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- Newsgroups: comp.lang.apl
- Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!torn!watserv2.uwaterloo.ca!watserv1!AGRTQB@IRMFAO01.BITNET
- From: agrtqb%irmfao01.bitnet@utcs.utoronto.ca
- Subject: XXencode/decode
- Message-ID: <920914.122517.ITA.AGRTQB@IRMFAO01>
- X-Acknowledge-To: <AGRTQB@IRMFAO01>
- Sender: root@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca
- Organization: Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN
- Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 12:25:17 GMT
- Lines: 49
-
-
- Note on the XXencode/decode process.
-
- When I did send the directory of APLers I did ZIP the ASCII file and
- then XXencoded it.
-
- Many people told me that they did not know about the xxencoding system so
- I thought I should post a brief explanation.
-
- The traditional process for transfer of non ASCII files is the
- UUENCODE/UUDECODE system. I will not describe the system but the
- important point here is that the coding is done using the 64 characters
- ASCII 32 to 95.
-
- As some of the characters (mainly the square brackets, caret and stile)
- do no always pass properly (in general when the file passes through an
- ... machine :-) ) a new system has been proposed, the XXENCODE/DECODE.
-
- At present the lower case characters pass without problem so the new
- encoding uses:
-
- +-0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
-
- The rest of the process (breaking the bytes, grouping, ...) is the same
- as for uuencode/decode. So a global replace (on the coded part of the
- XXencoded file) of the above codes by the ASCII 32 to 95 should give a
- UUencoded file. This global replace is of course very simple to program
- in APL as well as the whole XXencoding/decoding process.
-
- A good introduction can be found in:
-
- A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO NETWORKING AND FILE TRANSMISSION
- by Erich Neuwirth
-
- (file TRANSGID.TXT in <MSDOS.STARTER> directory available by anonymous
- ftp from SIMTEL20 or TRICKLE).
-
- Yours,
-
- Alain Delmotte Agrometeorology / FAO or Avenue du Marathon, 6
- Via delle Terme di Caracalla B1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
- I00100 Rome ITALY BELGIUM
- tel.: Italy-6-5797 5504 Belgium-10-45 11 92
-
- PS. The directory is available for anonymous ftp as:
-
- ADDRESS.ZOO directory languages/apl at watserv1.uwaterloo.ca
- or
- ADDRESS.Z directory pub/apl/apl-email at astrpi.difi.unipi.
-