Criticism and Humor
Open-source-software advocate and hacker Eric S. Raymond writes in his Jargon File that EBCDIC was almost universally loathed by early hackers and programmers because of its multitude of different versions, none of which resembled the other versions, and that IBM produced it in direct competition with the already-established ASCII.
The Jargon File 4.4.7 gives the following definition:
| “ | EBCDIC: /eb´s@·dik/, /eb´see`dik/, /eb´k@·dik/, n.
An alleged character set used on IBM dinosaurs. It exists in at least six mutually incompatible versions, all featuring such delights as non-contiguous letter sequences and the absence of several ASCII punctuation characters fairly important for modern computer languages (exactly which characters are absent varies according to which version of EBCDIC you're looking at). IBM adapted EBCDIC from punched card code in the early 1960s and promulgated it as a customer-control tactic (see connector conspiracy), spurning the already established ASCII standard. Today, IBM claims to be an open-systems company, but IBM's own description of the EBCDIC variants and how to convert between them is still internally classified top-secret, burn-before-reading. Hackers blanch at the very name of EBCDIC and consider it a manifestation of purest evil. |
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Another popular complaint is that the EBCDIC alphabetic characters follow an archaic punched card encoding rather than a linear ordering like ASCII. One consequence of this is that incrementing the character code for "I" does not produce the code for "J", and likewise there is a gap between the codes for "R" and "S". Thus programming a simple control loop to cycle through only the alphabetic characters is problematic.
These incompatibilities were also the source of many jokes. One such joke went:
- Professor: "So the American government went to IBM to come up with an encryption standard, and they came up with—"
Student: "EBCDIC!"
References to the EBCDIC character set are made in the classic Infocom adventure game series Zork. In the "Machine Room" in Zork II, there is a collection of ancient computers and other machines of uncertain purpose. The following is the description of the room, with EBCDIC used to imply an incomprehensible language:
| “ | This is a large room full of assorted heavy machinery, whirring noisily. The room smells of burned resistors. Along one wall are three buttons which are, respectively, round, triangular, and square. Naturally, above these buttons are instructions written in EBCDIC... | ” |
Furthermore, a similar description can be found in the "Maintenance Room" in Zork:
| “ | This is what appears to have been the maintenance room for Flood Control Dam #3, judging by the assortment of tool chests around the room. Apparently, this room has been ransacked recently, for most of the valuable equipment is gone. On the wall in front of you is a group of buttons, which are labelled in EBCDIC. However, they are of different colors: Blue, Yellow, Brown, and Red. | ” |
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Famous quotes containing the words criticism and/or humor:
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Affection, indulgence, and humor alike are powerless against the instinct of children to rebel. It is essential to their minds and their wills as exercise is to their bodies. If they have no reasons, they will invent them, like nations bound on war. It is hard to imagine families limp enough always to be at peace. Wherever there is character there will be conflict. The best that children and parents can hope for is that the wounds of their conflict may not be too deep or too lasting.”
—New York State Division of Youth Newsletter (20th century)