DIL User Reference Manual Nov84

This document is the DIL User Reference Manual (AA-M581B-TK), published in November 1984, which supersedes earlier versions.

The Data Interchange Library (DIL) is a collection of callable subroutines designed for COBOL and FORTRAN programmers working on Digital's TOPS-10, TOPS-20, and VAX/VMS systems. Its primary purpose is to facilitate data transfer and interchange between these heterogeneous or homogeneous systems, typically within a DECnet network environment. The manual outlines operating system requirements including TOPS-20 V4.1+, TOPS-20 V5.1+, VAX/VMS V3.1+, and TOPS-10 V7.02+, as well as specific COBOL and FORTRAN compiler versions.

The DIL offers three main types of routines:

1. Data Conversion Routines: Allow translation of data fields between different data types (e.g., alphanumeric strings, fixed-point binary, packed decimal, display numeric, floating-point binary) to ensure compatibility across systems.
2. Task-to-Task Routines: Enable direct communication and data exchange between programs running on different systems by establishing logical links (ASCII, binary, or 8-bit byte).
3. Remote File Access (RFA) Routines: Provide capabilities to open, read, write, close, delete, submit for batch processing, and print records in sequential ASCII files residing on remote computers.

The manual is structured into introductory concepts, platform-specific reference sections (for TOPS-10/TOPS-20 and VMS), which detail the use of each routine type and program linking, and appendices covering language-specific values, data formats, status codes, sample applications, bit transport, and error messages.