Workspace

The workspace is a block of RAM set aside by PRO/5 and used to hold a program and data. Each time you start PRO/5 you begin with an empty workspace. You may then enter new information into the workspace or load in information (from a disk) that was previously saved. On a multi-user system, all users of PRO/5 have their own workspace. The size of the workspace may be changed with the START verb. The maximum size allowed depends on the specific computer hardware you are using. You may have to change the size of the workspace depending on the application software you are using. Some programs use more workspace memory than others.

Workspace Memory Requirements

PRO/5 allows the user to determine the size of the workspace using the START verb, or with the -m option in the command line. Those who are running PRO/5 on systems with minimal memory will want to use as little as possible for a particular application. However, problems could arise when moving programs from one hardware to another. The manner in which PRO/5 uses workspace memory can be affected by word sizes and data alignment requirements on any given machine. A safety margin should be allowed in order to avoid unexpected memory overflows when moving from one system to another.