gtpd3m0iLibrary Guide with Master Index and Glossary

F

FACE
File address compute program.

FACE driver (DFAD)
An offline program that is invoked to (1) compute the file address associated with a specific ordinal number and record type, or (2) print all computable file addresses with a specific version of the FACE table.

FACE table (FCTB)
The main storage resident table used by the FACE program to calculate the address associated with a specific record type and ordinal number on fixed file storage.

FACE table generator
The offline module used to create the FACE table and other associated macros.

fallback
The E-type loader process of discontinuing the use of newly loaded programs and using the most recently activated version of the programs. See also deactivate function.

FANR field
Forward automatic network routing field.

FARF
File address reference format.

FARF3
A device-independent file addressing scheme used by the TPF system. FARF3 means file address reference format 3.

FARF4
A device-independent file addressing scheme that utilizes format type indicator (FTI) and universal format type (UFT) combinations allowing up to 1G (230) addresses. FARF4 means file address reference format 4.

FARF5
A device-independent file addressing scheme that uses format type indicator (FTI) and universal format type (UFT) combinations allowing up to 4G (232) addresses. FARF5 means file address reference format 5.

FARF6
A device-independent file addressing scheme that uses format type indicator (FTI) and universal format type (UFT) combinations allowing up to 64-petabyte (256) addresses. FARF6 means file address reference format 6.

FARW
File address reference word.

fast write
In 3990 caching control units, a write operation at cache speed that does not require immediate transfer of data to DASD. The data is written directly to cache, or to both cache and nonvolatile storage, and is available for later destaging.

FCT
Frame control table.

FCTB
FACE table.

FCTBG
FACE table generator.

FDOCA
Formatted Data Object Content Architecture provides data with a descriptor relevant to the data type and its representation.

FDT
File descriptor table.

FID
Format identification.

FIFO
First-in-first-out.

FIFO special file A type of file with the property that data written to such a file is read on a first-in-first-out format. (POSIX.1)
A named permanent pipe that allows two or more unrelated processes to exchange information through a pipe connection. Synonymous with named pipe.

file
A collection of data that is stored and retrieved by an assigned name.

file address compute (FACE) program
The system program that converts a fixed record type and ordinal number into a file address that can be used to retrieve the record.

file address reference format (FARF)
The generic term for the TPF file address reference format, of which there have been several; for example, FARF3, FARF4, FARF5, and FARF6.

file address reference word (FARW)
An 8-byte field in the entry control block (ECB) that is used to pass a file address reference between application and system programs. Every ECB has 16 FARWs, one for each data level. Additional FARWs are available by using data event control blocks (DECBs). DECBs contain 12-byte FARW fields that hold 8-byte file addresses.

file capture
See capture.

file collector
The data collection program that records (1) tape activity and (2) traffic between programs and the data stored in VFA, main storage, or disk files. This data is recorded on the data collection RTC tape for offline data reduction and analysis.

file creation mask
An object whose bits are used to prevent access permissions of a new file from being set when a file is created. If a bit is set in the file creation mask, the corresponding bit in the access permissions cannot be set. If a bit is not set in the file creation mask, the corresponding bit in the access permissions can be set.

file descriptor
In the TPF file system, a nonnegative integer used to identify a file. A file descriptor is created by opening a TPF file system file. See also standard error (stderr), standard input (stdin), standard output (stdout). See also socket descriptor.

file descriptor table (FDT)
A control block structure located in main storage in the TPF system that contains status information about each socket descriptor obtained by TCP/IP offload support through socket and accept function calls. A control block structure located in main storage in the TPF system that contains status information about each file descriptor obtained by opening a TPF file system file.

file handle
Any identifier of a file, such as a path name or file descriptor.

file lock
A means to inform a process that another process has access to a file.

file mode
An object containing the file permission bits and other characteristics of a file. (POSIX.1)

file mode creation mask
See file creation mask.

file name
(1) A name consisting of 1 to NAME_MAX bytes used to name a file. The characters composing the name may be selected from the set of all character values excluding the slash character (/) and the null character. The file names dot (.) and dot-dot (..) have special meaning. Synonymous with path name component. See also dot (.), dot-dot (..). (POSIX.1) The final component of a path name. The file identifier stored in a directory entry. (2) The name used to identify a file.

file offset
The byte position in the file where the next input/output (I/O) operation begins. Each open file description associated with a regular file, block special file, or directory has a file offset.

file owner
The owner of a file as identified by the user ID (UID).

