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Subject:Synonym for binary file: followup From:Robert_Johnson -at- percussion -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 3 Mar 2003 10:12:41 -0500
My thanks for John Posada, Sean Brierley, Jan Henning, David Spreadbury,
Geoff Hart, Gregory Sweet, Jason Willebeek-LeMair, Bruce Byfield, Decker
Wong-Godfrey, and Susan Gallagher for their responses to my question about
alternatives to the term "binary file"
John, Sean, David and Jason have convinced me that referring to these as
"binary files" is the correct option, with a brief definition of what a
binary file is.
Jason Willebeek-LeMair was on target with his statement that the product
I'm documenting is our content management product. Which means I should
have been clearer when I said we were managing plain ASCII text. Some
responders though I meant ASCII text files, but I literally meant ASCII
text strings, which we allow users to manipulate directly. Binaryies,
however, are uploaded into our system solely to manage them. Hence, it
doesn't matter what the format of the binary is. The binaries we manage
are most typically graphics, but we're flexible enough to handle any binary
format. Since it's content management, however, we typically don't manage
executables. In the end, however, as Jason deduced, we really don't know
what binaries users are managing, so we must be general.
Thanks to all who contributed!
Bob Johnson
Documentation Specialist
Percussion Software
Stoneham, MA
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