Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!POSTGRES.BERKELEY.EDU!dillon
From: dillon@POSTGRES.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: CR/LF (was Re: DME and vanishing text)
Message-ID: <8908250345.AA28505@postgres.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 25 Aug 89 03:45:59 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Lines: 30

:Using two line terminators is braindead. Just because some I** guy
:decided to do things that way a long time ago, does not mean it makes
:sense. Might as well ask for ^Z terminated files.. gad.. make me puke.
: <tdr.

	The original reason for having CR LF as a line terminator was that
    the original teletypewriter performed two very different physical
    actions for each character.  In fact, it was considered really neat
    that the TTY could begin the CR (carriage return) operation and, in
    the midst of it, receive the LF and do the line feed simultaniously
    with the carriage return.  Also, a certain amount of time (NULs) was
    required after the CR LF to allow the mechanism to reposition itself
    before the TTY could begin printing again.

	Needless to say, the CR LF convention lasted well beyond its 
    lifetime, mainly due to the conservatism of large corporations.  In
    fact, as we all note, CR LF is still very much alive.


	^Z used to terminate files because, at the time CP/M was introduced
    (and probably before, I'm only 23!), files were always record-aligned.
    To have the fiction of arbitrarily sized files a ^Z somewhere in the
    middle of the 'record' would terminate the file as far as most programs
    were concerned.

	Now, filesystems hide the record alignment and know exactly how
    long the file is supposed to be.  But, guess what?  Yup, IBM-PC's still
    use ^Z .. they have both the old and new method, in fact.

					-Matt