Where should the type information be: in tags and descriptors 420

(jmfbahciv) writes:

A good suggestion. In fact, I'm in the process of reworking the programs in our system to convert existing binary files to ASCII format. In the bad old days, with slower machines, it was nice to be able to load the entire file into memory with a single read, but on today's systems I should be able to read and parse text files fast enough. But even in those binary formats I don't use pointers, although I do link records together with record numbers (i.e. byte offset record length).

is that you have the option of viewing and modifying - and, most importantly, repairing - anything with nothing more than a text editor.

I love that image. Thanks. I'm often guilty of drifting off into the Zone myself. Some people will never understand that this can be a Good Thing - it's not politically correct, but it sure gets a lot of work done.

Lewis Carroll to the rescue! (Warning - the dreaded block quote follows...)

".... The name of the song is called 'Haddock's Eyes.'"

"Oh, that's the name of the song, is it?" Alice said, trying to feel interested.

"No, you don't understand," the Knight said, looking a little vexed. "That's what the name is called. The name really is 'The Aged Aged Man.'"

"Then I ought to have said 'That's what the song is called'?" Alice corrected herself.

"No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The song is called 'Ways And Means': but that's only what it's called, you know!"

"Well, what is the song, then?" said Alice, who was by this time completely bewildered.

"I was coming to that," the Knight said. "The song really is 'A-sitting On A Gate': and the tune's my own invention."

-- I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way. X Top-posted messages will probably be ignored. See RFC1855. HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored. Join the ASCII ribbon campaign!