[TUHS] Line Terminators in Text Files [Was: Re: Why Pascal isNot My Favorite Programming Language - Unearthed!]

[John Labovitz]

On Sep 5, 2017, at 7:15 AM, Random832 <random832 at fastmail.com> wrote:

> Incidentally, does anyone know anything about the 1961 DoD 8-bit
> character set standard it refers to?

I have a book here called _Coded Character Sets, History and Development_ (C.E. Mackenzie, 1980, Addison-Wesley) that is a wealth of info.

According to that book, the early 60s military codes were 7-bit, not 8-bit. Maybe Jennings is referring to a later standard?

The only reference I can find to a ‘DoD standard’ is this:

> During the early 1960s, a different kind of solution was tried in the Department of Defense. Recognizing that 42 graphics — 26 alphabetics, 10 numerics, and 6 specials (period, comma, slash, asterisk, minus sign, and dollar sign) — were common to all trains/chains, an edict was issued that only these 42 graphics could be used on reports. […] (p. 420)


—John