
Glossary of terms used
rink documentation, (c) Ben Summers 1995


Segment      A chunk of code which is loaded into the main program, and is
             linked into the main program when it is loaded.

Links file   A compact file listing the necessary links which the rink run
             time system needs to perform when it loads the segement.

Parent       The main program which calls the loaded segments.

Header description file
             The file which describes the header a segment gets. You should
             only need one of these for all the segments.

named function
             A function withing the segment which has a name attached to it
             rather than being accessed by a number.

rink         The title of this system.

rink run time system
             The code linked into the parent to load and unload segments
             and to provide pointers to segment functions.

rink         The program which links AOF files to produce segments and
             links files.

rinkptr      The program which creates an AOF file to create the pointer
             block and outputs a map of this for rink.

extractsym   A program to extract symbols from AOF and ALF (library) files
             to help produce pointer blocks maps.
             
pointer block
             A block of pointers to symbols in the main program created
             by rinkptr from a pointer block map. This block tells the
             run time system where all the functions are in your program
             so it can link to them.


