.11.3 4.11. 4 4.11.5 4.12 4.12.1 4.12.2 4.12.3 4.13 4.13.1 4.13.2 4.14

WHO 76

MSG 77

PROGRAM INTERRUPTION (DEBUG FACILITY) 78

BLOCK-PRINT 79

UTILITY PROCS: CT, LISTACC, LISTCONN, 81 LISTDICTS,

VERB DEFINITION ITEMS IN M/DICT 82

EDITOR 83

EDITOR PROCESSOR : AN INTRODUCTION 84

EDITOR OPERATION : AN OVERVIEW 85

EDIT VERB : ENTERING THE EDITOR 87

EDITOR COMMAND SYNTAX 89

EDITOR "strings" 89

COLON : EDITOR DELIMITER 89

UP-ARROW : WILDCARD EDITOR CHARACTER 90

LINE POINTER CONTROL : EDITOR 91

"L" - LIST COMMAND : EDITOR 91

NULL COMMAND (CR) : EDITOR 91

"U" - UP COMMAND : EDITOR 91

"N" - NEXT COMMAND : EDITOR 92

"G" GOTO COMMAND : EDITOR 92

"T" TOP COMMAND : EDITOR 92

"B" BOTTOM COMMAND : EDITOR 92

STRING MATCH LOCATING : EDITOR 94

"L" - LOCATE COMMAND : EDITOR 94

"A" - AGAIN COMMAND : EDITOR 94

ENTERING DATA : EDITOR 96

"I" - INPUT COMMAND: EDITOR 96

INSERTING DATA : EDITOR 98

"I" - INSERT COMMAND: EDITOR 98

"ME" - MERGE COMMAND : FROM THE SAME FILE 98 MERGE COMMAND : FROM OTHER FILES 99

MERGE COMMAND DEFAULTS 99

MINIMAL MERGE 99

DELETING DATA : EDITOR 101

"DE" - DELETE COMMAND (SIMPLE) : EDITOR 101

"DE" - DELETE COMMAND (STRING SEARCH) EDITOR 101 REPLACING DATA: REPLACE (R) COMMAND 103

"R" REPLACE COMMAND (SIMPLE) : EDITOR 103

"R" - REPLACE COMMAND (STRING SEARCH) EDITOR 103

"RU" - REPLACE COMMAND (UNIVERSAL STRING SEARCH) 103 : EDITOR

MULTIPLE REPLACEMENTS WITHIN A LINE 105 REPLACEMENT AFTER MULTIPLE-LINE REPLACEMENT 105 MULTIPLE REPLACEMENTS AFTER THE MERGE COMMAND 105

CREATING NULL LINES - EDITOR 105

ITEM MANIPULATING - EDITOR 107

"F" COMMAND - EDITOR 107

"FI" - FILE ITEM COMMAND: EDITOR 107

"FS" - FILE SAVE COMMAND : EDITOR 107

"FD" - FILE DELETE ITEM : EDITOR 108

"EX" - EXIT COMMAND : EDITOR 108

FORMATTING COMMANDS : EDITOR 110

"S" - SUPPRESSION COMMAND : EDITOR 110

"TB" - TAB COMMAND : EDITOR 110

"Z" - ZONE COMMAND : EDITOR 110

ASSEMBLY FORMATTING : EDITOR 112

"AS" - ASSEMBLY FORMAT COMMAND : EDITOR 112

"M" - MACRO EXPANSION COMMAND : EDITOR 112

MISCELLANEOUS COMMANDS : EDITOR 114

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4.14.1 4.14.2 4.14.3 4.14.4 4.14.5 4.14.6 4.15 4.15.1 4.15.1.1 4.15.2 4.15.3 4.15.3.1 4.16 5 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 5.19 5.20 5.21 5.21.1 5.21.2 5.21.3 5 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 8.6 8.8.1 6.8.2 6.6.3 8.6.4 8.8.5 6.7

'X' CANCEL COMMAND : EDITOR 114

'?' CURRENT LINE COMMAND: EDITOR 114 'S?' ITEM SIZE COMMAND: EDITOR 114

" WILDCARD TOGGLE COMMAND : EDITOR 115 'C' COLUMNAR POSITIONS COMMAND: EDITOR 115 UNPRINTABLE CHARACTERS . . . . . . 115

'Pn' PRESTORE COMMAND - EDITOR 116

DEFINING PRESTORE COMMANDS - EDITOR 116

PRESTORE COMMAND - DEFAULTS 116

REPEATING PRESTORE COMMANDS 117

DISPLAYING PRESTORE COMMANDS 117

PRESTORES IN PROCS 118

EDITOR MESSAGES 120

PROC LANGUAGE 121

THE PROC PROCESSOR 122

PROC LANGUAGE DEFINITION 123

AN INTRODUCTION TO PROC'S 125

INPUT/OUTPUT BUFFER OPERATION 127

AN OVERVIEW OF PROC COMMANDS 129

SELECTING PROC BUFFERS: THE SP, SS AND ST 131 COMMANDS

POSITIONING POINTERS: THE S, F, B, AND BO 133 COMMANDS

MOVING PARAMETERS: THE A COMMAND 135 INPUTTING DATA: THE IS, IP, AND IT COMMANDS 137 OUTPUTTING DATA: THE 0 AND D COMMANDS 139 TERMINAL OUTPUT AND CURSOR CONTROL: THE T 141 COMMAND

SPECIFYING TEXT STRINGS AND CLEARING BUFFERS: 143 THE IH, H,

TRANSFERRING CONTROL: THE GO n and GO A COMMAND 145 CONDITIONAL EXECUTION: THE SIMPLE IF COMMAND 147 RELATIONAL TESTING: THE RELATIONAL IF COMMAND 149 PATTERN TESTING: THE PATTERN MATCHING IF COMMAND 151 FURTHER FORMS OF THE IF COMMAND: THE IF E and IF 153 S COMMANDS and

ADDITIONAL FEATURES: THE PLUS (+), MINUS (-), U 155 AND C COMMANDS

PROC EXECUTION AND TERMINATION: THE P, PH, PP, 157 PW, PX AND X COMMANDS

LINKING TO OTHER PROCS: THE LINK COMMAND 159 SUBROUTINE LINKAGES: THE CALL COMMANDS 161 SAMPLE PROCS: FILE UPDATE VIA EDITOR 163 USING SSELECT AND COPY VERBS . . . 164 USING VARIABLE TESTING, GO AND D COMMANDS 165

ACCESS . . . 167

AN ACCESS PRIMER 168

THE ACCESS VERBS 189

ACCESS INPUT SENTENCES 171

RULES FOR GENERATING ACCESS SENTENCES 173 ACCESS DICTIONARIES AND ATTRIBUTE-DEFINITION 174 ITEMS

ACCESS AND THE FILE STRUCTURE 177

THE USING CONNECTIVE. 177

MASTER DICTIONARY DEFAULT. 178

SEQUENCE OF RETRIEVAL (1tems from f1les) 178 ITEM-ID DEFINITIONS WITH Q-POINTERS 178 DELIMITERS AND ITEM-ID STRUCTURES 179

ACCESS VERBS : AN OVERVIEW 181

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5.8 5.9 5.9.1 5.9.2 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.12.1 5.12.2 5.12.3 5.12.4 5.12.5 6.12.6 6.12.6.1 6.12.6.2 5.12.6.3 6.12.7 6.12.7.1 6.12.8 6.12.8.1 5.12.8.2 6.12.8.3 6.12.8.4 6.12.8.8 6.12.8.6 6.12.9 6.12.9.1 6.12.9.2 5.12.9.3 6.12.9.4 6.12.9.8 6.12.10 6.12.10.1 6.12.10.2 6.12.10.3 6.12.10.4 6.13 6.14 6.16 5.16 5.15.1 6.16.2 6.16.3 6.15.4 6.17 5.18 5.19 5.20 5.21 5.21.1 5.22 6.23 6.24 6.26 6.26.1 6.26 6.27 6.27.1 6.27.2 6.27.3

RELATIONAL OPERATORS AND LOGICAL CONNECTIVES ITEM-LIST FORMATION

EXPLICIT ITEM-LISTS IMPLICIT ITEM-LISTS

SELECTION-CRITERIA FORMATION

SELECTION-CRITERIA: STRING SEARCHING SELECTION PROCESSOR

ITEM-ID SELECTION DEFAULT SELECTION DELIMITERS EXPLICIT ITEM-IDS ITEM-ID TESTS

ITEM-ID SELECTION CRITERIA

WITH CONNECTIVE : SELECTION BY DATA VALUE DATA EVALUATION .

