From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu
From: "Thomas Bushnell, BSG" <tb+usenet@becket.net>
Message-ID: <87k7u7r7jl.fsf@becket.becket.net>
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References: <87r8ognalk.fsf@becket.becket.net>, <200201241300.g0OD0lk06495@xevious.dstc.monash.edu.au>
Subject: Re: [9fans] Getting started in Plan9 - help
Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 17:35:08 +0000
Topicbox-Message-UUID: 43f18414-eaca-11e9-9e20-41e7f4b1d025

arnold@dstc.monash.edu.au (David Arnold) writes:

> -->"Thomas" == Thomas Bushnell, BSG <tb+usenet@becket.net> writes:
>
>   Thomas> ASCII has no erase character (just as it has no newline
>   Thomas> character), and there is no "one true character" for erase,
>   Thomas> any more than there is one true C brace indenting style or
>   Thomas> one true endianness.
>
> just to expose my ignorance, what was the intended meaning of DEL (127) ?

As I mentioned before, DEL and NUL were the two ignored characters.

To tell the receiver to erase the last received character, you would
send a BS DEL sequence; that is, you'd overstrike the last character
with a DEL character.  On paper tape, that did exactly the right thing
very cleverly without any special handling; other media were supposed
to DTRT.

To delete n characters, obviously, you sound BS^n DEL^n, and certainly
not (BS DEL)^n.

There may have been additional meanings to DEL, but the only one I
know of is as part of a BS DEL sequenc.e.

Thomas