Dictionary

Terms, abbreviations and acronyms commonly heard in the vicinity of the System i

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0

5250

A Green Screen terminal, session or the communications protocol of that session

A

AIX

A Unix operating system

API

Application Programming Interface

AFP

Advanced Function Printing

APPC

Advanced Program to Program Communication

B

BPCS

Business Planning and Control System

System i ERP software used by a number of manufacturing businesses.

BRMS

Backup and Recovery Media Services

C

C-Spec

Code Specification

A section in RPG programs dealing with program code and logic

The only such section, as opposed to all of the other specifications H, F, E, I, D, and O

CIW

Compute Intensive Workload

CISC

Complex Instruction Set Computer

As opposed to RISC

CLP

Control Language Programming

The OS/400 command processing language

COBOL

COmmon Business-Oriented Language

An old, but widely used programming language

CPW

Commercial Processing Workload

A measurement over interactive processing, versus batch, as implemented by IBM to facilitate accessing fees and charges for usage of leased systems, the inability to disable this feature on out-of-lease equipment is controversial in the System i community

CQE

Classic Query Engine

D

D-Spec

Data Specification

A section in RPG programs dealing with data definition

DASD

Direct Access Storage Devices

DB2/400

The native System i database

DBU

Data Base Utility

A data manipulation tool

See vendor Prodata

DDS

Data Description Specifications

A language used to define data structure and attributes, as in database, display, printer, and communication files, also dataareas

Also used for application or enterprise-wide master reference files, void of data, but implemented for standardized definitions

Oddly, as opposed to all of the other letter named specifications, identitified by the letter "A" in column 6

DFU

Data File Utility

A data manipulating tool with simple integrated language

E

E-Spec

Extension Specification

A section in RPG programs dealing with array definition

EJB

Enterprise Java Bean

ERP

Enterprise Resource Planning

F

F-Spec

File Specification

A section in RPG programs dealing with file definition

ftp

File Transfer Protocol

G

GDDM

Graphical Data Display Manager

See IBM software GDDM

Green Screen

5250 session to the System i

H

H-Spec

Header Specification

A section in RPG programs dealing with the control and compilation of the program

HMC

Hardware Management Console

I

I-Spec

Input Specification

A section in RPG programs dealing with data definition

IFS

Integrated File System

ILE

Integrated Language Environment

IPL

Initial Program Load

J

JDK

Java Developer Kit

L

LPAR

Logical PARtition

LPEX

Live Parsing eXtensible Editor

An Java editor that understand the System i environment and languages

LPP

Licensed Program Product

M

MAPICS

Manufacturing and Planning Integrated Control System

See vendor MAPICS

An ERP system in common use on the System i

midrange.com

A premier resource for System i information and host for this wiki.

See site Midrange

MRP

Manufacturing Resources Planning

MQ Series

Multi platform middleware suite consisting of a messaging, rules engine and workflow applications

See IBM software integration - WMQ

N

Net.Data

A scripting language

See IBM software Net.Data

O

O-Spec

Output Specification

A section in RPG programs dealing with data definition

OPM

Original Program Model

OS/400

The System i operating system

P

PASE

Portable Application Solutions Environment

An AIX environment for the System i

PDM

Programming Development Manager

A development environment for 5250 sessions

PHP

PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor

A scripting language

See vendor PHP

POSIX

Portable Operating System Interface

See vendor Pasc - Plato

prompt

Rather than type out a complete command, Control Language commands can be prompted by pressing F4. This will show command parameters and allow parameter value entry.

pruv

IBM's PRe-Upgrade Verification tool for i5/OS

PTF

Program Temporary Fix

Not withstanding the title, some of which can be permanently applied

Q

Q, a name prefixed with the letter

On the System i, generally means that it is IBM supplied object, as in QSYS, QTEMP, QS36F

qsh

Qshell

A command language interpreter

Qshell

A POSIX based command environment on OS/400, comparable to ash, bash and other command shells

See Wikipedia Comparison of computer shells

R

Rexx

An interpreted language available for the System i

See vendor REXXla

RISC

Reduced Instruction Set Computer

As opposed to CISC

RPG

Report Program Generator

A programming language commonly used on the System i

RSE

Remote System Explorer

RDi

Rational Developer for System i, orientated as an enterprise replacement for #WDSC

See IBM software AWD tools - RDi

S

SDA

Screen Design Aid

A 5250 screen designer. A component of PDM

Service Program

Dynamically linked set of pre-compiled functions, comparable to DLL's on Windows and libraries on *nix

SEU

Source Entry Utility

A source code editor for 5250 sessions. A component of PDM

SMTP

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

A standard for sending email

See IETF RFC-2821

SQE

SQL Query Engine

SQL

Structured Query Language

SSH

Secure SHell

Stabilized

IBM language meaning no further enhancements will be made to a product. This does not preclude program fixes from being released. It's a first step to the end of life of the product. SEU is stabilized as of V6R1M0.

V

Variable length

As in a non-standard length field or record

A means of storing data within a file using records of different lengths, usually reserving bytes to indicate either numerically the amount of data or to delineate the end of data and incurring some small overhead relative to access and storage versus a flat file.

Version number

Usually of the form V<number>R<number>M<number>

The operating system version of the System i. The letters denote V for version, R for release, and M for modification level.

For example: V6R1, V5R4, and V3R2M1 (a fine but rustic vintage, circa CISC)

VNC

Virtual Network Computing

W

WDSC

WebSphere Development Studio Client

See IBM software AWD tools - WDT/400

WSDL

Web Service Definition Language

See vendor W3 WSDL

X

XCOM

Commonly used data transport software

See vendor Computer Associates products - XCOM