OBTAINING A VALUE (STRING) TO TEST EXI STENCE TEST

VALUE STRING

RELATIONAL CONNECTIVES

8PECIFIED VALUES AND ATTRIBUTE 7 DATE CONVERSIONS

TIME CONVERSIONS MASK CONVER8ION8 OTHER MASKING FUNCTIONS TRANSLATE CONVERSIONS

SELECTION CONVERSIONS : A SUMMARY SPECIAL CHARACTERS IN SELECTION VALUES

SPECIAL CHARACTERS WITH RELATIONAL CONNECTIVES JUSTIFICATION AND EVALUATION

OR CONNECTIVE WITH VALUE PHRASES AND CONNECTIVES WITH VALUE PHRASES EVALUATING VALUE PHRASES

SELECTION CRITERIA RELATIONSHIPS AND CLAUSES : SELECTION CRITERIA DATA SELECTION CRITERIA

ITEM SELECTION CRITERIA SELECTION PROBLEMS TO AVOID OUTPUT SPECIFICATION : FORMATION PRINT LIMITERS

DEFAULT OUTPUT-SPECIFICATIONS SUPPRESSION MODIFIERS

THE ONLY MODIFIER

THE ID-SUPP MODIFIER (I option) THE HDR-SUPP MODIFIER (H option) THE COL-HDR-SUPP MODIFIER (C option) MODIFIERS AND OPTIONS

THROWAWAY MODIFIERS ACCESS PROCESSOR OPTIONS HEADINGS AND FOOTINGS TOTAL MODIFIER

TOTAL - EVALUATION SEQUENCE GRAND-TOTAL MODIFIER BREAKING ON ATTRIBUTE VALUES SUBTOTALS USING CONTROL-BREAKS OUTPUT OPTIONS - CONTROL BREAKS DET-SUPP MODIFIER

LIST VERB SORT VERB

BY and BY-DSND MODIFIERS . . CORRELATIVES and CONVERSIONS WITH SORT KEYS BY-EXP and BY-EXP-DSND MODIFIERS - EXPLODING SORTS

183 186 186 187 188 190 191 191 191 191 191 192 194 194 194 195 195 197 197 197 198 198 198 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 204 206 206 206 206 206 208 210 212 213 213 213 213 213 216 217 218 219 221 222 223 224 226 227 229 230 232 232 232 234

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6.28 6.29 6.30 6.31 6.32 6.33 6.34 6.35 6.36 6.37 6.38 6.39 6.40 6.41 6.42 6.43 6.43.1 6.43.2 8.43.3 6.43.4 6.43.5 6.43.6 6.43.7 6.43.8 6.43.8.1 6.43.9 6.44 6.45 6.46 6.47 6.47.1 6.48 6.49 6.50 6.51 6.52 7 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.3.1 7.3.2 7.3.2.1 7.3.2.2 7.3.2.3 7.3.2.4

WITHIN CONNECTIVE 236

THE LIST-LABEL AND SORT-LABEL VERBS 237 THE REFORMAT AND SREFORMAT VERBS 239

COUNT VERB 241

SUM VERB 242

STAT VERB 243

THE SELECT AND SSELECT VERBS 244

THE SAVE-LIST, GET-LIST, AND DELETE-LIST VERBS 246 THE COPY-LIST, EDIT-LIST AND QSELECT VERBS 248

ISTAT VERB 251

HASH-TEST VERB 252

THE °T_DUMP AND T-LOAD VERBS, AND THE TAPE 253 MODIFIER

THE LIST-ITEM AND SORT-ITEM VERBS 256 CONTROLLING AND DEPENDENT ATTRIBUTES: AN 257 INTRODUCTION

CONTROLLING AND DEPENDENT ATTRIBUTES: C AND D 259 CODES

SUMMARY OF CONVERSION AND CORRELATIVE CODES 261 'G' CODE : CORRELATIVE AND CONVERSION GROUP 263 EXTRACTION CODE

'L' CODE CORRELATIVE AND CONVERSION LENGTH 254 CODE

'R' CODE CORRELATIVE AND CONVERSION RANGE CODE 265 'P' CODE CORRELATIVE AND CONVERSION PATTERN 266 CODE

'S' CODE CORRELATIVE AND CONVERSION 267 SUBSTITUTION CODE

'C' CODE: CORRELATIVE AND CONVERSION 266 CONCATENATION

'T' CODE: CORRELATIVE AND CONVERSION TEXT 269 EXTRACTION

'D' CODE: CORRELATIVE AND CONVERSION DATE CODE 270

INTERNAL DATE FORMAT 272

'MT' CODE: CORRELATIVE AND CONVERSION MASK TIME 273 CODE

DEFINING FILE TRANSLATION: Tflle CODE 274 DEFINING ASCII AND USER CONVERSIONS: MX AND U 276 CODES

DEFINING MATHEMATICAL OR STRING FUNCTIONS: F 277 CODE

F CODE SPECIAL OPERANDS 260

The Load Prevlous Value (LPV) operator. 262 SUMMARY OF F CODE STACK OPERATIONS 263 DEFINING MATHEMATICAL FUNCTIONS: THE A 266 CORRELATIVE

HANDLING NUMBERS AND FORMATTING: MR AND ML CODES 266 ADDITIONAL CHARACTER MANIPULATION: MC CODE 290

SPECIAL CONTROL CHARACTERS 291

PERIPHERALS AN OVERVIEW SPOOLER VERBS

The SP-ASSIGN, SP-OPEN and SP-CLOSE VERBS.

OVERVIEW OF SP-ASSIGN OPTIONS.

CLASSES OF SP-ASSIGNMENT PARAMETERS Destlnatlon speclflcatlon:

THE FORM NUMBER THE COPY COUNT

Flndlng out what your asslgnment speclflcatlon 292 293 301 304 304 305 305 306 308 306

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7.3.2.6 7.3.3 7.3.4 7.3.6 7.4 7.4.1 7.4.1.1 7.4.1.2 7.4.1.3 7.4.2 7.4.3 7.4.4 7.4.6 7.4.6 7.4.7 7.4.7.1 7.4.7.2 7.4.7.3 7.4.7.4 7.4.6 7.6 7.6 7.6.1 7.6.2 7.6.3 7.7 7.7.1 7.8 7.8.1 7.8.2 7.8.3 7.8.4 7.8.4.1 7.8.4.2 7.8.4.3 7.8.4.4 7.9 7.9.1 7.9.2 7.9.3 7.9.3.1 7.9.3.2 7.9.3.3 7.9.3.4 7.9.4 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.12.1 7.12.2 7.12.3 7.13 7.13.1 7.13.2 7.13.3 7.14 7.16 7.16.1 7.16.2

Is.

PRINTFILE PREDEFINITION . . . . The SP-OPEN &nd SP-CLOSE verbs.

THE GENERAL FORM OF THE SP-ASSIGN VERB.

SP-ASSIGN EXAMPLES.

HOLD FILE INTERROGATION: THE SP-EDIT VERB SP-EDIT OPTIONS. . . . . .

PRINT FILE SELECTION OPTIONS HOLD FILE DESTINATION OPTION8.

HOLD FILE "TO DATA FILE OPTION PROC CONTROL OF THE SP-EDIT PROCESS THE SOURCEUF HOLD FILES

The SP-EDIT prompt sequence.

THE DISPLAY PROMPT.

THE STRING PROMPT.

THE SPOOL PROMPT.

THE Y RESPONSE.

THE T RESPONSE.

THE TN RESPONSE.

THE F RESPONSE.

THE DELETE PROMPT.

