Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!oliveb!apple!well!jax
From: jax@well.UUCP (Jack J. Woehr)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Re: File handling tips
Summary: One BLOCKhead's opinion
Keywords: BLOCK, files
Message-ID: <11142@well.UUCP>
Date: 28 Mar 89 04:50:35 GMT
References: <8903241905.AA06041@jade.berkeley.edu> <1270@hudson.acc.virginia.edu>
Reply-To: jax@well.UUCP (Jack J. Woehr)
Distribution: na
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
Lines: 40

In article <1270@hudson.acc.virginia.edu> pmy@vivaldi.acc.Virginia.EDU.acc.Virginia.EDU (Pete Yadlowsky) writes:
>In article <8903241905.AA06041@jade.berkeley.edu> Forth Interest Group International List <FIGI-L%SCFVM.bitnet@jade.berkeley.edu> writes:
>>--it [ Blazin' Forth ]is comprehensive and very fast.
>>The disk is accessed by blocks rather than files--
>
>A bit off the original topic, but the traditional block file system
>is something I've always wondered about. I can't imagine why, today,
>anyone would prefer numbered, fixed-record 'screens' over conventional
>named files. This is not a flame, I'm just very curious. Would
>some of you in the block camp care to comment on this? I'd
>especially like to hear from those who have used both systems.
>
>	- Pete
>
	Pete, I use and have used both.

	Two points, briefly:

	1) BLOCK is Forth's one-size-fits-all interface to virtual
memory. It can be used (inefficiently) for program file storage. Long ago
we shoulda written a text editor that uses BLOCKs transparently, to get
more efficient source code storage. *B*U*T* ... BLOCK can be used for
ANYTHING, storing binary data, your laundry list, etc. Please do not
confuse the fact that the lazy Forth programmer uses BLOCK for source
code unformatted, wasting all those precious ascii hex 20s! BLOCK is
a primal mass storage interface that makes virtual memory access uniform
from minimicros to mainframes.

	2) Source code files in BLOCKS are ENTIRELY portable to ANY Forth
system. Unlike host operating systems, some of which use CRs some LFs
some BOTH CR & LF, BLOCK is unformatted. A BLOCK file from my Novix
Forth chip is readable on my VAX running a 32-bit JSR Forth.

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