Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!gwu
From: gwu@clyde.ATT.COM (George Wu)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: RISC data alignment
Summary: How about an intermachine binary format?
Keywords: alignment 68000 8086
Message-ID: <21152@clyde.ATT.COM>
Date: 1 Feb 88 18:29:44 GMT
References: <2635@calmasd.GE.COM> <6280@ccv.bbn.COM> <3120@phri.UUCP>
Reply-To: gwu@clyde.UUCP (George Wu)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Whippany NJ
Lines: 25


Roy Smith posts:

> In article <2635@calmasd.GE.COM> gjo@calmasd.UUCP (Glenn Olander) writes:
> > it would seem that if that C structure were written out to a file, it could
> > only be read properly by a machine of the same type as that which wrote it.
> 
> 	Why is this a surprise?  Lots of things prevent you from writing a
> structure on one machine and reading it on another: byte (and bit) order,
> padding requirements, word length, floating point formats, etc.  If you
> want to be able to have your file read by another machine type, you
> shouldn't be writing binary structures.  Use ascii, or hton(), or XDR, or
> something like that.

     Okay, so what formats are used? I  know X-Windows has some such convention
to transmit binary data across the network, ie. a client and a server on
different machines. What format do they use? (Hopefully, Roy will expand
upon hton() and XDR. I think ASCII is self-explanatory.)

     I'm not sure what C-MU's Andrew system (consisting of Microvax-IIs,
Sun-3s, Sun-2s, and mostly IBM RT/PCs) uses across the network, but for
transportable files, a base 64 ASCII file is used. Any other bright ideas?

						George
						rutgers!clyde!gwu