THE PRINTER CONTROL VERBS.

THE STARTPTR VERB.

EXAMPLES OF THE STARTPTR VERB.

THE PRINT FILE SCHEDULING ALGORITHM.

STARTPTR ERROR MESSAGES . . . . THE STOPPTR VERB . . . . STOPPTR ERROR MESSAGES. . . . . The SP-KILL verb &nd its extensions.

PRINT FILE TERMINATION.

DEQUEING PRINT FILES.

DELETING A PRINTER FROM THE SYSTEM.

SP-KILL MESSAGES.

Gener&l mess&ges.

SP-KILL meS8&ges.

SP-KILL F mess&ges.

SP-KILL D mess&ges.

THE LISTPEQS VERB.

LISTPEQS OPTIONS.

THE LISTPEQS VERB FORM.

LISTPEQS STATUS INDICATORS.

JOB CHARACTERISTICS:

CLOSED CONDITION:

ENQUEUED CONDITION:

SP-EDIT conditions:

Ex&mples of the LISTPEQS verb.

THE LISTPTR VERB.

THE LISTABS VERB.

THE SP-STATUS VERB.

THE SP-STATUS VERB AS A SYSTEM INFORMATION DISPLAY

THE SP-STATUS VERB AS SPOOLER AWAKENER.

THE ON-LINE AND OFF-LINE CONDITION.

THE COLDS TART AND THE :STARTSPOOLER VERB.

COLDS TART INITIALIZATION OF THE SPOOLER.

THE : STARTS POOLER VERB'S ACTION.

WHEN TO USE THE : STARTS POOLER VERB.

SPOOLER VERB OPTIONS HANDLER

CONSIDERATIONS ON PROC CONTROL OF THE SPOOLER.

CASES OF PROC INTERACTION.

HOLD FILE RECOGNITION. . . .

309 309 310 311 314 314 314 316 317 317 318 324 326 326 326 326 327 327 328 329 330 330 332 334 336 337 339 340 341 343 346 346 346 346 347 347 348 349 360 361 361 361 361 362 363 366 361 362 362 362 362 369 369 369 370 373 376 376 376

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7.16.3 7.16.4 7.16 7.16.1 7.16.2 7.17 7.18 7.19 7.20 7.21 7.22 7.23 7.24 7.28 7.26 8 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.3.1 8.3.2 8.3.3 8.3.4 8.3.8 8.3.6 8.3.7 8.3.8 8.3.9 8.3.10 8.3.11 8.3.12 8.3.13 8.3.14 8.3.18 8.3.16 8.3.17 8.3.18 8.3.19 8.3.20 8.3.21 8.3.22 8.3.23 8.3.24 8.3.26 8.3.26 6.3.27 6.3.28 8.3.29 8.3.30 8.3.31 8.3.32 8.3.33 8.3.34 8.3.38 8.3.36 8.3.37

TAPE CONTROL. 377

PRINTER CONTROL UNDER PROC. 378

MAGNETIC TAPE FACILITIES. 380

COMMUNICATION WITH OTHER PICK-CLASS MACHINES. 381 COMMUNICATIONS WITH NON-PICK-CLASS MACHINES. 381 MAGNETIC TAPE: TAPE RECORD SIZE 384

MAGNETIC TAPE: THE T-ATT VERB 386

MAGNETIC TAPE: THE T-DET VERB 388

MAGNETIC TAPE CONTROL: THE T-FWD. T-BCK. T-REW. 389 T-SPACE. AND T-EOD VERBS

MAGNETIC TAPE CONTROL: THE T-WEOF AND T-CHK 391 VERBS

MAGNETIC TAPE 1/0: THE T-DUMP. S-DUMP AND 392 T-LOAD COMMANDS

THE T-READ COMMAND. 39B

EXAMPLES OF THE T-READ COMMAND. 396

THE SP-TAPEOUT VERB. 398

THE T-RDLBL COMMAND. GENERATING AND READING 400 TAPE LABELS

RUNOFF

RUNOFF INTRODUCTION AND RUNOFF VERB FORMAT RUNOFF SOURCE FILE FORMAT

RUNOFF COMMANDS BEGIN PAGE (BP)

BOX n.m I BOX OFF (BOX) BREAK (B)

CAPITALIZE SENTENCES (CS) CENTER (C)

CHAIN ([DICT] [FILE-NAME]) ITEM-ID CHAPTER text

• • • THE COMMENT INSTRUCTION CONTENTS

CRT FILL (F) FOOTING HEADING

HILITE c I HILITE OFF

• - TREATMENT OF HYPHENS INDENT n (I)

INDENT MARGIN n ( 1M) INDEX text

INPUT JUSTIFY (J) LEFT MARGIN n LINE LENGTH n LOWER CASE ( LC ) LPTR

NOCAPITALIZE SENTENCES (NCS) NOFILL (NF)

NOJUSTIFY (NJ) NOPAGING (N) NO PARAGRAPH PAGE NUMBER n PAPER LENGTH n PARAGRAPH n PRINT INDEX

PRINT . . . .

READ {{DICT] [FILE-NAME]} ITEM-ID READNEXT

SAVE INDEX file-name

402 403 404 408 408 408 408 408 406 406 407 407 407 407 407 408 408 409 409 409 409 410 410 410 410 410 410 410 411 411 411 411 411 411 411 411 413 413 413 413 417

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8.3.38 8.3.39 8.3.40 8.3.41 8.3.48 8.3.43 8.3.44 8.3.48 8.4 8.4.1 8.4.8 8.4.3 9 9.1 9.8 9.3.1 9.3 9.4 9.8 9.8 9.7 9.8 9.9 9.10 9.11 9.18 9.13 9.14 9.16 9.16 9.17 9.18 9.19 9.80 9.21 9.88 9.83 9.84 9.86 9.86 9.87 9.88 9.89 9.30 9.31 9.38 9.33 9.34 9.36 9.36 9.37 9.3S 9.39 9.40 9.41

SECTION n text 417

SET TABS n,n,n, 417

SKIP n (SK) 418

SPACE n (SP) 41S

SPACING n 41S

STANDARD 418

TEST PAGE n 418

UPPER CASE (UC) 41S

SPECIAL CONTROL CHARACTERS 419

Upper- and lower-case oontrols. 419

Underlining and overstriking. 420

Tab setting. 421

PICK/BASIC 422

THE PICK/BASIC LANGUAGE 423

PICK/BASIC LANGUAGE DEFINITIONS 426

PICK/BASIC FILE STRUCTURE 427

THE PICK/BASIC PROGRAM 428

DYNAMIC ARRAYS - FILE ITEM STRUCTURE 429 CREATING AND COMPILING PICK/BASIC PROGRAMS 430 PICK/BASIC COMPILER OPTIONS: A, C, E, L AND P 432 OPTIONS

PIOK/BASIO OOMPILER OPTIONS M, S, AND X 434 OPTIONS

EXECUTING PICK/BASIC PROGRAMS 436

CATALOG AND DECATALOG : SHARING OBJECT CODE 436

PICK/BASIC EXECUTION FROM PROC 437

VARIABLES AND CONSTANTS DATA REPRESENTATION 43S

ARITHMETIC EXPRESSIONS 440

STRING EXPRESSIONS 442

RELATIONAL EXPRESSIONS 444

MATCHES : RELATIONAL EXPRESSION PATTERN MATCHING 446 OR - AND : LOGICAL EXPRESSIONS 44S NUMERIC MASK AND FORMAT MASK CODES : VARIABLE 460 FORMATTING

a

FUNCTION : CURSOR CONTROL 463

ABORT STATEMENT : TERMINATION 464

ABS FUNCTION : ABSOLUTE NUMERIC VALUE 466 ALPHA FUNCTION : ALPHABETIC STRING DETERMINATION 466 ASCII FUNCTION : FORMAT CONVERSION 467 ASSIGNMENT STATEMENT : ASSIGNING VARIABLE VALUES 468 BREAK ON AND OFF : DEBUGGER INHIBITION 469 CALL AND SUBROUTINE STATEMENTS : EXTERNAL 460 SUBROUTINES

