Glossary

aggregate storage location

a location in an operating system that can contain a group of distinct files. The exact name for this location varies by operating system; for example, directory, folder, or partitioned data set.

allocation

the operating system's association between a logical name (DDname) and an operating system data set.

ASCII collating sequence

the rules that are used by a specific ASCII encoding for sorting textual data. Sort order is determined by the location of each code point in the code page of an ASCII encoding. In the Windows Latin1 code page, the sort order of precedence is punctuation characters, numbers, uppercase characters, and lowercase characters. Because the uppercase A (code point 41) precedes the lowercase g (code point 67), A is sorted before g.

batch job

a unit of work that is submitted to an operating system for batch processing. For example, under UNIX, a batch job is a background process; under Windows, a batch job is a task; and under z/OS, a batch job is a set of JCL statements.

batch mode

a noninteractive method of running SAS programs by which a file (containing SAS statements along with any necessary operating system commands) is submitted to the batch queue of the operating environment for execution.

block size

the number of bytes in a block.

blocking factor

the number of logical records that fit in one block.

cataloged procedure

See SAS cataloged procedure.

character set

a collection of characters that are used by a language or group of languages. A character set includes national characters, special characters, the digits 0-9, and control characters.

CLIST

an abbreviation for command list. A CLIST consists of a planned, executable sequence of TSO commands, subcommands, and command procedure statements that control various system and program operations.

DASD

See direct access storage device.

data control block

on IBM mainframe operating systems such as z/OS, a storage area that contains information about the physical characteristics of an operating system data set. Short form: DCB.

data set

See SAS data set.

data set label

in a SAS data set, a user-defined attribute of up to 200 characters that is used for documenting the SAS data set.

DCB

See data control block.

DD statement

a data definition statement that describes an operating system data set to the operating system, including information about the resources that are needed for the data set. The manner in which a program can use a data set depends on the parameters in the DD statement.

ddname

a short name that is assigned to the physical location of a z/OS file when the file is allocated by a JCL DD statement or a TSO ALLOCATE command.

direct access bound library

a random (as opposed to sequential) SAS library that is stored as a regular z/OS operating system data set. The term bound emphasizes the fact that the library is a single physical file that contains all of the members of that library. This characteristic distinguishes direct access bound libraries from HFS libraries and hiperspace libraries.

direct access storage device

a drum or disk storage device that allows direct access to data. Short form: DASD.

EBCDIC

See Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code.

EBCDIC collating sequence

the rules that are used by a specific EBCDIC encoding for sorting textual data. Sort order is determined by the location of each code point in the code page of an EBCDIC encoding. For example, in the German EBCDIC code page, the sort order of precedence is punctuation characters, numbers, uppercase characters, and lowercase characters. Because the German uppercase letter (code point 4A) precedes lowercase g (code point 87),is sorted before g.

engine/host option

an option that is specified in a LIBNAME statement. Engine/host options specify attributes that apply to all SAS data sets in a SAS library.

Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code

a family of single-byte and multi-byte encodings for the representation of data on IBM mainframe and mid-range computers. EBCDIC encodes the uppercase and lowercase letters of the English alphabet, punctuation marks, the digits 0-9, and an extended set of control characters. Short form: EBCDIC

external file

a file that is created and maintained by a host operating system or by another vendor's software application. An external file can read both data and stored SAS statements.

fatal error

an error that causes a program to end abnormally or that prevents the program from starting.

format library

a collection of user-defined formats and informats. The format library can be a FORMATS catalog in a SAS library, or on z/OS it can also be a load library that contains SAS formats and informats in load module form.

HFS library

a directory in the hierarchical file system of UNIX System Services. Members of an HFS library are individual files in the HFS directory. This characteristic distinguishes HFS libraries from direct access bound libraries.

hiperspace

a range of contiguous virtual storage addresses that is not normally addressable by applications but which an executing z/OS program can use as a buffer.

hiperspace library

a group of files that are loaded into a z/OS hiperspace. The fact that a hiperspace library consists of a group of files distinguishes hiperspace libraries from the single-file format of direct access bound libraries.

host

See host operating environment.

host operating environment

the operating environment (computer, operating system, and other software and hardware) that is identified by an IP address or by a domain name and that provides centralized control for software applications.

host option

in a SAS statement, an option that is specific to a particular operating environment.

I/O time

an abbreviation for input/output time. I/O time is the time the computer spends on moving data from storage areas, such as disk or tape, into memory for work (input time) and moving the result out of memory to storage or to a display device, such as a terminal or a printer (output time).

ISPF

See ISPF/PDF.

ISPF/PDF

an interactive interface that can be used to facilitate many programming tasks. The complete name is the Interactive System Productivity Facility/Program Development Facility (ISPF/PDF).

JCL

See Job Control Language.

