The Old New Thing

March 16, 2004 - The Old New Thing

Why do text files end in Ctrl+Z?

March 16, 2004 Mar 16, 2004 03/16/04
Raymond Chen
Actually, text files don't need to end in Ctrl+Z, but the convention persists in certain circles. (Though, fortunately, those circles are awfully small nowadays.) This story requires us to go back to CP/M, the operating system that MS-DOS envisioned itself as a successor to. (Since the 8086 envisioned itself as the successor to the 8080...

Still more creative uses for CAPTCHA

March 16, 2004 Mar 16, 2004 03/16/04
Raymond Chen
I want to say up front that I think CAPTCHA is a stupid name. CAPTCHA stands for "Computer-Aided Process for Testing..." something something. Why do people feel the urge the create some strained cutesy acronym for their little invention? Anyway, it has already been noted how spammers are getting around these tests by harvesting a practically-...