From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.1 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_SIGNED,DKIM_VALID, DKIM_VALID_AU,MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 31169 invoked from network); 17 Aug 2023 15:56:27 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (2600:3c01:e000:146::1) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 17 Aug 2023 15:56:27 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 737414001F; Fri, 18 Aug 2023 01:56:23 +1000 (AEST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=tuhs.org; s=dkim; t=1692287783; h=from:from:reply-to:reply-to:subject:subject:date:date: message-id:message-id:to:to:cc:mime-version:mime-version: content-type:content-type: content-transfer-encoding:content-transfer-encoding:list-id:list-help: list-owner:list-unsubscribe:list-subscribe:list-post; bh=2MTNcSPptmUu2SIKVUjaYm6iFH3aScEvL1V4eRPgTaU=; b=2sJkOmHLZshFex8noD2yked6zMn9zMzk010pIZKsgGM02z6VlmFrJRH59wi/rTdDlCkiX5 ZuIwuJ6D8axmTkPC5KwdpPKeaIGp+IzzmeOi9RVluXY0LRYPFUgWvfBp+t+Ol9zOP4v6Rj 5+fy9K15x9RDFiCnB9lqsA6UVvYZrQQ= Received: from mail-4325.protonmail.ch (mail-4325.protonmail.ch [185.70.43.25]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id EC2794001D for ; Fri, 18 Aug 2023 01:56:11 +1000 (AEST) Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 15:55:44 +0000 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=protonmail.com; s=protonmail3; t=1692287769; x=1692546969; bh=2MTNcSPptmUu2SIKVUjaYm6iFH3aScEvL1V4eRPgTaU=; h=Date:To:From:Subject:Message-ID:Feedback-ID:From:To:Cc:Date: Subject:Reply-To:Feedback-ID:Message-ID:BIMI-Selector; b=qOwGfUhoaVkcoQfpct5q4r4MEXhAz3l+visbFMFK8uqH62Jey2ZGfYD41uDE5A4gl uU1RfdTCFAxGrECmofcaFv5FhQKIarKtgtL3Q4gZGe2G//SWwJ24G5lQw4qtUxm8LB CHCzZVqrmuPZEU0KxIATFCkOrtS+/sY8CMHn7SRToi9/OEQFkjriIVL3tnZC2o0NLG mXtZ/NLbja5grsCKfjHtX0g4LVFqbp2fokeh6esKa20gHVKph6oNXBQEwOFVRy8H36 gy8bcp9DSqUOEwL92Y0ITAPw/2ahTLaofGqUV0e5WlMaLWlFCaAaH4K4RoexjXbYhX CFhJvtiUnwCZw== To: COFF Message-ID: Feedback-ID: 35591162:user:proton MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-ID-Hash: 4E5WHMDFLTYAXRMAWSTJOXMO76QIXVKV X-Message-ID-Hash: 4E5WHMDFLTYAXRMAWSTJOXMO76QIXVKV X-MailFrom: segaloco@protonmail.com X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [COFF] Commonality of 60s-80s Print Standards List-Id: Computer Old Farts Forum Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: From: segaloco via COFF Reply-To: segaloco Good morning folks, I'm hoping to pick some brains on something that is tro= ubling me in my search for some historical materials. Was there some policy prior to mass PDF distribution with standards bodies = like ANSI that they only printed copies of standards "to order" or somethin= g like that? What has me asking is when looking for programming materials = prior to when PDF distribution would've taken over, there's a dearth of act= ual ANSI print publications. I've only come across one actual print standa= rd in all my history of searching, a copy of Fortran 77 which I guard relig= iously. Compare this with PALLETS'-worth, like I'm talking warehouse whole= sale levels of secondary sources for the same things. I could *drown* in a= ll the secondary COBOL 74 books I see all over the place but I've never see= n seen a blip of a suggestion of a whisper of an auction of someone selling= a legitimate copy of ANSI X3.23-1974. It feels like searching for a copy = of the Christian Bible and literally all I can find are self help books and= devotional readers from random followers. Are the standards really that s= carce, or was it something that most owners of back in the day would've thr= own in the wood chipper when the next edition dropped, leading to an artifi= cial narrowing of the amount of physical specimens still extant? To summarize, why do print copies of primary standards from the elden days = of computing seem like cryptids while one can flatten themselves into a pan= cake under the mountains upon mountains of derivative materials out there? = Why is filtered material infinitely more common than the literal rule of l= aw governing the languages? For instance the closest thing to the legitima= te ANSI C standard, a world-changing document, that I can find is the "anno= tated" version, which thankfully is the full text but blown up to twice the= thickness just to include commentary. My bookshelf is starting to run out= of room to accommodate noise like that when there are nice succint "the fi= nal answer" documents that take up much less space but seem to virtually no= t exist... - Matt G.