Job Control Language

a language that is used in the z/OS and OS/390 operating environments to communicate information about a job to the operating system, including information about the data sets, execution time, and amount of memory that the job needs. Short form: JCL.

job stream

a series of related programs that are run in a prescribed order.

library reference

See libref.

libref

a SAS name that is associated with the location of a SAS library. For example, in the name MYLIB.MYFILE, MYLIB is the libref, and MYFILE is a file in the SAS library.

load library

an external file that contains load modules. These can be modules that are supplied by SAS, or they could be compiled and linked by other sources.

load module

a complete machine-level program in a form that is ready to be loaded into main memory and executed.

logical name

a reference to a SAS library or an operating environment resource whose representation varies according to the operating environment. Examples are the SAS library named Work and an output device such as a disk or a tape file.

member

an element in a partitioned data set.

member name

a name that is assigned to a SAS file in a SAS library.

memory

the size of the work area that the central processing unit (CPU) must devote to the operations in a program.

metadata

descriptive data about data that is stored and managed in a database, in order to facilitate access to captured and archived data for further use.

nibble

half a byte, or 4 bits (binary digits).

operating system data set

a collection of information that IBM mainframe operating systems such as z/OS and OS/390 can identify and manage as a unit. IBM operating system data sets correspond to files under other operating systems. Partitioned data sets (PDSs), sequential data sets, and VSAM data sets are some types of data sets that are supported in IBM mainframe environments. By contrast, SAS data sets are managed by SAS software, not by any operating system, although they can be stored as members of partitioned data sets or in sequential data sets on IBM mainframes.

PCL

See Printer Command Language.

portability

the ability of a program to execute in an operating environment other than the one for which it was written.

portable

See portability.

Printer Command Language

a command language that was developed by Hewlett-Packard for controlling Hewlett-Packard printers. Each PCL command consists of an escape key followed by a series of code numbers. Different versions of PCL have been developed for use with different models or types of Hewlett-Packard printers. Short form: PCL.

Profile catalog

See Sasuser.Profile catalog.

random access

in the SAS data model, a pattern of access by which SAS processes observations according to the value of some indicator variable without processing all observations sequentially.

Resource Measurement Facility

a feature of the z/OS and OS/390 operating systems that records information about each job that is processed. Short form: RMF.

RMF

See Resource Measurement Facility.

SAS cataloged procedure

a group of JCL statements that are used to invoke SAS during the execution of a batch job. You can use a single EXEC statement to invoke all the JCL statements in the SAS cataloged procedure. The SAS cataloged procedure is supplied with Base SAS in the z/OS environment. However, it can be customized at each site.

SAS data set

a file whose contents are in one of the native SAS file formats. There are two types of SAS data sets: SAS data files and SAS data views. SAS data files contain data values in addition to descriptor information that is associated with the data. SAS data views contain only the descriptor information plus other information that is required for retrieving data values from other SAS data sets or from files whose contents are in other software vendors' file formats.

SAS library

one or more files that are defined, recognized, and accessible by SAS and that are referenced and stored as a unit. Each file is a member of the library.

Sashelp library

a SAS library supplied by SAS software that stores the text for Help windows, default function-key definitions and window definitions, and menus.

Sasuser.Profile catalog

a SAS catalog in which SAS stores information about attributes of your SAS windowing environment. For example, this catalog contains function-key definitions, fonts for graphics applications, window attributes, and other information that is used by interactive SAS procedures.

sequential data set

a type of operating system data set that is organized so that its data is processed in order, from beginning to end. Sequential data sets can reside either on disk or on tape. Under z/OS, SAS libraries can be created and processed as sequential data sets, but sequential files can also contain data that is external to SAS and that can be processed by different applications.

SMF

See System Management Facility.

System Management Facility

a feature of the z/OS and OS/390 operating systems that provides information about the computing resources that the operating system utilizes when it runs a job. Short form: SMF.

UNIX System Services

an IBM term for the directory-based hierarchical file system that is available in the z/OS operating environment. Short form: USS.

USER library

a SAS library to which the libref USER has been assigned. When the libref USER is defined, SAS data sets that have one-level names are stored in this library instead of in the temporary WORK library.

USS

See UNIX System Services.

VSAM data set

a classification that indicates how the records in an operating system data set are organized. VSAM is an acronym for Virtual Storage Access Method and is an IBM data access method that provides three ways to organize records in a disk file: Entry-Sequenced Data Set (ESDS), Key- Sequenced Data Set (KSDS), and Relative Record Data Set (RRDS). VSAM allows three types of access to records in VSAM files: sequential, direct, and skip sequential.

VSAM file

See VSAM data set.

VTOC

an acronym for the volume table of contents of a disk. The VTOC contains the name, date of creation, size, and location of operating system data sets. If the VTOC is not indexed, then it also contains information about the amount of unused space on the disk.