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Basic Partitioned Access Method
In IBM mainframe operating systems, basic partitioned access method (BPAM) is an access method for libraries, called partitioned datasets (PDSes) in IBM terminology. BPAM is used in OS/360, OS/VS2, MVS, z/OS, and others. A PDS consists of members (internally identical to sequential data sets), registered in a list called the ''directory''. The combination of members and directory is a single dataset on disk. The directory contains a list of member's names (8 characters, padded on the right with blanks, as required) and member's addresses. Addresses are relative to the start of the dataset in order to allow the PDS to be moved to a different disk location. Partitioned datasets can store any type of data, but they are often used to store executable programs, or ''load modules'', sometimes called binaries in other systems. Other uses include system assembler macro definitions, job control procedures, and program source code. Application program interface BPAM provides an applicat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IBM Mainframe
IBM mainframes are large computer systems produced by IBM since 1952. During the 1960s and 1970s, IBM dominated the large computer market. Current mainframe computers in IBM's line of business computers are developments of the basic design of the IBM System/360. First and second generation From 1952 into the late 1960s, IBM manufactured and marketed several large computer models, known as the IBM 700/7000 series. The first-generation 700s were based on vacuum tubes, while the later, second-generation 7000s used transistors. These machines established IBM's dominance in electronic data processing ("EDP"). IBM had two model categories: one (701, 704, 709, 7030, 7090, 7094, 7040, 7044) for engineering and scientific use, and one (702, 705, 705-II, 705-III, 7080, 7070, 7072, 7074, 7010) for commercial or data processing use. The two categories, scientific and commercial, generally used common peripherals but had completely different instruction sets, and there were incompatibiliti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Application Program Interface
An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build or use such a connection or interface is called an ''API specification''. A computer system that meets this standard is said to ''implement'' or ''expose'' an API. The term API may refer either to the specification or to the implementation. In contrast to a user interface, which connects a computer to a person, an application programming interface connects computers or pieces of software to each other. It is not intended to be used directly by a person (the end user) other than a computer programmer who is incorporating it into the software. An API is often made up of different parts which act as tools or services that are available to the programmer. A program or a programmer that uses one of these parts is said to ''call'' that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Start Input/Output
In MVS/370 and successor versions of IBM mainframe operating systems, Start Input/Output (STARTIO) is a macro instruction and a "branch entry" for low-level device access, where the programmer is responsible for providing a list of device-specific CCWs, that is, a channel program, to be executed by I/O channels, control units and devices and a number of "exits", several of which may be immediate returns to the Input/Output Supervisor (IOS). Invokers of STARTIO must be in supervisor mode and key 0. STARTIO interfaces directly with the IOS component of MVS. Differences from Execute Channel Program (EXCP) Start Input/Output differs from EXCP (including XDAP, which is simply a DASD-only subset of EXCP) and EXCPVR in the following fundamental way: Start Input/Output is a low level facility that supports, e.g., selection of channel paths, selection of exposures while Execute Channel Program is a high level facility that supports, e.g., CCW translation, page fixing, serialization of r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kernel (operating System)
The kernel is a computer program at the core of a computer's operating system and generally has complete control over everything in the system. It is the portion of the operating system code that is always resident in memory and facilitates interactions between hardware and software components. A full kernel controls all hardware resources (e.g. I/O, memory, cryptography) via device drivers, arbitrates conflicts between processes concerning such resources, and optimizes the utilization of common resources e.g. CPU & cache usage, file systems, and network sockets. On most systems, the kernel is one of the first programs loaded on startup (after the bootloader). It handles the rest of startup as well as memory, peripherals, and input/output (I/O) requests from software, translating them into data-processing instructions for the central processing unit. The critical code of the kernel is usually loaded into a separate area of memory, which is protected from access by application ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linkage Editor
In computing, a linker or link editor is a computer system program that takes one or more object files (generated by a compiler or an assembler) and combines them into a single executable file, library file, or another "object" file. A simpler version that writes its output directly to memory is called the ''loader'', though loading is typically considered a separate process. Overview Computer programs typically are composed of several parts or modules; these parts/modules do not need to be contained within a single object file, and in such cases refer to each other by means of symbols as addresses into other modules, which are mapped into memory addresses when linked for execution. While the process of linking is meant to ultimately combine these independent parts, there are many good reasons to develop those separately at the source-level. Among these reasons are the ease of organizing several smaller pieces over a monolithic whole and the ability to better define the pur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asynchronous I/O
