[Info-vax] wrong file format

[Dave Froble]

On 12/31/2020 3:21 AM, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:
> In article <rshtj3$ksm$1 at dont-email.me>, Dirk Munk <munk at home.nl>
> writes:
>
>> The problem is that in Unix and Windows land there is no difference
>> between the metadata of a file, and the actual contents of a file. The
>> metadata should define the file and the records in the file, that should
>> be completely separate from the actual data contents of the file.
>
> The unix mantra is "everything is a stream of bytes".  Including the
> user, presumably.
>
>> The DEC software engineers understood very well why it is a bad idea to
>> mix up contents of a file with the structure of a file, and that's why
>> they did not use stream files as standard RMS files in applications.
>> They are just there for compatibly with Unix, Windows etc.
>
> Exactly.  There are so many things which DEC just go right.
>

That's one opinion.  But it's not valid in all cases.  Perhaps in the 
things you do, but not in the things others do.

I do remember when the VMS environment did not include all that it now 
does.  I happened to play a rather small part in the addition of 
capabilities back in the early 1980s, so I'm rather aware of the 
evolution of VMS.

I am to the way DC did so many things, mainly because that is what I 
learned to use.  I hope that I can understand there is more than one 
method for doing things.  Yes, I do.

-- 
David Froble                       Tel: 724-529-0450
Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc.      E-Mail: davef at tsoft-inc.com
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