Network Definition Language

Last updated

NDL (Network Definition Language) was a compiler on Burroughs Large and Medium Systems computers used to create a network definition file for a data communications controller (DCC) and object code for a data communications processor (DCP) that interfaced between a message control program (written in DCALGOL) such as (RJE), (MCSII) or (CANDE) and the computer's line adaptors and terminal network. [1] [2]

Burroughs Corporation company

The Burroughs Corporation was a major American manufacturer of business equipment. The company was founded in 1886 as the American Arithmometer Company, and after the 1986 merger with Sperry UNIVAC was renamed Unisys. The company's history paralleled many of the major developments in computing. At its start, it produced mechanical adding machines, and later moved into programmable ledgers and then computers. It was one of the largest producers of mainframe computers in the world, also producing related equipment including typewriters and printers.

The Burroughs B2500 through Burroughs B4900 was a series of mainframe computers developed and manufactured by Burroughs Corporation in Pasadena, California, United States, from 1966 to 1991. They were aimed at the business world with an instruction set optimized for the COBOL programming language. They were also known as Burroughs Medium Systems, by contrast with the Burroughs Large Systems and Burroughs Small Systems.

CANDE is a command line shell and text editor on the MCP operating system which runs on the Unisys Clearpath series of mainframes. Implemented on Burroughs large systems, it has a range of features for interacting with the operating system execution environment, focused on executing, editing and compiling programs, and creating, copying, moving, renaming, and deleting files in general.

Burroughs Network Definition Language allowed many parameters of the mainframe communications adapter, modems (where used), protocol and attached terminal to be defined. However it treated the low-level operation of the multi-drop protocol, including the modulus of sequence numbers and the algorithm used for CRCs etc. as primitives.

A cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is an error-detecting code commonly used in digital networks and storage devices to detect accidental changes to raw data. Blocks of data entering these systems get a short check value attached, based on the remainder of a polynomial division of their contents. On retrieval, the calculation is repeated and, in the event the check values do not match, corrective action can be taken against data corruption. CRCs can be used for error correction.

Related Research Articles

Protocol stack collection of computer networking protocols designed to work together, such as the TCP/IP suite, the OSI suite, the IPX/SPX suite, DECnet, IBM SNA, etc

The protocol stack or network stack is an implementation of a computer networking protocol suite or protocol family. Some of these terms are used interchangeably but strictly speaking, the suite is the definition of the communication protocols, and the stack is the software implementation of them.

Telnet is a protocol used on the Internet or local area network to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communication facility using a virtual terminal connection. User data is interspersed in-band with Telnet control information in an 8-bit byte oriented data connection over the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).

In telecommunication, an End-of-Transmission character (EOT) is a transmission control character. Its intended use is to indicate the conclusion of a transmission that may have included one or more texts and any associated message headings.

Data transmission is the transfer of data over a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint communication channel. Examples of such channels are copper wires, optical fibers, wireless communication channels, storage media and computer buses. The data are represented as an electromagnetic signal, such as an electrical voltage, radiowave, microwave, or infrared signal.

Packet switching a method of grouping data which is transmitted over a digital network into packets

Packet switching is a method of grouping data that is transmitted over a digital network into packets. Packets are made of a header and a payload. Data in the header are used by networking hardware to direct the packet to its destination where the payload is extracted and used by application software. Packet switching is the primary basis for data communications in computer networks worldwide.

Terminal emulator program that emulates a video terminal

A terminal emulator, terminal application, or term, is a program that emulates a video terminal within some other display architecture. Though typically synonymous with a shell or text terminal, the term terminal covers all remote terminals, including graphical interfaces. A terminal emulator inside a graphical user interface is often called a terminal window.

Systems Network Architecture (SNA) is IBM's proprietary networking architecture, created in 1974. It is a complete protocol stack for interconnecting computers and their resources. SNA describes formats and protocols and is, in itself, not a piece of software. The implementation of SNA takes the form of various communications packages, most notably Virtual Telecommunications Access Method (VTAM), the mainframe software package for SNA communications.

An application layer is an abstraction layer that specifies the shared communications protocols and interface methods used by hosts in a communications network. The application layer abstraction is used in both of the standard models of computer networking: the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) and the OSI model. Although both models use the same term for their respective highest level layer, the detailed definitions and purposes are different.

Aeronautical Radio, Incorporated (ARINC), established in 1929, is a major provider of transport communications and systems engineering solutions for eight industries: aviation, airports, defense, government, healthcare, networks, security, and transportation. ARINC has installed computer data networks in police cars and railroad cars and also maintains the standards for line-replaceable units.

Networking hardware, also known as network equipment or computer networking devices, are physical devices which are required for communication and interaction between devices on a computer network. Specifically, they mediate data in a computer network. Units which are the last receiver or generate data are called hosts or data terminal equipment.

In computer networking, a wire protocol refers to a way of getting data from point to point: A wire protocol is needed if more than one application has to interoperate. It generally refers to protocols higher than the physical layer. In contrast to transport protocols at the transport level, the term "wire protocol" is used to describe a common way to represent information at the application level. It refers only to a common application layer protocol and not to a common object semantic of the applications. Such a representation at application level needs a common infoset and a data binding.

Front-end processor Small computer to which a large mainframe computer delegates input/output or telecommunications functions

A front end processor (FEP), or a communications processor, is a small-sized computer which interfaces to the host computer a number of networks, such as SNA, or a number of peripheral devices, such as terminals, disk units, printers and tape units. Data is transferred between the host computer and the front end processor using a high-speed parallel interface. The front end processor communicates with peripheral devices using slower serial interfaces, usually also through communication networks. The purpose is to off-load from the host computer the work of managing the peripheral devices, transmitting and receiving messages, packet assembly and disassembly, error detection, and error correction. Two examples are the IBM 3705 Communications Controller and the Burroughs Data Communications Processor.

NDL is a three letter acronym that may stand for:

Binary Synchronous Communication is an IBM character-oriented, half-duplex link protocol, announced in 1967 after the introduction of System/360. It replaced the synchronous transmit-receive (STR) protocol used with second generation computers. The intent was that common link management rules could be used with three different character encodings for messages. Six-bit Transcode looked backwards to older systems; USASCII with 128 characters and EBCDIC with 256 characters looked forward. Transcode disappeared very quickly but the EBCDIC and USASCII dialects of Bisync continued in use.

Computer network collection of autonomous computers interconnected by a single technology

A computer network is a digital telecommunications network which allows nodes to share resources. In computer networks, computing devices exchange data with each other using connections between nodes. These data links are established over cable media such as wires or optic cables, or wireless media such as Wi-Fi.

LINC is a fourth-generation programming language, used mostly on Unisys computer systems.

IBM 3767 serial printer terminal

IBM 3767 Communication Terminal is a serial printer terminal that employed dot matrix print-head technology and, for the first time, the Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC) communications protocol set under IBM's Systems Network Architecture (SNA). It was introduced in 1974 and was used widely during the late 1970s to 1990s, for attachment to IBM System/360 and System/370 mainframe computers and IBM System/7 as an alternative to a 2741 typewriter terminal.

Operations Support Systems (OSS), or Operational Support Systems in British usage, are computer systems used by telecommunications service providers to manage their networks. They support management functions such as network inventory, service provisioning, network configuration and fault management.

References

  1. Burroughs B6700/B7700 System software handbook (form no 5000722)
  2. Burroughs Network Definition Language (form no 7000078)