ARRAY PASSING AND THE CALL

a

STATEMENT : 461 INDIRECT EXTERNAL SUBROUTINES

CASE STATEMENT : CONDITIONAL BRANCHING 462 CHAIN STATEMENT : INTERPROGRAM COMMUNICATION 463 CHAR FUNCTION : FORMAT CONVERSION 466 CLEAR STATEMENT : INITIALIZING VARIABLE VALUES 466 CLEARFILE STATEMENT : DELETING DATA 467 COL1() AND COL2() FUNCTIONS: STRING SEARCHING 46S COMMON STATEMENT : VARIABLE SPACE ALLOCATION 469 COS FUNCTION : COSINE OF AN ANGLE 471 COUNT FUNCTION : DYNAMIC ARRAYS 472 DATA STATEMENT : STACKING INPUT DATA 473 DATE() FUNCTION: DATE CAPABILITY 474 DCOUNT FUNCTION : DYNAMIC ARRAYS 476 DELETE STATEMENT : DELETING ITEMS 476 DELETE FUNCTION : DYNAMIC ARRAY DELETION 477 DIM STATEMENT : DIMENSIONING ARRAYS 478

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9.42 9.43 9.44 9.45 9.46 9.47 9.48 9.49 9.50 9.51 9.52 9.53 9.54 9.55 9.56 9.57 9.58 9.59 9.60 9.61 9.62 9.63 9.64 9.65 9.66 9.67 9.68 9.69 9.70 9.71 9.72 9.73 9.74 9.75 9.76 9.77 9.78 9.79 9.80 9.81 9.82 9.83 9.84 9.85 9.86 9.87 9.88 9.89 9.90 9.91 9.92 9.93 9.94 9.98 9.96 9.97

EBCDIC FUNCTION FORMAT CONVERSION 479 ECHO ON AND OFF TERMINAL DISPLAY 480

END STATEMENT 481

ENTER STATEMENT INTERPROGRAM TRANSFERS 482 EQUATE STATEMENT : VARIABLE ASSIGNMENT 483 EXP FUNCTION : EXPONENTIAL CAPABILITY 484 EXTRACT FUNCTION : DYNAMIC ARRAY EXTRACTION 485 FIELD FUNCTION : STRING SEARCHING 486 FOOTING STATEMENT : PAGE OUTPUT FOOTINGS 487 FOR ... NEXT STATEMENT: PROGRAM LOOPING 488 FOR ... NEXT STATEMENT: EXTENDED PROGRAM LOOPING 490 GOSUB AND ON ... GOSUB STATEMENTS : INTERNAL 492 SUBROUTINE BRANCHING

GOTO STATEMENT : UNCONDITIONAL BRANCHING 493 HEADING STATEMENT : PAGE OUTPUT HEADINGS 494 ICONV FUNCTION : INPUT CONVERSION 496 IF STATEMENT : SINGLE-LINE CONDITIONAL BRANCHING 496 IF STATEMENT : MULTI-LINE CONDITIONAL BRANCHING 497 INDEX FUNCTION : SEARCHING FOR SUB-STRINGS 499 INPUT STATEMENT : TERMINAL INPUT 600 INPUT @ STATEMENT : POSITIONING MASKED INPUT 601 INPUTERR - INPUT TRAP - INPUTNULL : INPUT FORMS 602 INSERT FUNCTION : DYNAMIC ARRAY INSERTION 603 INT FUNCTION : INTEGER NUMERIC VALUE 604 LEN FUNCTION : GENERATING A LENGTH VALUE 606 LN FUNCTION : NATUBAL LOGARITHM 606 LOCATE STATEMENTS : LOCATING INDEX VALUES 607 LOCK STATEMENT : SETTING EXECUTION LOCKS 608 LOOP STATEMENT : STRUCTURED LOOPING 609 MAT - ASSIGNMENT AND COpy : ASSIGNING ARRAY 611 VALUES

MATREAD STATEMENT : MULTIPLE ATTRIBUTES 612 MATREADU STATEMENT : GROUP LOCKS 613 MATWRITE STATEMENT : MULTIPLE ATTRIBUTES 614 MATWRITEU STATEMENT : UPDATE LOCKS 616 NOT FUNCTION : LOGIC CAPABILITY 616

NULL STATEMENT : NON-OPERATION 617

NOM FUNCTION : NUMERIC STRING DETERMINATION 618 OCONV FUNCTION : OUTPUT CONVERSIONS 819 ON ... GOTO STATEMENT : COMPUTED BRANCHING 620 OPEN STATEMENT : OPENING 1/0 FILES 621 PAGE STATEMENT : HEADING OUTPUT 622 PRECISION DECLARATION : SELECTING NUMERIC 523 PRECISION

PRINT STATEMENT : TERMINAL OR PRINTER OUTPUT 624 PRINT STATEMENT : TABULATION AND CONCATENATION 626 PRINTER ONIOFF STATEMENTS : SELECTING OUTPUT 527 DEVICE

PROMPT STATEMENT : INPUT PROMPT CHARACTER 528 PWR FUNCTION : RAISING BY A POWER 529 READ STATEMENT : ACCESSING FILE ITEMS 530 READNEXT STATEMENT : ACCESSING ITEM-IDS 831 READT STATEMENT : READING RECORDS FROM TAPE 532 READU AND READVU STATEMENTS : GROUP LOCKS 533 READV STATEMENT : ACCESSING AN ATTRIBUTE 534 RELEASE STATEMENT : RELEASING GROUP UPDATE LOCKS 538 REM OR MOD FUNCTION : REMAINDER VALUE 536 REPLACE FUNCTION : DYNAMIC ARRAY REPLACEMENT 537 RETURN AND RETURN TO STATEMENTS : SUBROUTINE 538 RETURNING

REWIND STATEMENT : REWINDING THE TAPE 539

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9.98 9.99 9.100 9.101 9.102 9.103 9.104 9.105 9.106 9.107 9.108 9.109 9.110 9.111 9.112 9.113 9.114 9.115 9.116 9.117 9.118 9.119 9.120 9.121 9.122 9.123 9.124 9.125 9.126 9.127 9.128 9.129 9.130 9.131 9.132 9.133 9.134 9.138 9.136 10 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 10.9 10.10 10.11 10.12 10.13 10.14

END FUNCTION : RANDOM NUMBER GENERATION 540 SELECT STATEMENTS : SELECTING ITEM-IDS 541 SEQ FUNCTION : FORMAT CONVERSION 542 SIN FUNCTION : SINE OF AN ANGLE 543 SLEEP OR RQM STATEMENT : TIME ALLOCATION 544 SPACE FUNCTION : STRING SPACING 545 SQRT FUNCTION : SQUARE ROOT CABABILITY 546

STOP STATEMENT : TERMINATION 547

STR FUNCTION : GENERATING STRING VALUES 548 SYSTEM FUNCTION : CALLING PRE-DEFINED SYSTEM 549 VALUES

TAN FUNCTION : TANGENT OP AN ANGLE 551 TIME() AND TIMEDATE() FUNCTIONS: TIME AND DATE 552 CAPABILITY

TRIM FUNCTION : DELETING EXTRANEOUS SPACES 553 UNLOCK STATEMENT : CLEARING EXECUTION LOCKS 554 WEOP STATEMENT : POSITIONING TAPE 555 WRITE STATEMENT : MODIFYING ITEMS 556 WRITET STATEMENT : WRITING RECORDS TO TAPE 557 WRITEU AND WRITEVU STATEMENTS : UPDATE LOCKS 558 WRITEV STATEMENT : UPDATING AN ATTRIBUTE 559 PICK/BASIC SYMBOLIC DEBUGGER : AN OVERVIEW 560 USING THE PICK/BASIC DEBUGGER : AN EXAMPLE 562

