Msg: 6523 *Conference*

05-11-96 00:58:33

From: JAMES KENNEY

To : RICHARD HANSON

Subj: UPLOADS UPLIFT


What a pleasant surprise to find my files rearranged!  I was always bugged by
the bottom-to-top file sequence and the lack of alphabetical order.  You did a
fine job, but the VOYEUR doc files are transposed.  The JMKFLS.DO descriptions
file is on top where it belongs; the check file JMKCHK.DO should be kept on the
line below it.  I'm still revising JMKFLS, so will be uploading new versions of
both.

Since the 45 character descriptions in the Uploads section are so frequently
inadequate, I wonder if other uploaders could be persuaded to provide similar
description files and also provide checksum info as a check on corruption and
revision.  For obtaining checksums, CHKSUM.BA and CHECKSUM.BAS are convenient
to use since they have just been revised to allow the data to be appended to a
formatted file (as in JMKCHK.DO), and identical checking can be done in any
Kyocera notebook or in an IBM type computer (under either GW-BASIC or QBASIC);
those with other preferences should upload the check programs they use
(preferably ones going beyond a simple checksum, which is insensitive to
transpositions and other permutations).  

I would like to see a stand-alone CRC (cyclic redundancy check) program or a
detailed description of the algorithm.  In addition to providing a full simple
checksum, CHKSUM.BA and CHECKSUM.BAS generate a cyclically  weighted sum by
multiplying the ASCII values by succesive integers taken modulus 64 (actually
using AND 63, which is faster than MOD 64) and taking the sum modulus 16K
(using AND (16K-1)).  Are there any other ideas to improve on checksum?  

Jim