Crystal Instruments Coco-80 - The Binary 58 Universal File Format (BUFF)

CoCo-80 User Manual
134
The Binary 58 Universal File Format (BUFF)
The CoCo-80 and EDM software also support the BUFF format. The basic
(ASCII) universal file format for data is universal file format 58. This format is
completely documented by SDRC and a copy of that documentation is on the UC-
SDRL web site (www.sdrl.uc.edu/UFF2/58.asc). The universal file format always
begins with two records that are prior to the information defined by each
universal file format and ends with a record that is placed after the information
defined by the format. First of all, all records are 80 character ASCII records for
the basic universal file format. The first and last record are start/stop records and
are always -1 in the first six columns, right justified (Fortran I6 field with -1 in the
field). The second record (Identifier Record) always contains the universal file
format number in the first 6 columns, right justified.
This gives a file structure as follows (where b represents a blank character):
bbbb-1
bbbb58
...
...
...
bbbb-1
The Binary 58 universal file format was originally developed by the UC-SDRL in
order to eliminate the need to compress the UFF 58 records and to reduce the
time required to load the UFF 58 data records. The Binary 58 universal file
format yields files that are comparable to compressed files (approximately 3 to 4
times smaller than the equivalent UFF 58 file). The Binary 58 universal file
format loads approximately 30 to 40 times faster than the equivalent UFF 58 file,
depending upon the computing environment. This new format was submitted to
SDRC and subsequently adopted as a supported format.
The Binary 58 universal file format uses the same ASCII records at the start of
each data file as the ASCII dataset 58 but, beginning with record 12, the data is
stored in binary form rather than the specified ASCII format. The identifier
record has the same 58 identifier in the first six columns, right justified, but has
additional information in the rest of the 80 character record that identifies the
binary format (the size of the binary record, the format of the binary structure,
etc.).
-1
58b x y 11 zzzz 0 0
0 0
...
... (11 ASCII header lines)
...