🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1991Jul22.013710.1418@visix.com> amanda@visix.com (Amanda Walker) writes:
>minar@reed.edu (Nelson Minar) writes:
>
>   Doesn't ftp use a standard byte ordering scheme
>   down on the TCP/IP level to communicate its information?
>
>Nope.  FTP is all ASCII-based.  Now, it's possible that printable ASCII
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>numbers fall under the patent, since they impose a MSB-first byte order...
>
>:-P.
>--
>Amanda Walker						      amanda@visix.com
>Visix Software Inc.					...!uunet!visix!amanda
>-- 
>"Clearly, the solution here is to hunt down the author and kill him.
> I believe this solution to be language independent.  And so much fun..."
>	--Garry Hodgson, remarking on a code fragment in comp.object


HUH??? Perhaps I misunderstand...Doesn't ASCII-based imply character
based? FTP can transfer ASCII files just fine, and does the
appropriate character translations needed to fit the appropriate
machine (i.e. convert line/record terminators from one machine to
those used by another machine). It also has a binary mode which is
used to transfer files exactly as is (i.e. NO translations). This has
nothing to do with ASCII... I don't think FTP uses a standard byte
ordering on the *data* (i.e. data is just a stream of bytes, there are
no integers or reals to be translated), but the *control* information
(packet headers, counters, etc) that are transfered between the two
machines quite possible would have to have a standard byte order, so
that when machine A sends an integer to machine B describing the file
to be transfered, machine B will understand what machine A is talking
about... 

John

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| John Burton                                                        |
| G & A Technical Software                                           |
| jcburt@gatsibm.larc.nasa.gov                                       |
| burton@asdsun.larc.nasa.gov                                        |
| jcburt@cs.wm.edu                                                   |
|                                                                    |
| Disclaimer: Hey, what can I say...These are *my* views, not those  |
|             of anyone else, be they employer, school, or government|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+