This glossary includes terms and definitions either used or paraphrased from the following sources:
The IBM Dictionary of Computing.
The American National Dictionary for Information Systems.
The Information Technology Vocabulary, developed by Subcommittee 1, Joint Technical Committee 1, of the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC JTC1/SC1). We also used definitions from draft international standards, committee drafts, and working papers being developed by ISO/IEC JTC1/SC1.
In this glossary, we use the following references:
Contrast with refers to a term that has an opposite or different meaning.
Compare with refers to a term that has a similar meaning.
See also refers to terms that have a related meaning.
Words with these references are highlighted.
The named set of properties, used with a DirectConnect access service library, to which clients connect. Each DirectConnect Server can have multiple services.
The server in the Sybase Client-Server architecture. It manages multiple databases and multiple users, tracks the actual location of data on disks, maintains mapping of logical data description to physical data storage, and maintains data and procedure caches in memory.
A character or group of characters that identifies a register, a particular part of storage, or some other data source or destination.
A program attribute that refers to the address length a program is prepared to handle upon entry. In MVS/370, addresses can be 24 bits in length.
Hardware and software that characterize the LU 6.2 architecture and its various implementations in products. See also logical unit 6.2.
Hardware and software configured to enable a remote transaction program to establish an APPC conversation with a partner transaction program in an SNA network. See also Systems Network Architecture.
The use to which an information processing system is put; for example, a payroll application, an airline reservation application, a network application.
A functional interface, supplied by an operating system or other licensed program, that allows an application program written in a high-level language to use specific data or functions of the operating system or the licensed program.
A source language that includes symbolic machine language statements in which there is a one-to-one correspondence with the instruction formats and data formats of the computer.
In the connection of local loops, channels, or rings, the equipment and techniques used to match circuits and to facilitate accurate data transmission. A bridge connects networks or systems of the same or similar architectures, whereas a gateway connects networks or systems of different architectures. Contrast with gateway, router.
A transfer method in which multiple rows of data are inserted into a table in the target database. See also transfer. Contrast with destination-template transfer.
In client/server systems, the part of the system that sends requests to servers and processes the results of those requests. See also client/server. Contrast with server.
Software that is responsible for the user interface, including menus, data entry screens, and report formats or an application that sends requests to another application that acts as a server. See also client/server.
An architecture in which the client is an application that handles the user interface and local data manipulation functions, while the server provides data processing access and management for multiple clients. See also client application.
A user-written CICS program, initiated on the host, that uses a Sybase API to invoke MainframeConnect for DB2 UDB as a client to Open ClientConnect or to Adaptive Server Enterprise. See also application program interface, Client Services for CICS.
A host API, supplied by Sybase ICD, that invokes Open ClientConnect as a client to an access service for DB2 or Adaptive Server Enterprise. See also application program interface, Customer Information Control System, Client Services Application, Open ServerConnect.
A high-level programming language, based on English, that is used primarily for business applications.
An instruction to a database to make permanent all changes made to one or more database files since the last commit or rollback operation, and to make the changed records available to other users. Contrast with rollback.
To translate all or part of a program that is expressed in a high-level language into a computer program that is expressed in an intermediate language, an assembly language, or a machine language.
To append one term to another to make a combined term. For example, aaaabbb is a concatenation of aaaa and bbb.
a) A dialog between a user and an interactive data processing system.
b) Within the context of APPC, an exchange of information or a sequence of messages sent between two transaction programs. Conversations take place between two LUs over an established session. Also, a sequence of messages sent between two applications (for instance, client application and Adaptive Server Enterprise).
An IBM licensed program that enables transactions entered at remote terminals to be processed concurrently by user-written application programs. It includes facilities for building, using, and maintaining databases.
A computer-based system for defining, creating, manipulating, controlling, managing, and using databases. The software for using a database can be part of the database management system, or it can be a stand-alone database system.
A job control statement describing a data set associated with a specific job step. See job control language.
A collection of items of information from the standpoint of its use in an application, as the user supplies it. The data record is stored physically separate from its associated control information in a control interval.
The syntactic structure of symbolic expressions and their storage allocation characteristics. A data structure can be either program described or externally described.
The movement, or copying, of data from one location and the storage of the data at another location.
In a programming language, a meaningful expression that affects the interpretation of other expressions in that language.
A transfer method in which source data is briefly put into a template where the user can specify that some action be performed on it before execution against a target database. See also transfer. Contrast with bulk copy transfer.
A Sybase ICD Open Server application that provides access management for non-Sybase databases, copy management (transfer), and remote systems management. Each DirectConnect consists of a server and one or more service libraries to provide access to a specific data source. DirectConnect replaces the products “MDI Database Gateway” and “OmniSQL Access Module.”
A Sybase ICD LAN-based solution that communicates with mainframe host components. It incorporates the functionality of the MDI Database Gateway and the Sybase Net-Library and includes LU 6.2 and TCP/IP support.
A Java application from Sybase that can be used in Windows and UNIX environments. It provides remote management capabilities for DirectConnect products, including starting, stopping, creating, and copying services.
To transfer data from a computer to a connected device, such as a workstation or microcomputer.
To record, at a particular moment, the contents of all or part of one storage device in another storage device. Dumping is usually for the purpose of debugging.
A file containing executable code and data bound to a program at load time or run time, rather than during linking. The code and data in a dynamic link library can be shared by several applications simultaneously.
Pertaining to the preparation and processing of SQL source statements within a program while the program runs. The SQL source statements are contained in host-language variables rather than being coded directly into the application program. The SQL statement can change several times while the program runs. Contrast with static SQL.
A coded character recorded on a data medium to indicate the end of the medium or the end of data.
