🚀 go-pugleaf

dhiggs@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (General Protection Fault) writes:
>+By the way, I highly recommend *never* saving in fast load/save format
>+for the simple reason that if even one bit is changed from what it should
>+be (from whatever cause), the entire file is a complete loss.  However,
>+You stand a very good chance of recovering most, if not all, of a file
>+if it is saved in Text format.
>
>Does this continue to hold true for those who conscientiously save as we edit 
>so there is a minimal change with each save?

  This holds true with almost every file format in the world, no
matter how reliable the software or how often you save.  ASCII (or any
straight-text stream) is by far one of the most robust data formats
ever invented.  If you save your DATA in ASCII, you will *never* lose
more than one character if a single bit in your file is altered,
although some bad software may turn that into the loss of a whole line
of text if the character you lose is an end-of-line market and your
software truncates lines.
  In contrast, the loss of a single bit can be fatal in many other
formats, or at least cause major problems.  In a file of simple
fixed-size records, you may only lose one record.  Unless, that is,
one character is deleted from or inserted into the file, in which case
you lose your alignment and everything looks like gibberish.
  Whenever recovery from errors is a priority, and your software
doesn't support redundancy and error-correction codes, ASCII is the
way to go.

  --  Cos (Ofer Inbar)  --  cos@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu
  --  WBRS (BRiS)  --  WBRS@binah.cc.brandeis.edu  WBRS@brandeis.bitnet
 Brandeis University Computer Science Department         (617) 736-2700
 415 South Street, Waltham MA, 02254-9110        System Admin: 736-2717