HP 3000 Manuals

Getting Started as an MPE/iX Programmer Programmer's Guide

Chapter 3  Program Development 

The required elements for running a program are:

   *   Data space (for input, output, and computations)

   *   Instructions (machine readable code and constants)

   *   System routines (for example, input and output)

Program development is a term for taking a program design, on paper, to
the point where it is machine readable and functions reliably.

Program components are data and code.  When a program is running,
instructions and data are fetched from main memory to the CPU; data may
be stored back into main memory for later use.  Code and data must be in
main memory when required for execution.  CPU registers keep track of the
location of such information as:

   *   Next instruction to execute

   *   Program status

   *   Data calculations

The major steps for developing a program are:

   1.  Writing:  design the program and enter the source code in a text
       file.

   2.  Compiling:  translate source code to machine readable
       instructions.

   3.  Linking:  bind all resources necessary for the program's code to
       run the program.

   4.  Run:  execute the program.

These steps are described in detail in the subsections below.  Figure 3-1
(*) shows a summary of these steps.


          Figure 3-1.  MPE/iX Program Development 

MPE/iX 5.0 Documentation