VAX-11 PL/I Encyclopedic Reference

This document is the VAX-11 PL/I Encyclopedic Reference, published by Digital Equipment Corporation in August 1980 (Order No. AA-H952A-TE).

It serves as a comprehensive reference guide for the VAX-11 PL/I programming language (version 1.0 on VAX/VMS V2.0). The manual defines the language's keywords and details the semantic and syntax rules for PL/I statements, attributes, and built-in functions.

Key aspects of the document include:

• Language Standard: The VAX-11 PL/I implementation is based on the ANSI PL/I G (General-Purpose) Subset (ANSI BSR X3.74).
• Content: It covers core language elements such as data types (fixed-point binary/decimal, floating-point, character strings, bit strings, picture data), declarations, expressions, statements (e.g., CALL, DECLARE, DO, END, GOTO, GET, PUT, READ, WRITE, FREE), attributes (e.g., ALIGNED, AREA, AUTOMATIC, BASED, BINARY, BIT, CHARACTER, DECIMAL, DEFINED, ENTRY, EXTERNAL, FILE, FIXED, FLOAT, INITIAL, INTERNAL, LABEL, POINTER, PRINT, RECORD, READONLY, RETURNS, SEQUENTIAL, STATIC, STREAM, UPDATE, VARYING, VALUE), and built-in functions (e.g., ABS, ACOS, ADDR, BIT, BOOL, CEIL, CHARACTER, COLLATE, COPY, COS, COSD, COSH, DATE, DECIMAL, DIMENSION, DIVIDE, EXP, FIXED, FLOAT, FLOOR, HBOUND, INDEX, LBOUND, LENGTH, LINENO, LOG, LOG10, LOG2, MAX, MIN, MOD, NULL, ONCODE, ONFILE, ONKEY, PAGENO, POINTER, RANK, ROUND, SIGN, SIN, SIND, SINH, SQRT, SUBSTR, TAN, TAND, TANH, TIME, TRANSLATE, TRUNC, UNSPEC, VALID, VERIFY).
• Organization: Information is arranged alphabetically by keyword and topic, making it a quick reference for specific language elements.
• Target Audience: It is intended for programmers already familiar with PL/I concepts, rather than as a tutorial.
• VAX-11 Specifics: The document also highlights extensions made to the standard PL/I G Subset for the VAX-11 environment, particularly concerning procedure calling, condition handling, record management services (RMS), and implementation-defined values.