# Glossary B

background process | On Linux* systems, a process for which the command interpreter is not waiting. Its process group differs from that of its controlling terminal, so it is blocked from most terminal access. Contrast with foreground process.
background window | Any window created by a thread other than the foreground thread.
big endian | A method of data storage in which the least significant bit of a numeric value spanning multiple bytes is in the highest addressed byte. Contrast with little endian.
binary constant | A constant that is a string of binary (base 2) digits (0 or 1) enclosed by apostrophes or quotation marks and preceded by the letter B.
binary operator | An operator that acts on a pair of operands. The exponentiation, multiplication, division, and concatenation operators are binary operators.
bit constant | A constant that is a binary, octal, or hexadecimal number.
bit field | A contiguous group of bits within a binary pattern; they are specified by a starting bit position and length. Some intrinsic functions (for example, IBSET and BTEST) and the intrinsic subroutine MVBITS operate on bit fields.
bitmap | An array of bits that contains data that describes the colors found in a rectangular region on the screen (or the rectangular region found on a page of printer paper).
blank common | A common block (one or more contiguous areas of storage) without a name. Common blocks are defined by a COMMON statement.
block | In general, a group of related items treated as a physical unit. For example, a block can be a group of constructs or statements that perform a task; the task can be executed once, repeatedly, or not at all.
block data program unit | A program unit, containing a BLOCK DATA statement and its associated specification statements, that establishes common blocks and assigns initial values to the variables in named common blocks. In FORTRAN 77, this was called a block data subprogram.
bounds | The range of subscript values for elements of an array. The lower bound is the smallest subscript value in a dimension, and the upper bound is the largest subscript value in that dimension. Array bounds can be positive, zero, or negative. These bounds are specified in an array specification. See also array specification.
breakpoint | A critical point in a program, at which execution is stopped so that you can see if the program variables contain the correct values. Breakpoints are often used to debug programs.
brush | A bitmap that is used to fill the interior of closed shapes, polygons, ellipses, and paths.
brush origin | A coordinate that specifies the location of one of the pixels in a brush's bitmap. The Windows system maps this pixel to the upper left corner of the window that contains the object to be painted. See also bitmap.
built-in procedure | See intrinsic procedure.
byte | A group of 8 contiguous bits (binary digits) starting on an addressable boundary.
byte-order mark | A special Unicode character (0xFEFF) that is placed at the beginning of Unicode text files to indicate that the text is in Unicode format.

Parent topic: Glossary