file permission bits
Information about a file that is used, along with other information, to determine if a process has read, write, or search permission to a file. The bits are divided into three parts: owner, group, and other. These bits are contained in the file mode. (POSIX.1)

file position indicator
Synonymous with file offset.

file recoup
See recoup.

file resident program
An ECB-controlled program that resides on file and is brought into main storage for online processing.

file restore
See restore.

file status table (FSTB)
See module file status table (MFST).

file system
A collection of files and directories. The collection of files and file management structures on a physical or logical mass storage device, such as a disk or disk partition. A single device can contain several file systems. A collection of files and some of their attributes.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
In Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), an application protocol used for transferring files to and from host computers. FTP requires a user ID and possibly a password to allow access to files on a remote host system. FTP assumes that the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is the underlying protocol.

finite state machine (FSM)
A component of the TPF/APPC support that controls the sequence of verbs issued for a conversation.

first-in-first-out (FIFO)
A queuing technique in which the next item to be retrieved is the item that has been in the queue for the longest time. (A)

fixed file records
Data records that are permanently assigned to specific functions (record types) and are accessed through the FACE/FACS programs, which use the FACE table.

fixed keypoint area
The area on each online module containing all the working records required to initialize the system.

fixed record
A variation of fixed file record.

fixed record type
The records associated with a set of data. The symbolic name given to the records associated with a set of data.

fixed storage
Refers to those areas of main storage in which sizes are determined at system generation. (In previous versions of the TPF system, this was known as permanent core). Contrast with working storage.

float constant
A constant representing a non-integral number.

FMMR
Functional management message router.

format identification (FID) field
The field in an SNA path information unit (PIU) that is used to identify the format in which the PIU was encoded.

format type indicator (FTI)
A variable-sized bit field in FARF4, FARF5, and FARF6 address formats. See universal format type.

Formatted Data Object Content Architecture (FDOCA)
An architecture that provides data with a descriptor relevant to the data type and its representation.

forward automatic network routing (FANR) field
A list of automatic network routing (ANR) labels that represent the path from one rapid transport protocol (RTP) endpoint to another for an RTP connection.

frame
A 4K (KB) unit of real memory that corresponds to a page. It does not have a format flag and is not a TPF block.

frame control table (FCT)
In virtual storage, 128-, 381-, 1055-, and 4095-byte working storage blocks are allocated from a single pool of 4K frames. The frame control table keeps track of which frames are in use, how blocks are allocated in each frame, and which of the blocks in each frame are in use.

fresh load
The part of restart that is activated on the first IPL, after a load of the SNA pilot tape, or upon failure of a nonfresh load. Various SNA tables are reloaded and reinitialized. Contrast with nonfresh load.

front-end processor
A TPF system attached to the data communications network. The front-end processor routes some or all input messages to other front-end, back-end, or non-TPF systems; it may perform some message recovery processing, typically has few DASD, does little I/O, and maintains short path lengths. In addition, a front-end processor has limited requirements for a database. Contrast with back-end processor.

FSC
Functional support console.

FSM
Finite state machine.

FSTB
See module file status table (MFST).

FTI
Format type indicator.

FTP
File Transfer Protocol.

full load
A software load where every system component is loaded.

full scale
In program test vehicle (PTV), a gradient of program testing that allows multithread testing with simulation of the full environment in which the application programs operate. Also see package unit and transaction unit.

full-duplex
In data communication, a mode in which data can be sent and received at the same time.

fully duplicated file
A database where all fixed and pool records are duplicated across modules. Contrast with selectively duplicated files and nonduplicated files.

function
A named group of statements that can be invoked and evaluated and may can return a value to the calling statement.

functional message
See command.

function declarator
The part of a function definition that names the function, provides additional information about the return value of the function, and lists the function parameters.

function definition
The complete description of a function. A function definition contains an optional storage class specifier, an optional type specifier, a function declarator, optional parameter declarations, and a block statement (the function body).

function descriptor
An internal control block that contains the function address and its associated writable static area (WSA). In the TPF system, a function descriptor can be thought of as a dynamic linkage call stub in contrast to the static linkage call stubs that are generated offline by the dynamic load module (DLM) stub generator tool (STUB) and the library interface tool (LIBI) before link-edit time.

function management message router (FMMR)
A system facility used to forward messages to remote TPF hosts.

functional support console (FSC)
CRAS terminals designated to receive messages related to a specific function; sometimes called a functional CRAS console.