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Path: ...!feeds.phibee-telecom.net!news.mixmin.net!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: John Savard <quadibloc@servername.invalid> Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: Byte Addressability And Beyond Date: Thu, 09 May 2024 15:01:55 -0600 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 41 Message-ID: <n2eq3jtej6n4gpjeti6vikmjh9e9pti02r@4ax.com> References: <v0s17o$2okf4$2@dont-email.me> <glff3j9i1f0h52r2vvpk2psek0gglvr769@4ax.com> <v19fk8$2asct$4@dont-email.me> <d8vh3j58d33knij1httll93mhrgp16dvnn@4ax.com> <v1ciuc$33u73$7@dont-email.me> <1okl3jhhga73kpqs8q88glc3imdo7oua9c@4ax.com> <c0a1d6c39d069350db2fb213fe8feeec@www.novabbs.org> <j1ul3j9to3tg0fc7iva8fu3971ic3maqh7@4ax.com> <v1f43a$3pqos$3@dont-email.me> <7feo3jlms0gnolgpu8duem41c045hqsuua@4ax.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Thu, 09 May 2024 23:01:58 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="8e0275e687cab50c8a6dd27528fecc7f"; logging-data="935074"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19AhZNREsvv11DkGjy/9OGUA+Y7cjFi1gM=" Cancel-Lock: sha1:dJXHpO6bPEEb4Ixjz2O26izNR2Q= X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 3.3/32.846 Bytes: 3231 On Wed, 08 May 2024 20:50:53 -0600, John Savard <quadibloc@servername.invalid> wrote: >On Wed, 8 May 2024 05:54:50 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro ><ldo@nz.invalid> wrote: > >>On Tue, 07 May 2024 22:01:36 -0600, John Savard wrote: >> >>> But the third item is character stirings, used in input and output to >>> represent numbers. They should be the same as packed decimal to make >>> conversion between the two simpler. >> >>No, because character string conversion is subject to localization issues. > >I agree that little-endian computers make sense for people whose >native language is Hebrew or Arabic. Still, I get your point. My thinking is stuck in the days of card readers and line printers. Yes, one called a subroutine to print numbers, but what it did was convert them to the format used in North America and the United Kingdom, in accordance with any parameters in the call that were hard-coded into the program. The idea of programs as applications, to be distributed far and wide, to people with computers of their own, where the operating system could impose localization options on the display of numbers that programs would usually allow themselves to accept... the situation with newfangled operating systems like Microsoft Windows... is still one that is only gradually beginning to dawn on me. I do suspect, though, that programs like, say, dBase II, which store numbers in files internally as character strings, don't vary that format according to localization. Some binary to string conversions go through the localization mechanisms, but not all of them, and so string forms are _not_ wholly irrelevant. An embedded processor in, say, a digital voltmeter... is not going to have a localization layer to contend with. The makers of digital voltmeters will find other ways of addressing international markets. John Savard