Re: [Chicken-users] open-input-file and binary mode

[John Cowan]

Michele La Monaca scripsit:

> So, let me understand, are you comfortable about that?
> 
> $ cat -e f.txt
> ^Z1234$
> 
> (with-input-from-file "f.txt" read-line) ;; unix
> "\x1a1234"
> 
> (with-input-from-file "f.txt" read-line) ;; windows
> !eof

It's annoying in principle, but not in practice.  Text files don't
normally contain ^Zs, which is precisely why DEC chose it as an
EOF indicator back when file sizes were rounded up to the nearest
disk block (sometimes there was just one ^Z, sometimes the whole
rest of the block was filled with them).  Windows essentially
retains this feature for backward compatibility with CP/M, RT-11,
and OS/8, which shows just how irrelevant it is.

-- 
John Cowan          http://www.ccil.org/~cowan        address@hidden
My confusion is rapidly waxing
For XML Schema's too taxing:
I'd use DTDs / If they had local trees --
I think I best switch to RELAX NG.