The text read off it
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Cont. (Col. 72)
If the description to be entered in either the "Data Name" or "Description" columns (Columns 7 through 22 or Columns 38 through 71) is too large for the space allowed, it may be continued on a following line. So that the processor will recognize this situation, the programmer must enter a character of some sort in Column 72. Any non-blank character will suffice. The processor will then interpret the entry in the succeeding card as a consecutive part of the previous entry.
A continued name must, of course, be placed in the "Data Name" columns, and an overflowing description must be continued in the "Description" columns. The rules for determining where the text should break between lines are given in the discussions of the entries to be made in those columns.
Identification (Col. 73-80)
Columns 73 through 80 are provided for the optional use of the programmer should he wish to place a code on the cards to identify the program of which they are a part. Any characters from the basic character set may be used, since the characters in these columns have no effect on either the processor or the object program.
Storage Areas
It has been pointed out that the internal storage of an electronic data processing system may be used to contain data of various kinds, including the program which governs the processing. As a result, those who work regularly with the technical aspects of programming are accustomed to thinking of different kinds of storage.
For example, when an input record is brought into storage, space must be reserved for the original record before any processing is carried out. This may be thought of as an input area.
Then, after processing begins, it is often necessary to move data from the input area into an area where it can be worked on. This is like moving a ledger card from a file to a writing desk where an entry will be made or a value computed. "Working storage" is therefore required in many cases. Actually, the registers of the system provide space of this kind in many operations, and since in these cases it is provided automatically, it is not thought of as working storage. However, in other cases, it may be necessary to reserve a specific amount of space as working storage. For example, a computation will sometimes produce intermediate results which will be needed later in the program but which are never needed as such in the output record. It may therefore be necessary to reserve an area in which to store such results temporarily.
Normally, as each phase of a program is completed, the results will be moved to an output area until the complete record has been assembled. The various output fields may differ in format, size, and sequence from those of the input record, and data may have been added or deleted. Thus, an area of storage must usually be set aside for assembling the output record.
Other storage areas may be used for reference data, such as constants, literals, and tables.
The experienced programmer often finds it convenient to distinguish among these various kinds of storage. Actually, of course, all storage areas are controlled by the same basic techniques—data is always addressed by its location, and data in any area may be governed by any of the system's basic operating instructions. Since the Commercial Translator system eliminates the need for the programmer to keep track of specific storage areas, it also eliminates, for the most part, the need to distinguish between types of storage areas. Storage areas are automatically reserved when the