THE TRACE TABLE 564

PICK/BASIC DEBUGGER: THE B, D, AND K COMMANDS 565 E(XECUTE), G(O) AND N(O or BYPASS) COMMANDS: 566 DEBUGGER EXECUTION

SLASH '/' COMMAND: DISPLAYING AND CHANGING 567 VABIABLES

VABIOUS DEBUGGER COMMANDS : ADDITIONAL FEATURES 56S GENERAL CODING TECHNIQUES: HELPFUL HINTS 569

PROGRAMMING EXAMPLES: PYTHAG 571

PROGRAMMING EXAMPLES: GUESS 572

PROGRAMMING EXAMPLES: INV-INQ 573

PROGRAMMING EXAMPLES: FORMAT 574

PROGRAMMING EXAMPLES: LOT-UPDATE 576

APPENDIX A 579

APPENDIX B 582

APPENDIX C 584

APPENDIX D 586

LIST OP ASCII CODES 588

APPENDIX P 590

APPENDIX G 592

SYSTEM MAINTENANCE 593

VIRTUAL MEMORY STRUCTURE 594

ADDITIONAL WORK-SPACE ALLOCATION 596

THE FILE AREA 897

FRAME FORMATS 599

DISPLAYING FRAME FORMATS; THE DUMP VERB 600 THE SYSTEM FILE and SYSTEM-level FILES 602 THE BLOCK-CONVERT AND POINTER-FILE DICTIONARIES 604 THE ERRMSG PILE, LOGON MESSAGES, AND THE 606 PRINT-ERR VERB

USER IDENTIFICATION ITEMS 60S

SECURITY 610

THE ACCOUNTING HISTORY FILE: AN INTRODUCTION 612 THE ACCOUNTING HISTORY FILE: SUMMARY AND 614 EXAMPLES

THE ACCOUNTING HISTORY FILE: PERIODIC CLEARING 816 FILE STRUCTURE: THE ITEM AND GROUP COMMANDS 617

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1.0.16 1.0.16 1.0.16.1 1.0.16.2 1.0.16.3 1.0.17 1.0.18 1.0.19 1.0.2.0 1.0.21 1.0.22 1.0.23 1.0.24 1.0.26 1.0.26 1.0.27 1.0.28 1.0.29 1.0.29.1 1.0.3.0 1.0.31 1.0.32 1.0.33

PILE STRUCTURE: THE ISTAT AND HASH-TEST C.oMMANDS

DETERMINING NATURE .oP GR.oUP P.oRMAT ERR.oRS GR.oUP DEPINITI.oN

GR.oUP P.oRMAT ERR.oRS REC.oVERY PR.oM GFE's

GENERATING CHECKSUMS: THE CHECK-SUM COMMAND SYSTEM PR.oGRAMMER (SYSPR.oG) ACC.oUNT

AVAILABLE SYSTEM SPACE: THE P.oVP C.oMMAND CREATING ACC.oUNTS and ASSEMBLING M.oDES DELETE-ACC.oUNT

PILE STATISTICS REP.oRT

UTILITY VERBS: STRIP-S.oURCE, L.oCK-PRAME, UNL.oCK-FRAME,

SYS-GEN AND FILE-SAVE TAPES: FORMAT FILE-REST.oRE

ERROR RECOVERY DURING FILE L.oADS SELECTIVE REST.oRES

SYSTEM BACKUP : AN .oVERVIEW THE SAVE VERB

MULTIPLE REEL SAVES

ACC.oUNT-SAVE AND ACC.oUNT-REST.oRE SYSTEM STATUS: THE WHAT AND WHERE VERBS VERIFYING S.oPTWARE

USER-DEFINED CURSOR C.oNTR.oL IN PICK/BASIC

619 62.0 62.0 62.0 621 622 623 623 624 626 628 62S 63.0 631 633 634 637 636 639 64.0 641 644 646

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

THE PICK SYSTEM USER MANUAL

PROPRIETARY INFORMATION

This document cont&ins inform&tion which is propriet&ry to &nd oonsidered & tr&de secret of PICK SYSTEMS It is expressly &greed th&t it sh&ll not be reproduced in whole or p&rt, disclosed, divulged, or otherwise m&de &v&ilble to &ny third p&rty either direotly or indirectly. Reproduction of this document for &ny purpose is prohibited without the prior express written &uthoriz&tion of

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION Copyright (0) 1986 PICK SYSTEMS PAGE 1

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1.1 WHAT IS THE PICK COMPUTER SYSTEM?

The PICK System is a generalized data base management computer system. It:

is a complete system that provides multiple users with the capability to:

instantly update and/or retrieve information stored in the on-line data:

files. Users communicate with the system through local or remote:

terminals to access files that may be private, common, or security-:

controlled. Each terminal user's vocabulary can be individually tailored:

to specific application vocabularies.

The PICK System includss the powerful, yet simple-to-use ACCESS inquiry language, the PICK/BASIC and PROC high-level languages, file maintenance tools, an EDITOR, complete programming development facilities, and a host of other user amenities. PICK System runs in an on-line, multi-user environment with all system resources and data files being efficiently managed by a true Virtual Memory Operating System that provides users with unrivaled performance and reliability.

The PICK System is exceptional when measured from any angle: system capability multi-user performance, file management languages, ease of programming, data structure, and architectural features. The high performance and fast response of the PICK System are possible only through the use of a unique bUSiness-oriented, machine-independent assembly language which greatly reduces system overhead and program execution time.

The System Software includes:

Virtual Memory Manager.

Multi-user Operating System.

Speclal Data Management Instructions.

Input/Output Processors.

ACCESS, PICK/BASIC, PROC, TCL Languages.

Selectable/automatic report formatting.

Dynamic file/memory management.

Selectable levels of file/data security.

The unique file structure provides:

Variable length flIes/records/fields.

Multi-values (and subvalues) in a field.

Efficient storage utilization.

Fast accessibility to data items.

Selectable degrees of data security.

File size limited only by size of disc.

Record size up to 32K bytes.

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION

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Copyright (c) 19S5 PICK SYSTEMS 2

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1.2 AN OVERVIEW OF PICK COMPUTER SYSTEM'S MAJOR FEATURES

The PICK System is a system specifically oriented to provide a vehicle for the implementation of cost-effective data base management. Data base management systems implemented in the PICK System afford two major benefits: 1) providing accurate and timely information to form the basis for significantly improving the decision-making process, and 2) substantially reducing the clerical and administrative effort associated with the collection, the storage, and dissemination of the information pertaining to an organization.

The PICK System is a very efficient and effective tool for on-line data base management. Pick has Implemented a truly revolutionary on- line transaction processing system. Three major components of the system are especially Important:

The virtual memory operating system The software level architecture The terminal input/output routines

The virtual memory operating system which has long been used in larger computer systems had previously been Impractical for mini-computers due to the large amount of overhead needed for the operating system itself. In the PICK System, the virtual memory operating system has been optimized and coded in a highly efficient machine-independent assembly language which executes many times faster than conventional languages. Thus the overhead time is no longer a serious problem on the smaller computers.

Most sophisticated computer operating systems require vast amounts of memory to support them. Systems consuming more than one hundred thousand bytes are common. Only a small amount of main memory is needed to run the PICK System. Everything else (system software, user software and data) is transferred automatically into main memory from the disc drive by the virtual memory operating system only when required.

Data in the PICK System is organized into 512-byte pages (frames) which are stored on the disc. As a frame is needed for processing, the operating system automatically determines if it is already in core memory. If it is not, the frame is automatically transferred from the disc unit (virtual memory) to core. Frames are written back onto the disc on a "least-recently-used" basis. The virtual memory feature of the PICK System allows the user to have access to a programming area not constrained by core memory, but as large as the entire available disc storage on the system.

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Copyright (0) 1985 PICK SYSTEMS 3

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The second important feature is the software level architecture of the maohine itself. Piok Systems has implemented a machine architecture expressly designed and optimized for data base management. The arohitecture of the PICK System inoludes very powerful instructions expressly designed for character moves, searches, compares, and all supporting operations germane to managing variable length fields and records. This architeoture was designed without the inevitable restrictions imposed by being ttled to anyone plece of hardware I It is truly a maohlne-indepen~ent approach.

