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Preface

Overview

The OSF DCE Application Development Guide - Core Components provides information about how to use the application programming interfaces (APIs) provided for each OSF Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) component.

Audience
This guide is written for application programmers with UNIX operating system and C language experience who want to develop and write applications to run on DCE.

Applicability
This revision applies to the OSF® DCE Release 1.2.2 offering and related updates. See your software license for details.

Purpose
The purpose of this guide is to assist programmers in developing applications using DCE. After reading this guide, you should be able to program the Application Programming Interfaces provided for each DCE component.

Document Usage

The OSF DCE Application Development Guide consists of three books, as follows:

Related Documents

For additional information about the Distributed Computing Environment, refer to the following documents:

Typographic and Keying Conventions

This guide uses the following typographic conventions:

Bold Bold words or characters represent system elements that you must use literally, such as commands, options, and pathnames.
Italic Italic words or characters represent variable values that you must supply. Italic type is also used to introduce a new DCE term.
Constant width Examples and information that the system displays appear in constant width typeface.
[ ] Brackets enclose optional items in format and syntax descriptions.
{ } Braces enclose a list from which you must choose an item in format and syntax descriptions.
| A vertical bar separates items in a list of choices.
< > Angle brackets enclose the name of a key on the keyboard.
... Horizontal ellipsis points indicate that you can repeat the preceding item one or more times.
This guide uses the following keying conventions:

<Ctrl-x> or ^x The notation <Ctrl-x> or ^x followed by the name of a key indicates a control character sequence. For example, <Ctrl-C> means that you hold down the control key while pressing <C>.
<Return> The notation <Return> refers to the key on your terminal or workstation that is labeled with the word Return or Enter, or with a left arrow.

Problem Reporting

If you have any problems with the software or documentation, please contact your software vendor's customer service department.

Path Names of Directories and Files in DCE Documentation

For a list of the path names for directories and files referred to in this guide, see the OSF DCE Administration Guide—Introduction and the OSF DCE Testing Guide.