Binding (the TNS term) or linking (the native term) is the operation of examining, collecting, and modifying code and data blocks from one or more object files to produce a single object file. Two important aspects of binding or linking a program are validating and resolving references to other routines.

Validating a reference to another routine means determining whether or not the actual parameters of the calling routine correspond to the formal parameters of the called routine.

Resolving a reference to another routine means generating the code that will transfer control from the calling routine to the called routine at execution time.

All Binder operations are performed on program files. Binder uses the following terms when discussing object files:

Block The smallest unit of code or data that can be relocated as a single entity.

Source File Code and data blocks, compiled and bound together.

Program An executable object file. It must contain an entry point with the MAIN attribute.

Target File BINDER output file, always an object file.

The components of BINDER are:

BINSERV

BIND

VPROC

BINSERV

The BINSERV form of BINDER is only used by language compilers; it cannot be executed by users directly. It executes as a separate process during a compilation, accepts commands from the compiler, builds lists of references that need to be resolved, and finally creates the target file.

BINSERV (See Figure 6-2) builds executable program files for C, COBOL85, FORTRAN, and TAL. (The Pascal compiler uses BINSERV...