American National Standards Institute
See ANSI.
ANSI
American National Standards Institute. ANSI, along with the International Organization for Standards (ISO), standardized the C programming language, and continues to promote many other important software standards.
API
Application Programming Interface. The interface by which an application program accesses operating system and other services. An API is defined at source code level and provides a level of abstraction between the application and the kernel (or other privileged utilities) to ensure the portability of the code. An API can also provide an interface between a high level language and lower level utilities and services which were written without consideration for the calling conventions supported by compiled languages.
Application Programming Interface
See API.
batch file
A text file containing operating system commands which are executed automatically by the command line interpreter. A batch file is called a "shell script" in UNIX, since it is the UNIX shell which includes the command line interpreter. Batch files can be used as a simple way to combine existing commands into new commands.
Binary Large Object
See BLOB.
BLOB
Binary Large Object. A large block of data stored in a database, such as an image or sound file. A BLOB has a structure that cannot be interpreted by a database management system but is known only by its size and location.
buffer
An internal memory area used for temporary storage of data records during input or output operations. Most programs keep track of changes in the buffer and then copy the buffer to a disk. Buffers are also used for printing.
client
A computer or program that can download files for manipulation from a server. Contrast server. See also network.
CPIO format
Copy In and Out format. A UNIX utility.
Copy In and Out format
See CPIO format.
data dictionaries
Extended file descriptors that map your application's SQL commands to COBOL records and vice versa. Based on the standard COBOL file descriptors (FDs). See also file descriptor and XFD file.
Data Source Name
See DSN.
debug
To search for and eliminate malfunctioning elements or errors in an application or program.
directives
Optional comments that you can place into a file descriptor in your COBOL source code to control how the data dictionary is built. See also file descriptor.
DSN
Data Source Name. An arbitrary name for every group of indexed or relative data files that your Windows application needs to access.
Extended File Descriptor
See file descriptor and XFD file.
field
An element of a database record in which one piece of information is stored. Contrast record.
file descriptor
An integer that identifies an open file within a process. This number is obtained as a result of opening a file. Operations which read, write, or close a file would take the file descriptor as an input parameter.
In many operating system implementations, file descriptors are small integers which index a table of open files. In UNIX, file descriptors "0", "1", and "2" correspond to the standard input, standard output, and standard error files respectively. See also data dictionaries and XFD file.
Gregorian calendar
The calendar as reformed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. This calendar adjusts the leap years to harmonize the civil year with the solar, as well as synchronize the time of Easter with the movable feasts by means of epochs. Every year divisible by 4, except those divisible by 100 and not by 400, has 366 days; all other years have 365 days. Contrast Julian calendar.
indexed file
In database design, a list of keys (or keywords), each of which identifies a unique record. Indexed files make it faster to find specific records and to sort records by the index field (the field used to identify each record). See also key.
I/O
Input/Output. Communication between a computer and its users, its storage devices, other computers using a network or the outside world. The devices the computer uses to do this are called "peripherals."
Input/Output
See I/O.
Julian base date
The earliest Julian date to be used in defining Julian date formats. See also Julian calendar.
Julian calendar
The solar calendar introduced by Julius Caesar in Rome in 46 B.C., having a year of 12 months and 365 days and a leap year of 366 days every fourth year. It was eventually replaced by the Gregorian calendar. Contrast Gregorian calendar.
key
A value used to identify a record in a database, derived by applying some fixed function to the record. The key is often one of the fields (a column if the database is considered as a table with records being rows). Alternatively the key may be obtained by applying some function, for example, a hash function, to one or more of the fields. The set of keys for all records forms an index. Multiple indexes may be built for one database depending on how it is to be searched. See also indexed file.
multiple-tier
In a multiple-tier architecture, the AcuODBC interface resides on a different computer from the COBOL data files. Contrast single-tier.
network
Hardware and software data communication systems. Networks are often also classified according to their geographical extent: local area network (LAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), wide area network (WAN), and also according to the protocols used.
ODBC
Open Database Connectivity. Released in 1992, a library of standardized data access functions that gives programmers a way to access and manipulate data in a variety of data sources. Interfaces include Visual Basic, Visual C++, SQL, and the ODBC driver pack contains drivers for the Access, Paradox, dBase, Text, Excel, and Btrieve databases. An application can submit statements to ODBC using the ODBC flavor of SQL, and ODBC then translates these to whatever flavor the database understands. ODBC is based on Call-Level Interface and was defined by the SQL Access Group.
ODBC driver manager
Typically provided by Microsoft. Its function is to receive calls from the Windows application, establish which data source driver is being used, call the driver (in this case, the Vision driver, AcuODBC), and load it into memory if it is not already there.
ODBC driver for ACUCOBOL-GT data
Provided by Acucorp, Inc. The function of the ODBC driver for ACUCOBOL-GT data is to receive SQL commands from the ODBC driver manager, and translate them from SQL to the appropriate file I/O using Acucorp's data dictionary files.
OEM
Original Equipment Manufacturer. A company that purchases computers or other complex components from manufacturers, adds other hardware or software, and sells the systems, often for specific applications.
Open Database Connectivity
See ODBC.
Original Equipment Manufacturer
See OEM.
query
A user's (or agent's) request for information, generally as a formal request to a database or search engine. SQL is the most common database query language. See also SQL.
record
A group of related fields, or a single field, treated as a unit and comprising part of a file or data set, for purposes of input, processing, output, or storage by a computer. Contrast field.
relational database
A database system in which any database file can be a component of more than one of the database's tables.
server
A computer that makes services, as access to data files, programs, and peripheral devices, available to workstations on a network. Contrast client. See also network.
single-tier
In a single-tier architecture, both the AcuODBC interface and the COBOL data files reside on the same Windows computer, or on a Windows NT/2000 server in a networked environment. Contrast multiple-tier.
SQL
Structured Query Language. According to specification, the language by which ODBC programs retrieve data. See also query.
Structured Query Language
See SQL.
TAR format
Tape Archive format. A general purpose archive utility and file format used in UNIX environments. TAR was originally intended for use with magnetic tape but, though it has several command line options related to tape, it is now used more often for packaging files together on other media, for example, for distribution on the Internet. The resulting archive, a "tar file" is often compressed, using gzip or some other form of compression.
TCP/IP
Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. A protocol for communication between computers, used as a standard for transmitting data over networks and as the basis for standard Internet protocols.
Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
See TCP/IP.
XFD file
Extended File Descriptors. Data dictionaries are also called extended file descriptors (XFDs) because they're based on the standard COBOL file descriptors (FDs). See also data dictionaries and file descriptor.