OpenVMS Programming Concepts Manual

This document is Volume I of the two-volume OpenVMS Programming Concepts Manual (June 2002). It is designed for system and application programmers familiar with the OpenVMS environment.

Key Content Areas:

• Process and Synchronization: Covers process creation (subprocesses and detached processes), execution contexts, process communication (mailboxes, common areas), symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) concepts, and data synchronization (event flags, lock manager, interlocked instructions).
• Interrupts and Condition Handling: Details asynchronous system traps (ASTs), exception conditions, the condition-handling facility, and debugging techniques.
• Addressing and Memory Management: Discusses 32-bit and 64-bit virtual address space layouts, memory management services, alignment guidelines for Alpha/VAX systems, and Very Large Memory (VLM) features.
• Programming Macros and Examples: Provides appendices with macros for 64-bit programming and practical code examples for memory region creation and VLM features.