A person who connects to DirectConnect using an application in order to access databases and perform transfers. See also transfer.
Sybase products that enable client applications to communicate with mainframes in a client/server environment. See client/server.
A message that a program issues, usually to the client application, when it detects an error condition.
In programming languages, a language construct that specifies the representation, in character form, of data objects in a file.
Connectivity software that allows two or more computer systems with different network architectures to communicate.
A contiguous sequence of bits or characters that constitutes half a computer word and can be addressed as a unit.
A set of pointers (that are logically ordered by the values of a key) that provide faster access to data and can enforce uniqueness on the rows in a table.
A statement in a job that is used in identifying the job or describing its requirements to the operating system.
In MVS, a control language used to identify a job to an operating system and to describe the job’s requirements.
A named area on disk that can contain programs and related information (not files). A library consists of different sections, called library members.
In computer security, combining data or information from one information system with data or information from another system with the intention to derive additional information; for example, the combination of computer files from two or more sources.
A computer program for creating load modules from one or more object modules or creating load modules by resolving cross references among the modules and, if necessary, adjusting addresses.
To create a loadable computer program by means of a linkage editor. See also linkage editor.
All or part of a computer program in a form suitable for loading into main storage for execution. A load module is usually the output of a linkage editor.
A computer network located on the user’s premises and covering a limited geographical area. Communication within a local area network is not subject to external regulations; however, communication across the LAN boundary can be subject to some form of regulation.
A type of network-accessible unit that enables end users to gain access to network resources and communicate with each other. See also end user.
A type of logical unit that supports general communication between programs in a distributed processing environment. See also advanced program-to-program communication.
An instruction in a source language that is to be replaced by a defined sequence of instructions in the same source language and that can also specify values for parameters in the replaced instructions.
A Sybase ICD mainframe solution that provides dynamic access to DB2 data. It replaces the OmniSQL Access Module for DB2 and the functionality in the MDI Access Server. See also Database 2, Multiple Virtual Storage, Customer Information Control System.
A pattern of characters that controls the keeping, deleting, or testing of portions of another pattern of characters.
A set of properties that defines the characteristics of a session between two LUs. Mode names must match exactly.
An IBM operating system that runs on most System/370 and System/390 mainframes. It supports 24-bit addressing up to 16 megabytes.
Output from a compiler or assembler that is also itself executable machine code or is suitable for processing to produce executable machine code. Contrast with source code.
A Sybase ICD product that provides capability for the mainframe to act as a client to LAN-based resources. See client.
A Sybase ICD product that provides capability for programmatic access to mainframe data. It allows workstation-based clients to execute customer-written mainframe transactions remotely. Mainframe programmers use Open ServerConnect’s Gateway-Library to accept remote requests and return results.
A variable that is given a constant value for a specified application and that can denote the application.
A value used in authentication or a value used to establish membership in a group of people having specific privileges.
To direct data so that the output from one process becomes the input to another process. The standard output of one command can be connected to the standard input of another with the pipe operator (|). Two commands connected in this way constitute a pipeline.
A programming language designed for use in a wide range of commercial and scientific computer applications.
To process programs containing SQL statements before they are compiled. SQL statements are replaced with statements that will be recognized by the host language compiler. The output from this precompile includes source code that can be submitted to the compiler and used in the bind process.
An organized collection of computer programs, or parts of computer programs, and possibly information pertaining to their use. A program library is often called according to the characteristic of its elements; for example, a procedure library, a source program library.
A database in which data is viewed as being stored in tables consisting of columns (data items) and rows (units of information). Data from different tables can be combined to form new data relationships.
A customer-written CICS program that resides on the mainframe and communicates with MainframeConnect for DB2 UDB. See also Customer Information Control System. Contrast with Client Services Application.
An instruction to a database to back out of the changes requested in a unit of work. Contrast with commit.
An attaching device that connects two LAN segments, which use similar or different architectures, at the reference model network layer. Contrast with bridge.
A functional unit that provides shared services to workstations over a network. Contrast with client. See client/server.
A functionality available to DirectConnect applications. It is the pairing of a service library and a set of specific configuration properties.
The input to a compiler or assembler, written in a source language. Contrast with object code.
An area in which a RSP exchanges information with Open ServerConnect.
A set of variables that are used by SQL to provide an application program with information about the processing SQL statements within the program.
A set of variables used in the processing of certain SQL statements. The SQLDA is intended for dynamic SQL programs.
The movement of data from an off-line or low-priority device back to an online or higher-priority device, usually on demand of the system or on request of a user.
SQL statements that are embedded within a program and are prepared during the program preparation process before the program runs. After being prepared, the statement itself does not change, although values of host variables specified by the statement can change. Contrast with dynamic SQL.
An IBM industry-standard language for processing data in a relational database.
A program module that transfers remote procedure calls and responses between a client and a server. See client, server.
A user authorized to handle Open ClientConnect system administration, including creating user accounts, assigning permissions, and creating new databases.
An IBM proprietary plan for the logical structure, formats, protocols, and operational sequences for transmitting information units through networks and controlling network configuration and operation. See also advanced program-to-program communication.
A system, program, or device that interprets, rejects or satisfies, and replies to requests received from a source.
The process of recording the sequence in which the statements in a program are executed and, optionally, the values of the program variables used in the statements.
An exchange between a program on a local system and a program on a remote system that accomplishes a particular action or result.
A DirectConnect feature that allows users to move data or copies of data from one database to another. See also bulk copy transfer, destination-template transfer.
User identification.The ID number by which a user is known in a specific database or system.
Hardware, software, or both that allows a user to interact with and perform operations on a system, program, or device.