The third major feature is the handling of Input/Output (I/O) oommunioations with the on-line terminals. In any minicomputer on- line application, one of the main problems i8 that of managing the I/O from on-line interaotlve terminals. As these terminals increase in number, the load on the CPU beoomes overwhelming and consequently the response to the terminals degrades dramatically. Plck has implemented the I/O processing of the on-line terminals with an overlapped bufferlng conoept. This means that other program execution need not be held up waiting for terminal input/output to complete. As a result, the central prooesslng unit is utillzed more completely and a very large number of terminals may be oonneoted t·o the Piok System before any signifloant degradation in response time is detected.

In summary, the PICK System encompases the following extraordinary features:

True data base management.

Complete small business computer capabilities.

Vlrtual Msmory Operating System.

Multl-user capabillties On-line file update/retrleval.

ACCESS retrieval language.

Variable file/reoord/field lengths.

Dynamic file/memory management.

Automatic report formatting Total data/system security.

Past terminal response.

Line printer spooling.

Special data management processors.

High-speed generalized sort.

Big computer performance on Mlnis, Micros and Malnframes

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1.3 THE PICK SOPTWARE PROCESSORS

The processors available on the Pick Computer System comprise the most extensive data base management software available on any minicomputer.

An overview of some of the processors available to all terminal users is presented in this topic. All processors are described fully in the sections devoted to them.

The ACCESS Processor

ACCESS is a generalized information management. and data retrieval language. A typical ACCESS inquiry consists of a relatively free-form sentence containing appropriate verbs, file names, data selection criteria, and control modifiers. ACCESS is a dictionary-driven language. The vocabulary used in composing an ACCESS input sentence is contained in several dictionaries. Each user's vocabulary can be individually tailored to his particular application terminology.

ACCESS encompasses the following extended features;

Logical English word order and syntax for user inputs.

AutomatiC or user-specified output formatting.

Sorting capabilities plus generation of statistical information.

Relational and logical operations.

Verbs such as: LIST, SORT, SELECT, COUNT, STAT, etc.

The PICK/BASIC Processor

PICK/BASIC is an exceptionally powerful yet simple and versatile programming language suitable for expressing a wide range of processing capabilities. PICK/BASIC is a language especially easy for the beginning programmer to master. PICK/BASIC is an extended version of Dartmouth BASIC which Includes the following features:

Flexibility in selecting meaningful variable names.

Complex and multi-line statements.

String handling with variable length strings.

Integrated with Data Base file aocess and update capabilities.

Fully struotured programming support.

Re-entrant and recursive abilities.

The PROC Processor

The PROC processor allows the user to prestore a complex sequence of operations which can then be invoked by a single word command. Any sequence of operations which can be executed from the terminal can also be prestored via the PROC processor. The FROC processor encompasses the following features.

Argument paSSing.

Interactive terminal prompting.

Conditional and unconditional branching.

Pattern matching.

Free-field and fixed-field character moving.

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The EDITOR Processor

The EDITOR permits on-line interactive modifiction of any item in the data base. The EDITOR may be used to oreate and/or modify PICK/BASIC progr&ms, PROC's, assembly souroe, data files, and file diotionaries.

The EDITOR uses the ourrent line concept; that is, at any given time there is a ourrent line that can be listed, altered, deleted, etc.

The EDITOR inoludes the following features:

Absolute and relative ourrent line positioning.

Merging of lines from terminal or from other file items.

Charaoter string locate and replace.

Input/Output formatting.

The Pile Management Processors

The file management processors provide the capabilities for generating, managing, and manipulating files (or portions of files) within the Pick system. The file management processors inolude the CREATE-PILE processor, the CLEAR-FILE prooessor, the DELETE-FILE processor, the COPY prooessor, CREATE-ACCOUNT and DELETE-ACCOUNT.

The Utility Processors

Numerous utility prooessors are also included which provide an extensive oomplement of utility oapabilities for the system.

Software Prooessor Usage

These and any other software processors may be used by any or all terminals simultaneously. Prooessing is invoked through appropriate verbs contained in each terminal user's Master Dictionary. User acoessability to these capabilities may be limited by controlling the verb seleotion available in specific user's Master Dictionaries.

CBAPTEB 1 - INTRODUCTION

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1.4 OVERVIEW OP TCL

: The Terminal Control Language (TCL) is the primary interface between:

: the terminal user and the various PICK System prooessors.

Most prooessors are invoked direotly from the Terminal Control Language by a single input statement, and return to TCL after oompletion of processing. TCL prompts the user by displaying a">".

This is referred to as the "TCL prompt character". Input statements are oonstructed by typing a oharaoter at a time from the terminal until the oarriage return or line feed key is depressed, at which time the entire line is prooessed by TCL. The first word of an input statement must be a valid PICK "verb".

One of the powerful features of the PICK System is the ability to oustomize the vocabulary for each user. Since verbs reside in the individual user's Master Diotionary (MD), the vocabulary may be added to or deleted from without affeoting the other users. In addition, an unlimited number of synonyms may be oreated for eaoh verb. The PICK System operates in what is known as an "Echo-Plex" environment. This means that eaoh data oharaoter input by the terminal is sent to the oomputer and echoed baok to the terminal before being displayed on the soreen. The user is thus assured that if the data charaoter displayed on the terminal is oorrect, the data charaoter stored in the oomputer is oorreot.

In addition to the standard ASCII (96) charaoter set recognized, special operations are performed when certain control characters are detected. All other oontrol characters are deleted from the input line that is passed to lower level processors.

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1.6 DATA BASE MANAGEMENT PROCESSORS

The data base management processors provide the capabilities for generating, managing, and manipulating files (or portions of files) within the PICK System. The data base management processors include the CREATE-FILE processor, the CLEAR-FILE processor, the DELETE-FILE processor, and the COPY processor.

The CREATE-FILE Processor

The CREATE-FILE processor is used to generate new dictionaries and/or data files. The processor creates file dictionary entries in the user's Master Dictionary (MD), and reserves d1sc space tor the dictionary and data portion of the new file. The user need only specify the name of the file and value for the desired "modulo". The

"modulo" parameter is selected to balance storage efficiency and accessing speed, based on the number of items in the file, the average item size, etc. The required file space is allocated from the available file space pool. Files may automatically grow beyond their initial size when the system automatically attaches additional

"overflow" space from the available file space pool upon demand.

The CLEAR-FILE Processor The CLEAR-FILE processor space that may be linked released to the available the dictionary section of The DELETE-FILE Processor

clears the data from a file. "Overflow"

to the primary file space will also be file space pool. Either the data section or a file may be cleared.

The DELETE-FILE processor allows for the deletion of a file. All allocated file space is returned to the available file space pool.

Either the data section or the dictionary section (or both) of the file may be deleted.

The COPY Processor

The COPY processor allows the user to copy an entire file (or selected items from the file) to the terminal, to the line printer, to the magnetic tape unit', to another file (either in the same account or in some other user-account), or to the same file under a different name (item-id) .

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1.6 AN OVERVIEW OF SYSTEM UTILITIES

: The Plck Utlilty processors provlde an extenslve complement of utlilty : : capabliltles for the system.

The Plck Computer System lncludes a very large number of utlilty processors. These processors provlde such capabliltles as:

Magnetlc tape unlt functlone Mathematlcal functlons Llne prlnter spoollng control Fl1e save/restore functions File statistlcs

Creation of user-accounts

Setting of termlnal characteristics Block prlntlng

Vlrtual memory dumplng

Inter-user message communications Bootstrapping and cold-start Systems accountlng

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1.7 AN OVERVIEW OF ACCESS

I ACCESS is a user-oriented data retrieval language used for accessing I I files within the Pick Computer System.

ACCESS is a generalized information management and data retrieval language. A typical ACCESS inquiry consists of a relatively free-form sentence containing appropriate verbs, file names, data selection criteria, and control modifiers. Each user's vocabulary can be individually tailored to his particular application jargon.

ACCESS is a dictionary-driven language to the extent that the vocabulary used in composing an ACCESS sentence is contained in several dlotlonarles. Verbs and file names are located in each user's Master Dictionary (M/DICT). User-files consist of a data section and a dictionary section; the dictionary section contains a structural definition of the data section. ACCESS references the dictionary section for data attribute desorlptions. These descriptions specify attribute fields, functional calculations, inter-file retrieval operations, display format, and more.

