C source code to extract CP/M ARK archives?

From: Tom Jennings <tomj_at_wps.com>
Date: Sun Feb 6 23:56:10 2005

On Sun, 6 Feb 2005, Antonio Carlini wrote:

> I don't doubt that it's doable given the motivation, a
> modicum of knowledge and some extant text. My point was
> that it is hardly what I would call self-describing.

It's not possible to make something "self-describing". To
describe a closed system you will need something outside that
system. Hence a "rosetta stone" where the same test appears in
multiple languages.

The goal isn't possible. There is no "universal" base code system
or method of meta description of anything. Every human system is
comprised of human-made elements that have meaning in some
particular context.

> So I guess I'm saying that PDF is not much worse than
> ASCII in the absence of a specification.

There is a base encoding for the symbols that make up a human
language, eg. the glyph we call "A", that has "A"-ness, the first
letter of the roman alphabet, has a trivial mapping to the number
41 decimal, which is stored in some manner (rows of holes, etc).

A simple string of ASCII symbols makes a "text".

A PDF is a complex byte stream with very complex data structures,
parsing with a state machine runs through a LOT of states, thousands.

PDF is far, far more complex. It also does more complex things
like controlling formatting, and allowing symbol sets
outside what ASCII can do.

Apples and oranges.
Received on Sun Feb 06 2005 - 23:56:10 GMT