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Re: Extensions and dots in filenames

Subject: Re: Extensions and dots in filenames
From: Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 19:41:17 -0500

At one time (on some operating systems) there was no
dot and the filename was ABCDEF XYZ .

If my math is correct, you can fit nine characters taken
from the restricted set [0-9][A-Z] into 48 bits. That's
four 12-bit words on a PDP-8, or six 8-bit bytes on some
other machines. 36^9 is less than half of 2^48. Each
character, nominally six bits, was compressed into about
five-and-a-third bits. These kinds of bit-twiddled malarky
were once Very Important. Now all they do is to speak
volumes about the kind of person who would bother
remembering the stuff.


John Garison wrote:

Common convention is to always include the dot.

My 2¢,

John Garison

Cardimon,Craig wrote:
If the word "extension" is specified and spelled out in the
documentation, and the extension itself is given as ".xyz," is the dot
(.) superfluous? Or is the reference manual simply being thorough?
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References:
Extensions and dots in filenames: From: Cardimon,Craig
Re: Extensions and dots in filenames: From: John Garison

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