ACCESS provides the ability to selectively or conditionally retrieve information and also provides an automatic report generation oapability. Output reports may appear on the terminal or be sent to the line printer and are automatically formatted according to the user's specifications by the Pick system. The output may be sorted into any sequence defined by the user, and encompasses the following extended features:

Relatively free-form input of word order and syntax.

Automatic or user-speoified output report formats in either columnar or non-columnar form.

Generalized data selection using logical and arithmetic relationships.

Sorting capability on variable number of descending and/or ascending sort-keys.

Generation and retention of multiple speoially selected and/or sorted lists for use by subsequent processors.

User ability to define variables derivable from the data in the object file and from other files, and to search, select, sort, total, output and break on the basis thereof.

Selection of sub-records within items containing multiple unit records and sorts and outputs based on them.

Generation of statistical information conoerning files.

Support of 11 digit signed arithmetio.

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1.8 AN OVERVIEW OP PICK/BASIC

The PICK/BASIC Language is an extended version of Dartmouth BASIC, : speoifioally designed for data base management prooessing on the PICK:

: System.

PICK/BASIC is an extremely powerful yet versatile programming language suitable for expressing a wide range of problems. Developed at Dartmouth College in 1963, Dartmouth BASIC is a language espeoially easy for the beginning programmer to master. PICK/BASIC is an extended version of Dartmouth BASIC with the following features;

Optional statement labels (statement numbers) statement labels of any length

Alphanumerio variable names of any length Multiple statements on one line

Complex IP statements Multi-line IP statements

Pormatting and terminal oursor oontrol string handling with variable length strings One and two dimensional arrays

Magnetio tape input and output

Deoimal arithmetio with up to 14 digit preoision ACCESS data oonversion oapabilities

PICK file access and update capabilities Pattern matching

Dynamic file arrays External subroutines

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1 . 9 AN OVERVIEW 01" THE EDITOR

: The EDITOR is & PICK processor which permits on-line inter&ctive : : modific&tion of &ny item in the d&t& b&se.

The Pick EDITOR m&y be used to cre&te &nd/or modify PICK/BASIC progr&ms, PROC's, &ssembly source, d&t& files, &nd file dictlon&ries.

The EDITOR is entered by Issuing the EDIT verb.

form&t Is &S follows:

EDIT flle-n&me Item-Id

The item specified by "file-n&me" &nd "Item-Id"

the specified item does not &lre&dy exist on file, cre&ted.

The gener&l comm&nd

will be edited. If

& new item will be

The EDITOR uses the current line concept; th&t is, &t &ny given time there is & current line (i.e., &ttribute) th&t c&n be listed, &ltered, deleted, etc. The Pick EDITOR includes the following fe&tures:

Two vari&ble length temporary buffers

Absolute and rel&tive current line positioning Line number prompting on Input

Merging of lines from the same or other items Ch&racter string loc&te and replace

Condition&l &nd unconditional line deletion Input/Output form&ttlng

Prestorlng of commands

EDITOR comm&nds &re one or two letter mnemonics. Comm&nd p&rameters follow the command mnemonic.

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1.10 AN OVERVIEW OF PROC

: An integral part of the PICK System is the ability to define stored:

: procedures called PROC·s.

The PROC processor allows the user to prestore a complex sequence of TCL operations (and associated processor operations) which can then be invoked by a single command. Any sequence of operations which can be executed by the Terminal Control Language (TCL) can also be prestored via the PROC processor. This prestored sequence of operations (called a PROC) is executed interpretively by the PROC processor and therefore requires no compilation phase.

The PROC processor encompasses the following features:

Four variable length 1/0 buffers Argument passing

Interactive terminal prompting

Extended 1/0 and buffer control commands Conditional and unconditional branching Relational character testing

Pattern matching

Free-field and fixed-field character moving Optional command labels

User-defined subroutine linkage Inter-Proc linkage

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1.11 AN OVERVIEW OP THE PICK OPERATING SOPTWARB

Although the user need never be ooncerned instruction set of the Pick computer, provided for those readers who would like unique structure.

with the architecture and the following section is some information on Pick's

In the early development of the PICK System, the task of creating an efficient, flexi~le business information system was given to a team of knowledgable systems designers. At the time they began, the hardware selection had not yet occurred. While most people might consider this a handicap, it was in fact a most fortuitous situation. Not being constrained by the limits of anyone type of hardware, the designers had the freedom to oreate a new language, an assembly language that was optimized for business data processing.

The power and flexibility in this assembly language is the strength of the ourrent PICK System. The Piok instruction set has been specifically designed for character moves, searches, compares, and all supporting operations pertinent to managing variable length fields and reoords. The virtual memory is diso which is divided into 612-byte frames. The virtual memory addressing range is currently 12,192,320 frames, which is in excess of 6.4 billion bytes of data.

The Virtual Machine has 16 addressing registers and one extended accumulator for each terminal. A return stack aocommodating up to eleven subroutine calls for each terminal is also provided. By indirect addressing through anyone of the 16 registers, any byte in the virtual memory can be accessed. Relative addressing is also possible using an offset displacement plus one of the 16 registers to any bit, byte, word (16 bits), double word (32 bits), triple word (48 bits) or quadruple word (64 bits) in the entire virtual memory. This means fast response time and very high system throughput.

The PICK Instruction Set

The PICK System has an extensive instruction set.

include: The main features

Bit, byte, word, double-word and triple-word operations.

Memory-to-memory operation using relative addressing on bytes, words, double-words, and triple-words.

Bit operations permitting the setting, resetting, and branching on oondltlon of a speolflc bit.

Branoh Instruotions whloh permit the comparison of two relative memory operands and branching as a result of the compare.

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Addressing register operations for incrementing, decrementing, saving, and restoring addressing registers.

Byte string operations for the moving of arbitrarily long byte strings from one place to another.

Byte string search instructions.

Buffered Terminal Input/Output instructions.

Handling of all data and program address references by the virtual memory operating system.

Operations for the conversion of binary numbers to printable ASCII characters and vice versa.

Arithmetic instructions for lcading, storing, adding, sub- tracting, multiplying, and dividing the eztended accumulator and a memory operand.

Control instructions for branching, subroutine calls, and program linkage.

Efficient stack operations for use by high level languages.

For further details regarding the PICK instruction set, refer to the PICK Assembly Manual.

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1.12 SUMMARY OF PICK IHPLEMENTATIONS

Pick Operating Software is not new or untried. Its origins go back to the mid 1960's. It has been a commercial success since the early 1970's. In this time the concepts of user friendly on-line inter-action have been validated over and over again.

The PICK System helps solve the biggest problem facing the expanded use of computers today. The creation of sufficient high-quality application software to support the new lower-cost hardware is a monumental task. By providing the best possible application software development environment coupled with intelligent data base management functions and a non-procedural ACCESS language report generator, the PICK System reduces these programming requirements.

In addition to the direct benefits of the Operating System, there are many tangible indirect advantages available to new users. The vast base of application programmers as well as the many vertical market packages available make finding application software easier.

HICRODATA 1600 (8-bit firmware machine)

INTERTECHNIQUE Hulti-S (8-bit firmware machine) EVOLUTION 280 (8-bit firmware machine)

ULTIMATE Honeywell Level-S ULTIMATE DEC LSI-II

ADP HEWLETT-PACKARD H-P 3000/Series 30 ADDS Hentor - Z8000 (16-bit microprocessor)

DATAHEDIA Hotorola - HS8000 (IS-bit microprocessor) C.D.I./IBM Series 1 (IS-bit software machine) ALTOS - 1808S (16-bit microprocessor)

GENERAL AUTOMATION Zebra - H68000 (IS-bit microprocessor) S.H.I./IBM 4300 (32-bit software machine)

PICK SYSTEMS IBH PC-XT (16-bit microprocessor) SHI/IBH CS9000 - H68000 (IS-bit microprocessor) PERTEC Sabre - H68000 (16-bit microprocessor) TAU - HS8000 (16-bit microprocesscr)

WICAT - HS8000 (16-bit microprocessor) CLIMAX - HS8000 (IS-bit microprocessor) CIE 680 Series

FUJITSU - 18086 (IS-bit microprocessor) NIXDORF - 8090 VH

Summary of PICK SYSTEM Hardware Implementations.

