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MinAssocs

Description

The MinAssocs property is used to further specify a player definition in UniCon. It defines the minimum number of connections in which a player can be involved. To illustrate, a player with a MinAssocs value of 2 must be connected at least two times in a system. This number represents a minimum, a requirement that the player be connected at least that number of times.

WARNING: In a system described by UniCon, when two players are involved in a bind the external player inherits the number of connections made to an internal player. This may have a bearing on the MinAssocs value that the system designer chooses for external players in components with composite implementations.

Additionally, the system designer must not choose a MinAssocs value for an external player which represents a decrease in the minimum number of connections to the internal player as specified by its MinAssocs value. This would defeat the purpose of the MinAssocs value of the player to which the external player is ultimately bound - the player corresponding to the source code that implements it in the component with the primitive implementation.

Property Lists

The MinAssocs property can legally be specified in the property list in the following
UniCon language element:

<player>

Value Syntax

The syntax of the value of the MinAssocs property is a simple <integer>.

Required Rule

Optional

Each player type has its own default:

----------------------
Player Type    Default  
----------------------
GlobalDataDef  1        
GlobalDataUse  1        
PLBundle       0        
RPCCall        1        
RPCDef         1        
ReadFile       1        
ReadNext       1        
RoutineCall    1        
RoutineDef     1        
RTLoad         0        
StreamIn       1        
StreamOut      1        
WriteFile      1        
WriteNext      1        
----------------------

Merge Rule

REPLACE

Subsequent specifications of the MinAssocs property in a single property list replace earlier specifications (i.e., the last specification is the one that the UniCon compiler uses).

Semantic Checks

The following are the semantic checks performed on the value of the MinAssocs property:

The value of the MinAssocs property may not be negative.
The value of the MinAssocs property cannot be less than the minimum size of an integer in the UniCon language; that value is 0.
The value of the MinAssocs property must not exceed the value of a player's MaxAssocs value.

Example

The following is an example of a specification of a MinAssocs property. It is embedded in a player definition of type RoutineDef:

  PLAYER heap_sort IS RoutineDef
    SIGNATURE ("int *"; "int *")
    MINASSOCS (0)
  END heap_sort

The above example allows the heap_sort RoutineDef player to be left unconnected in a system.

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Author: Gregory Zelesnik

Last Modified: May 12, 1996