• Alpha Architecture Reference Manual

• Digital UNIX Programmer's Guide

• Digital UNIX Assembly Language Programmer's Guide

• Guide to DECthreads

• Digital Portable Mathematics Library

• Digital UNIX POSIX Conformance Document

• Information Technology - Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) - Part 1: System Application Program Interface (API) [C Language] ISO/IEC 9945-1: 1990

• American National Standard for Information Systems Programming Language C - ANSI X3.159-1989 and its international equivalent, ISO/IEC 9899

The printed version of the Digital UNIX documentation set is color coded to help specific audiences quickly find the books that meet their needs. (You can order the printed documentation from Digital.) This color coding is reinforced with the use of an icon on the spines of books. The following list describes this convention:

Audience	Icon	Color Code
General users	G	Blue
System and network administrators	S	Red
Programmers	P	Purple
Device driver writers	D	Orange
Reference page users	R	Green

Some books in the documentation set help meet the needs of several audiences. For example, the information in some system books is also used by programmers. Keep this in mind when searching for information on specific topics.

The Documentation Overview, Glossary, and Master Index provides information on all of the books in the Digital UNIX documentation set.

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• Internet electronic mail: readers_comment@zk3.dec.com

  A Reader's Comment form is located on line in the following location:

  /usr/doc/readers_comment.txt

• Mail:

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  A Reader's Comment form is located in the back of each printed manual. The form is postage paid if you mail it in the United States.

Please include the following information along with your comments:

• The full title of the book and the order number. (The order number is printed on the title page of this book and on its back cover.)

• The section numbers and page numbers of the information on which you are commenting.

• The version of Digital UNIX that you are using.

• If known, the type of processor that is running the Digital UNIX software.

The Digital UNIX Publications group cannot respond to system problems or technical support inquiries. Please address technical questions to your local system vendor or to the appropriate Digital technical support office. Information provided with the software media explains how to send problem reports to Digital.

%

$

A percent sign represents the C shell system prompt. A dollar sign represents the system prompt for the Bourne and Korn shells.

% cat

Boldface type in interactive examples indicates typed user input.

file

Italic (slanted) type indicates variable values, placeholders, and function argument names.

[|]

{|}

In syntax definitions, brackets indicate items that are optional and braces indicate items that are required. Vertical bars separating items inside brackets or braces indicate that you choose one item from among those listed.

cat(1)

A cross-reference to a reference page includes the appropriate section number in parentheses. For example, cat(1) indicates that you can find information on the cat command in Section 1 of the reference pages.

The following presentation conventions apply to this standard:

• Constants, data structures, and functional interfaces

  Constants are represented symbolically with their values given at the point of definition in the standard. Data structures are defined in terms of the physical memory format of each structure. Functional interface syntax is presented in abstract form. Concrete language bindings for each constant, data structure, and functional interface are provided in system definition files external to the standard.

• Algorithms

  Algorithms are presented as a series of steps in standard American English.

• Numbering

  All numbers are represented as decimal values unless otherwise indicated. Nondecimal numbers are represented with the base name in parentheses following the number, for example, 1B(hex).

• Memory and register layouts

  Figures that represent memory or register layouts follow the convention that increasing addresses run from top to bottom and right to left. The most significant bits are on the left; the least significant bits are on the right.

• Code examples

  All code examples are supplied to clarify the concept under discussion. These examples do not necessarily reflect the optimized or properly scheduled code sequences that a compiler would generate. The assembly language syntax follows the conventions used in the Digital UNIX Assembly Language Programmer's Guide.

• Record fields

  Record fields are referred to by using the name of the record or subrecord followed by a dot (\.) and then the field name:

  record-name.subrecord-name.field