Conventions Used in This Guide

Conventions Used in This Guide

This guide uses these conventions and symbols:

Links: Links to other sections and chapters in this guide appear in blue. Links to applications, files, and reference pages appear in red.
Courier: In text, the Courier font represents function names, file names, and keywords. It is also used for command syntax, output, and program listings.
bold: Boldface is used along with Courier font to represent user input.
italics: Words in italics represent characters or numerical values that you define. Replace the abbreviation with the defined value. Also, italics are used for manual titles, manual page names, and commands. The section number, in parentheses, follows the name.
_ _: A double underline appears as __ in text.
[ ]: Brackets enclose optional items.
{ }: Braces enclose two or more items; you must specify at least one of the items.
|: The OR symbol separates two or more optional items.
...: A horizontal ellipsis in a syntax statement indicates that the preceding optional items can appear more than once in succession.
( ): Parentheses enclose entities and must be typed.

The following two examples illustrate the syntax conventions:

DIMENSION a(d) [,a(d)] ...

indicates that the Fortran keyword DIMENSION must be typed as shown, that the user-defined entity a(d) is required, and that one or more of a(d) can be specified. The parentheses ( ) enclosing d are required.

{STATIC | AUTOMATIC} v [,v] ...

indicates that either the STATIC or AUTOMATIC keyword must be typed as shown, that the user-defined entity v is required, and that one or more v items can be specified.

This chapter presents a brief overview of the MIPSpro compiler system.