A readable, robust encoding for source postings

[Alan P. Barrett]

In article <1990Dec31.232624.23510 at zorch.SF-Bay.ORG>,
xanthian at zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) writes:
> Probably, despite the calls here for clear text, a much more robust
> way to transmit source files is [some uuencoded binary format].
>
> The major requirement for this method is that there needs to be a very
> explicit clear text explanation of the purpose and contents of the
> archive to let the reader make a decision whether it is worth
> unpacking.

The lack of such descriptions in the postings that we do get is a big
argument in favour of readable source postings.  If the posting is
readable then we can at least look through it in an attempt to find out
what it does, and whether it relies on system features we do not have.
Even a short (say 30 line) description is frequently too little to allow
a decision to be made.

--apb
Alan Barrett, Dept. of Electronic Eng., Univ. of Natal, Durban, South Africa
Internet: barrett at ee.und.ac.za (or %ee.und.ac.za at saqqara.cis.ohio-state.edu)
UUCP: m2xenix!quagga!undeed!barrett    PSI-Mail: PSI%(6550)13601353::BARRETT