In computer science, asynchronous I/O (also non-sequential I/O) is a form of input/output processing that permits other processing to continue before the transmission has finished. A name used for asynchronous I/O in the Windows API is overlapped I/O. Input and output (I/O) operations on a computer can be extremely slow compared to the processing of data. An I/O device can incorporate mechanical devices that must physically move, such as a hard drive seeking a track to read or write; this is often orders of magnitude slower than the switching of electric current. For example, during a disk operation that takes ten milliseconds to perform, a processor that is clocked at one gigahertz could have performed ten million instruction-processing cycles. A simple approach to I/O would be to start the access and then wait for it to complete. But such an approach (called synchronous I/O, or blocking I/O) would block the progress of a program while the communication is in progress, leaving ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Block (data Storage)
In computing (specifically data transmission and data storage), a block, sometimes called a physical record, is a sequence of bytes or bits, usually containing some whole number of records, having a maximum length; a ''block size''. Data thus structured are said to be ''blocked''. The process of putting data into blocks is called ''blocking'', while ''deblocking'' is the process of extracting data from blocks. Blocked data is normally stored in a data buffer, and read or written a whole block at a time. Blocking reduces the overhead and speeds up the handling of the data stream. For some devices, such as magnetic tape and CKD disk devices, blocking reduces the amount of external storage required for the data. Blocking is almost universally employed when storing data to 9-track magnetic tape, NAND flash memory, and rotating media such as floppy disks, hard disks, and optical discs. Most file systems are based on a block device, which is a level of abstraction for the hardwar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Data Control Block
In IBM mainframe operating systems, such as OS/360, MVS, z/OS, a Data Control Block (DCB) is a description of a dataset in a program. A DCB is coded in Assembler programs using the DCB macro instruction (which expands into a large number of "define constant" instructions). High level language programmers use library routines containing DCBs. A DCB is one of the many ''control blocks'' used in these operating systems. A ''control block'' is a data area with a predefined structure, very similar to a C struct, but typically only related to system's functions. A DCB may be compared to a FILE structure in C, but it is much more complex, offering many more options for various access methods. The control block acted as the Application programming interface between Logical IOCS and the application program and usually was defined within (and resided within) the application program itself. The addresses of I/O subroutines would be resolved during a linkedit phase after compilation o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basic Sequential Access Method
In IBM mainframe operating systems, Basic sequential access method (BSAM) is an access method to read and write datasets sequentially. BSAM is available on OS/360, OS/VS2, MVS, z/OS, and related operating systems. BSAM is used for devices that are naturally sequential, such as punched card readers, punches, line printers, and magnetic tape. It is also used for data on devices that could also be addressed directly, such as magnetic disks. BSAM offers device independence: to the extent possible, the same API calls are used for different devices. BSAM allows programs to read and write physical blocks of data, as opposed to the more powerful but less flexible Queued Sequential Access Method (QSAM) which allows programs to access logical records within physical blocks of data. The BSAM user must be aware of the possibility of encountering short (truncated) blocks (blocks within a dataset which are shorter than the BLKSIZE of the dataset), particularly at the end of a dataset, but also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Job Control Language
Job Control Language (JCL) is a name for scripting languages used on IBM mainframe operating systems to instruct the system on how to run a batch job or start a subsystem. More specifically, the purpose of JCL is to say which programs to run, using which files or devices for input or output, and at times to also indicate under what conditions to skip a step. Parameters in the JCL can also provide accounting information for tracking the resources used by a job as well as which machine the job should run on. There are two distinct IBM Job Control languages: * one for the operating system lineage that begins with DOS/360 and whose latest member is z/VSE; and * the other for the lineage from OS/360 to z/OS, the latter now including JES extensions, Job ''Entry'' Control Language (JECL). They share some basic syntax rules and a few basic concepts, but are otherwise very different. The VM operating system does not have JCL as such; the CP and CMS components each have command ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operating System
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also include accounting software for cost allocation of processor time, mass storage, printing, and other resources. For hardware functions such as input and output and memory allocation, the operating system acts as an intermediary between programs and the computer hardware, although the application code is usually executed directly by the hardware and frequently makes system calls to an OS function or is interrupted by it. Operating systems are found on many devices that contain a computer from cellular phones and video game consoles to web servers and supercomputers. The dominant general-purpose personal computer operating system is Microsoft Windows with a market share of around 74.99%. macOS by Apple Inc. is in second place (14.84%), and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
