In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Tim Shoppa" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >Anne & Lynn Wheeler wrote: >> as a result "ascii" arriving in the mainframe memory from a 2702 >> (linescanner) was "bit-reversed" ... and the ibm translate tables were >> taking that into account. > >Vaguely related: when I go over old DECUS submissions (say late 60's >and very early 70's) I often find that the files are exactly backwards: >last character comes first, first character comes last. My best (and so >far only) guess is that at some point they were transferred via paper >tape and the reversal occured then.
Yup. It was very easy to do. > >I actually have some primitive tools to scan ASCII and a couple common >DEC binary paper tape formats and look for this problem. ISTR one Tape Prep job where the gal had reversed the binaries. If the label was on the wrong end there isn't anything to prevent reversal. /BAH