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1.13 A GLOSSARY OF PICK TERMS

The very nature of the PICK OPERATING SYSTEM presents certain terms and definitions which may be unfamiliar to conventional system users. Those terms and definitions, together with some more universally accepted acronyms and 'buzz' words, have been combined together in the following Glossary, to aid the first-time user in deciphering common terminology used in a PICK SYSTEM Environment.

ABS

AKC

ATTRIBUTE

BIT

BOOLEAN

BYTE

CONTROL CHARACTERS

COMPILE

CONVERSIONS

ABSolute data image - generally taken to mean the Operating System (PICK) Modes which are loaded to a particular disk-drive area of frames.

Attribute Mark Count a value. found in a attribute defining item which contains the count (#. of delimiters) of attribute marks, thereby specifing which attribute (field of data) in an item it refers to.

Each item is made up of a number of data fields or attrlbutee. City, State and Zip would certainly be three attributes included in a Name and Address File.

BInary digiT - a unit of information equal to one binary decision. An eight BIT unit is called a byte. A character of data is represented in the computer by a byte (or 8 BITS).

Refers to a system of mathematical logic dealing with classes, propOSitions, on-off circuits, etc.

Taken by programmers to mean, AND-OR-NOT-EXCEPT- IF .. THEN, thereby allowing for logical decision making.

A group of 8 bits usually processed together in parallel. A character of data is represented in the computer by a BYTE (8 bits).

Normal keyboard letters, numbers or symbols which are entered while the "CONTROL" key is held down.

They are not normally printable characters.

The process of turning user-written code (a PICK/BASIC program) into machine executable code which then has meaning to the computer. Source Code is COMPILED in order to execute it.

Instructions may be stored in attribute 7 of attribute definition items. These CONVERSION instructions convert formats, (such as time, date, deCimals, etc.) for the data that the attribute definition refers to. Internal format is converted to external format upon output and vice-vers&.

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CORRELATIVES

CPU

CRT

DEFAULT

DELIMITER

DICTIONARY

EDITOR

FILE

FRAME

Instruotions may be stored in attribute 8 of attribute definition items. Siml1iar to conversions, they differ only in the times that their instructions are applied to the data. Both conversions and correlatives perform a number of tasks and greatly reduce programming requirements.

Central Processing Unit generally refers to that electronic circuit board in the computer which contains the main storage (MOS memory), arithmetic unit, and special registers.

Cathode-Ray Tube a terminal with a video screen, also oalled a VDT.

The way processing will be done unless otherwi8e specified. A default value Is a value that the computer will use (pre-programmed) In ca8e8 where user-defined parameters are prompted for and not supplied by the operator.

Special Characters used to separate data. System delimiters separate sub-values, values, and attributes.

A PICK dictionary is a special type of file.

Normally, a data file dictionary will contain two types of items. One type (called aD-pointer) contains information about the size and location of its aSSOCiated data file on the disk. The other type of item is the attribute defining item and is used to define attributes in the data file associated with the dictionary.

The EDITOR processor permits on-line interactive modifications to any item in the data base. It is the normal input processor for writing procs, programs, system management and the like.

A flle is a logical structure which associates a set of items. On a PICK system, files are organized Into a hiararchial structure. There ara four distinct levels of flies, the SYSTEM DICTIONARY, a users MASTER DICTIONARY, FILE-LEVEL DICTIONARIES and the DATA FILES. A PICK system can contain any number of flies, which contain any number of items, limited only by the 81ze of the disk drive.

Disc drive storage is divided Into sections called FRAMES. Each FRAME is numbered giving the system direct access to that particular frame-id or FID. The physioal size of a frame is machine dependent, the most common size being 812 or 1024 bytes per disk frame.

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GROUP

HARDWARE

ITEM

ITEM-ID

MD or MIDICT

MODULO

MONITOR

NULL

OIS

The number of GROUPS in a file is the same as the MODULO for that file. As items are added to the file, additional overflow frames are linked on to the "primary frames" a8 needed. The size of each GROUP would then depend on how many overflow frames have been linked on to the primary frame of that GROUP.

The physical part of the system which you can see and touch. The CPU, disk drives, tape drives, terminals and printers are examples of HARDWARE.

A PICKIBASIC program is an example of SOFTWARE.

A record made up of attributes. ITEMS make up a file. ITEMS are variable in length, the maximum size being 32,267 bytes. There i8 no limit to the number of items in a file, other than the size of the disk drive. The name of an item is called the "item-id". The item-id is unique to the file which contains that ITEM.

The name of an item in a file. An ITEM-ID may be any combination of numbers or letters, exoept system delimiters. If blanks are used in the ITEM-ID, then the ITEM-ID must be enolosed by quotation marks when aocessed.

MASTER DICTIONARY - eaoh user-account on the system has a MASTER DICTIONARY associated with it. It is structurally similiar to all other files on the system. Many things that a user enters at the TCL prompt are contained in that users MASTER DICTIONARY (such as verbs, procs, connectives, file-names, etc.). Upon creation, a standard set of vocabulary items are copied into that new account's MASTER DICTIONARY. Additional items may be added or deleted to customize that users account, as needed.

The MODULO is the number of "groups" of diSk frames reserved for a file. The MODULO is specified at the time a file is created and is based upon an estimate of the number of characters which will be contained in the file.

The MONITOR is that part of the underlying system software which handles the operating systems interaction with peripheral devices. (Disk requests, Terminal IIO, etc.)

A lack of information as opposed to a zero or blank for the presence of no information. A blank or space which you get from the terminal space bar is not a nUll.

Operating System. The software that controls the carrying out of computer programs and other system functions (scheduling, IIO control, etc.).

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POINTERS

PROC

SOFTWARE

STRING

TCL

VALUE (MULTI/SUB)

VDT

POINTERS are items in dictionaries which serve a number of purposes. "D"-type POINTERS provide FID information to locate items in the data portion of the file. They reside in that files dictionary. "Q"-type POINTERS enable users to access files which are in another account.

"Q"-type POINTERS are also used to shorten filenames (INV instead of INVENTORY or AH3 instead of ACCOUNT-HISTORY,MARCH).

PROC is short for stored procedure. PROC allows the user to prestore a complex series of operations which can be invoked by a single command. Anything which can be done at the TCL level, can be accomplished with a PROC.

Programs, rout ines, codes and other wri tten information for use with computers, as distinguished from equipment, which is referred to as "HARDWARE". The PICK OPERATING SYSTEM is SOFTWARE.

A STRING is any succession of characters. They may be numbers, letters, blanks or other characters. The PICK SYSTEM treats most data simply as a certain sequence of symbols or

"STRING" .

Terminal Control Language processor. TCL is the primary interface between end-users and the computer. When the computer "prompt character"

is displayed and is waiting for user input, this is commonly referred to as being "at TCL". The TCL processor works on one statement at a time.

Eaoh statement begins with a verb. Only one verb is allowed per statement.

The contents of an attribute, if not nUll, is called its "VALUE". An attribute may contain more than one value. If it does, each of these values is called a "MULTI-VALUE". A multi-value, in turn, may contain more than one value. If it does, these values are called "SUB-VALUES".

Video Display Terminal. Same as a CRT.

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CHAPTER

a

PILB S~ll1JC~

'1'BB PICK SYS'lBK 'USB KABlJAL

PROPRIBTAllY IJIl!'OllKATIOll1

This document cont&ins inform&tion which is propriet&ry to &nd considered & tr&de secret of PICK SYSTEMS It is expressly &greed th&t it sh&ll not be reproduced in whole or p&rt, disclosed, divulged, or otherwise m&de &v&ilble to &ny third p&rty either directly or indirectly. Reproduction of this document for &ny purpose is prohibited without the prior express written &uthoriz&tion of PICK SYSTEMS. All rights reserved.