[10471] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Re: ASCII and economics.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (PACS-L Moderator)
Wed Jul 31 20:37:03 1996
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 18:59:09 -0500 (CDT)
From: PACS-L Moderator <libpacs@UH.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
From: "Michael S. Hart" <hart@prairienet.org>
Subject: Re: ASCII and economics.
re: ASCII pre-dates the development of cathode ray tube monitors, be they
green, amber, or any other color. According to the Dictionary of
Computing (Oxford University Press, 1990) ASCII is "A standard character
encoding scheme introduced in 1963 and used widely on many machines."
***
Actually, the ASCII I started with was 7 bits punched as holes on paper
tape on a TeleType [TM] machine, which I believe, according to exhibits
at the Museum of Science and Industry, was in wide use in World War II,
well before the date mentioned above.
Some people will argue that the 1963 codes, used on the SYNCOM [orbital
SYNchronous relay COMmunications satellites] were actually ASCII, while
some would not. The fact is that the 5 to 8 bit codes that developed a
century ago and were updated to create ASCII by the simple additions of
32 character tables accessed by bits 6 or 7, and another table accessed
by the combination of 6 AND 7, and the older codes still work fine, and
will continue to work fine.
The fact is that the codes have been updated from time to time, and the
term "extended ASCII" has been used to refer to the new character sets.
This is often what is meant by switching to and from 7 bits and 8 bits,
and the "parity" selection.
In the end, the first 5 bits are the same as they always were, and will
still send your email just fine, if you can settle for all CAPS, and an
elementary set of punctuation marks, which was all that were available,
hen we posted our first electronic texts in 1971, and it was called an
ASCII set back then, even though it was created on a TeleType machine--
of dubious vintage, that I still have in my basement.
What we have here is a failure to recognize the difference between maps
and the territories they represent.
The first 5 bits are the same. . .whatever you call them. . .they would
not have been invented in 1963, but rather were NAMED ASCII in 1963 and
could then include more information by adding more bits, each bit would
virtually double the number of characters that could be sent by single,
if you could call it that, ticks of the clock. [Hard to call it single
when the bits are sent serially.]
I am not sure why I even answer these tirades, other than that they are
designed to provoke a response, and I feel obligated, at least at times
of the year when I have time, to defend the truth. If you feel I would
be better off not to reply, just let me know, and I will decrease these
efforts another notch, as I am not sure anyone actually believes in the
people who cast these electronic stones.
As for my use of the "--" as offensive, I am totally uncertain as to an
elementary reason why I should be expected to change my communication a
bit, or a byte, simply because someone doesn't like the "--."
I also use the [] combination instead of () because it is easier.
I am an equal opportunity offender, but things will get pretty busy one
day from now, as another month hits the calendar so I probably wouldn't
be responding to trival and quadrivial things like this for a while.
Michael S. Hart
