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BEGINAREA Specify start of dynamic overlay area
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Purpose : Specify the start of a dynamic overlay area
Syntax : BEGINAREA
The BEGINAREA command is used to specify to the linker the start of an
overlay area in the output file. Each BEGINAREA should have a corresponding
ENDAREA to indicate the end of the overlay area.
With static overlays BEGINAREAs, and therefore overlay areas, may be nested
within one another so long as there is a corresponding ENDAREA for each
BEGINAREA. This allows the developer to create a structure of overlays
within an area to use the minimum amount of memory for the maximum number of
overlay routines.
With Blinker dynamic overlays, as opposed to static overlays, the mutual
dependency of each overlay procedure or file is unimportant. Also, the
multiple nested overlay areas associated with static overlays are no longer
necessary, although multiple overlay areas may be helpful in ordering the
included libraries. The BEGINAREA and ENDAREA commands are simply treated as
markers to the beginning and end of code which is to be overlaid.
For most compilers, the .OBJ files listed between a BEGINAREA and ENDAREA
are managed at runtime on a segment basis, i.e. the whole CODE segment for
each .OBJ is loaded into memory whenever any function or procedure within
that .OBJ file is called.
For more details on how functions and procedures may be kept in separate
segments to reduce the overlay unit size, please refer to the appropriate
compiler manual for the language being used.
Note for CA-Clipper:
All CA-Clipper Summer '87 .OBJ files listed between a BEGINAREA and ENDAREA
are managed at runtime on a procedure or function basis, no matter how many
procedures or functions are present in the .OBJ file. Therefore excessively
large procedures and functions should be avoided. The CA-Clipper 5.x dynamic
paging system automatically breaks procedures down into 1kb pages for
improved execution speed, so this is not a concern.
See Also:
ENDAREA
SECTION INTO
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