/sys$common/syshlp/helplib.hlb RTL Routines, LIB$, LIB$INIT_TIMER, Argument  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

 context

    OpenVMS usage:context
    type:         longword (unsigned)
    access:       modify
    mechanism:    by reference

    Context variable that retains the values of the times and counts.
    The context argument contains the address of an unsigned longword
    that is this context. When you call LIB$INIT_TIMER, you must
    use the optional context argument only if you want to maintain
    several sets of statistics simultaneously.

    o  If context is omitted, the control block is allocated in
       static storage. This method is not AST reentrant.

    o  If context is zero, a control block is allocated in dynamic
       heap storage. The times and counts will be stored in that
       block and the address of the block returned in context. This
       method is fully reentrant and modular.

    o  If context is nonzero, it is considered to be the address of
       a control block previously allocated by a call to LIB$INIT_
       TIMER. If so, the control block is reused, and fresh times and
       counts are stored in it.

    When LIB$INIT_TIMER returns, the block of storage referred to by
    context will contain the times and counts.