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    SubjectRe: PROPOSAL: dot-proc interface [was: /proc stuff]
    Date
    In article <20011104172742Z16629-26013+37@humbolt.nl.linux.org>,
    Daniel Phillips <phillips@bonn-fries.net> wrote:
    >On November 4, 2001 05:45 pm, Tim Jansen wrote:
    >> > The dot-proc file is basically a binary encoding of Lisp (or XML), e.g. it
    >> > is a list of elements, wherein an element can itself be a list (or a
    >>
    >> Why would anybody want a binary encoding?
    >
    >Because they have a computer?

    That's a stupid argument.

    The computer can parse anything.

    It's us _humans_ that are limited at parsing. We like text interfaces,
    because that's how we are brought up. We aren't good at binary, and
    we're not good at non-linear, "structured" interfaces.

    In contrast, a program can be taught to parse the ascii files quite
    well, and does not have the inherent limitations we humans have. Sure,
    it has _other_ limitations, but /proc being ASCII is sure as hell not
    one of them.

    In short: /proc is ASCII, and will so remain while I maintain a kernel.
    Anything else is stupid.

    Handling spaces and newlines is easy enough - see the patches from Al
    Viro, for example.

    Linus
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