C-1
Appendix A
Glossary
A
address: The location of program code or data stored; an individually
accessible memory location.
A-law companding: See compress and expand (compand).
API: See application programming interface.
application programming interface (API): Used for proprietary
application programs to interact with communications software or to
conform to protocols from another vendor’s product.
assembler: A software program that creates a machine language program
from a source file that contains assembly language instructions,
directives, and macros. The assembler substitutes absolute operation
codes for symbolic operation codes and absolute or relocatable
addresses for symbolic addresses.
assert: To make a digital logic device pin active. If the pin is active low, then
a low voltage on the pin asserts it. If the pin is active high, then a high
voltage asserts it.
B
bit: A binary digit, either a 0 or 1.
big endian: An addressing protocol in which bytes are numbered from left
to right within a word. More significant bytes in a word have lower
numbered addresses. Endian ordering is specific to hardware and is
determined at reset. See also little endian.
block: The three least significant bits of the program address. These
correspond to the address within a fetch packet of the first instruction
being addressed.
Appendix C