HP T6553 D45 Reference Manual page 311

Glossary
abend. The abnormal end of a task or process, or an error condition that can result in the
termination of a program. The FUP process terminates with an abend message if it
encounters an error in a command.
access mode. A specification that determines the different types of operations (read-write,
read-only, or write-only) that a process can perform against a file. The mode is
established when the file is opened.
alternate key. A data field that provides an alternative access path to the records in a file.
This path differs from the inherent access path (the primary key) defined for the file.
Unlike primary key values, alternate key values need not be unique. An example is an
employee data file. An alternate key might be used for the department number of the
employee. Using this key, a program could access the data records for all employees
who work in a particular department.
American National Standards Institute (ANSI). An organization affiliated with the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO). It establishes procedures by
which voluntary industry standards are created and maintained. Accepted and
proposed standards include transmission code and protocol (ASCII), media (tape and
diskette), and languages (FORTRAN and COBOL).
American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII). A method of coding data
that consists of seven bits for each character (plus a parity bit). Designed for
synchronous or asynchronous use, the code has 128 standard characters. It can also
be an 8-bit code representing characters and control codes. One of two major codes
used to represent and exchange data. (The other is EBCDIC.)
auditing. The monitoring of transactions in preparation for recovery efforts.
backup. The hardware and software resources available to recover after a degradation or
failure of one or more system components.
binary. A numbering system based on two's rather than 10's. The binary system uses only
the digits 0 and 1.
binary digit (bit). In the binary notation, either of the characters 0 or 1. Smallest unit of
information used in data processing. Eight bits equal one byte. A single unit of
information in a circuit.
block. A data collection that can be read from or written to storage media, or read and
written in a single operation. This grouping increases the efficiency with which the
media are used.
buffer. One of three things: (1) a storage area for a block of data, (2) a storage device used
to compensate for a difference in the rate of data flow when transmitting data from one
File Utility Program (FUP) Reference Manual—523323-014
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