Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!steinmetz!davidsen
From: davidsen@steinmetz.ge.com (William E. Davidsen Jr)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Dhrystone 2.n Results (1 of 2)
Message-ID: <12773@steinmetz.ge.com>
Date: 9 Dec 88 17:52:12 GMT
References: <633@pcrat.UUCP> <43700047@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: davidsen@crdos1.UUCP (bill davidsen)
Organization: General Electric CRD, Schenectady, NY
Lines: 29

In article <43700047@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu> mcdaniel@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu writes:
| 
| I hope that people read this note before replying to Mr. McDonald.
| 
| I think the flame was uncalled-for.  The header said how to decode the
| files: unshar, uudecode, and uncompress (see lines 22 etc.).  uudecode
| and uncompress are available at UIUC machines (at least on uxa).  You
| may not have unshar, but it later says how to unshar the file.  (See

  I didn't make an initial comment, but the results posting is
egregiously complex. You have to (1) unshar, (2) uudecode, (3)
uncompress, (4) cut, (5) print pieces, and (6) glue the pieces together.
Given that 1-3 are parts of BSD UNIX and have to be "found" for other
systems, cut is part of SysV UNIX and has to be "found" on BSD, and the
rest of the process is a time consuming process, why do it that way?

  The posting could have been "cut" by the poster, and sent WITHOUT
compression, etc. Since most sites run compress on news this would have
made the total volume LOWER. I wasn't going to say anything, but I think
the flame was appropriate. I was only able to find ONE printer which
would handle this, and that was on a system which runs SysIII and has
absolutely none of the other tools needed for printing the results.

  The results were in a format with very limited usefulness, and a
format which was generally useful would have been appropriate.
-- 
	bill davidsen		(wedu@ge-crd.arpa)
  {uunet | philabs}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen
"Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me