On OpenVMS, Python uses a similar construct that I call 'VMSDEF'.
On OpenVMS there exist different files for each language - e.g. DVIDEF.H or
DVIDEF.PAS (Caution! some compilers store these files in a text library, now!).
My first release of Python for OpenVMS (released on 16-FEB-1997) did store
item codes (and some more information that is not available in a native xxxDEF
module of OpenVMS) in a number of '.C' source files building huge arrays.
Look in the table of contents under
'Notes about implementation details' to see a sketch of the
'VMSDEF data structures'
Format:
$ @PYTHON_VMS:BLDRUN VMS_MACRO VMSDEF_$DVIDEF.MAR
The
resulting object file (VMSDEF_$DVIDEF.OBJ) is put into the object library in
[.VMS.O_architecture]VMS_MACRO.OLB.
('architecture' is either 'ALPHA' or 'VAX').
$ @VMSDEF2MAR inputfile
Arguments:
Example:
$ @VMSDEF2MAR VMSDEF_$DVIDEF.DAT
$ directory VMSDEF_$DVIDEF.*;
Directory DKA100:[PYTHON.PYTHON-1_5.VMS]
VMSDEF_$DVIDEF.DAT;1 VMSDEF_$DVIDEF.MAR;1
Total of 2 files.