[OT] Re: are there some special about '\x1a' symbol

[Terry Reedy]

Gabriel Genellina wrote:
> En Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:00:16 -0200, John Machin <sjmachin at lexicon.net> 
> escribió:
> 
>> I didn't think your question was stupid. Stupid was (a) CP/M recording
>> file size as number of 128-byte sectors, forcing the use of an in-band
>> EOF marker for text files (b) MS continuing to regard Ctrl-Z as an EOF
>> decades after people stopped writing Ctrl-Z at the end of text files.
> 
> This is called "backwards compatibility" and it's a good thing :)

But it does not have to be the default or only behavior to be available.

> Consider the Atucha II nuclear plant, started in 1980, based on a design 
> from 1965, and still unfinished. People require access to the complete 
> design, plans, specifications, CAD drawings... decades after they were 
> initially written.
> I actually do use (and maintain! -- ugh!) some DOS programs. Some people 
> would have a hard time if they could not read their old data with new 
> programs.
> Even Python has a "print" statement decades after nobody uses a teletype 
> terminal anymore...
>