File name 19771017_Mesa_3.0_Change_Summary.pdfInter-Office Memorandum
To Mesa Users Date October 17, 1977
From Jim Sandman, John Wick Location Palo Alto
Subject Mesa 3.0 Change Summary Organization SOD/SO
IEF.OX SDD ARCHIVES
XEROX 1 have read and undel'stood
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Reviewer Da te _ _ __
Filed on: [MAXC] MESASUMMARY30,BRAVO
# of Pages Ref., '115I)D' ::'1/-1
This memo outlines changes made in Mesa since the last release (May l3, 1977).
References
The following documents can be found on [MAXC]; all files are in Bravo format.
They are available in a single package as MESA30.EARS.
Mesa 3.0 Change Summary. MESASUMMARY30,BRAVO
Mesa 3.0 Compiler Update. MESACOMPILER30.BRAVO
Mesa 3.0 Binder Update. MESABINDER30.BRAVO
Mesa 3.0 System Update. MESASYSTEM30.BRAVO
Mesa 3.0 Debugger Update. MESADEBUGGER30.BRAVO
In addition, a revision of the Mesa Language Manual (version 3.0) is available. The
contents of the MESA-DOC directory has also been updated (the Mesa System Documentation
and Mesa Debugger Documentation).
Converting to the New Binder
Mesa 3.0 introduces the notion of configurations: a collection of pre-bound modules. In
conjunction with configurations, this release implements a new scheme for binding
references between modules. These extensions require modification of all Mesa source
programs. Once these changes have been made, improvements of about a factor of ten in
binding time will result..
In the old scheme, procedures and signals were bound individually by name (and type) after
a module was loaded. In the new scheme, procedures and signals are collected together into
interfaces (defined by DEFINITIONS modules); binding is achieved by maLching interface
names. Most of the binding now takes place before modules are loaded.
Note: the term interface refers to the collection of. procedures and Signals (and
programs) declared in a DEFINITIONS module. The interface name is the same as the
DEFINITIONS module name.
Mesa 3.0 Change Summary 2
To use this binding scheme, each PROGRAM module must include (in its module header) a list
of the interfaces it uses (in the IMPORTS clause) and a list of the interfaces it implements (in
the EXPORTS clause). The following steps should be performed:
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