5 Sep
2017
5 Sep
'17
5:05 p.m.
On Sep 5, 2017, at 7:15 AM, Random832 <random832(a)fastmail.com> wrote:
Incidentally, does anyone know anything about the 1961
DoD 8-bit
character set standard it refers to?
I have a book here called _Coded Character Sets, History and Development_ (C.E. Mackenzie,
1980, Addison-Wesley) that is a wealth of info.
According to that book, the early 60s military codes were 7-bit, not 8-bit. Maybe Jennings
is referring to a later standard?
The only reference I can find to a ‘DoD standard’ is this:
During the early 1960s, a different kind of solution
was tried in the Department of Defense. Recognizing that 42 graphics — 26 alphabetics, 10
numerics, and 6 specials (period, comma, slash, asterisk, minus sign, and dollar sign) —
were common to all trains/chains, an edict was issued that only these 42 graphics could be
used on reports. […] (p. 420)
—John