Many programs use procedures or subroutines to handle recurring
tasks. In the MPE/iX operating system many of these tasks are
performed by a set of system procedures called intrinsics.
Intrinsics are available to any process which has the capabilities
required to call the intrinsic.
The tasks that intrinsics handle include:
Accessing and altering files
Requesting various utility functions
Accessing system resources
Manipulating and managing processes and system resources
Returning values to a caller through the use of parameters or
functional returns
Intrinsics are no different from procedures that you would write for
yourself, except that the details of performing a task are invisible.
