X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: f996b,71f43a67af8f0cb2 X-Google-Attributes: gidf996b,public X-Google-Thread: f6ef0,71f43a67af8f0cb2 X-Google-Attributes: gidf6ef0,public From: Dave Bird---St Hippo of Augustine Subject: Re: Why *is* it called ASCII Art ? Date: 1996/05/21 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 155951743 distribution: world x-nntp-posting-host: xemu.demon.co.uk references: organization: 1st Canine Chapel of Bob Dobbs Dog (Church of the SubGenius) mime-version: 1.0 newsgroups: alt.ascii-art,alt.peeve In article , Ken West writes >The ASCII.art FAQ mentions that > >> Before computers, ASCII art was made on typewriters, >> teletype machines (5 bit), and was created typographically. There are even >> tee-shirts with the :-) smiley. > >This raises a couple of questions: > >1. What was it called when done on typewriters (before ASCII code was >invented)? Typewriter art. When it was on lineprinters in the 1970s I never heard a specific name, but I suppose it might have been called lineprinter art :-) [those I saw were shading--nudes, Mona Lisa, etc; I have no idea how the images were converted, perhaps manually] > >2. Why is it called ASCII art now? Despite your elegant reasoning, an ASCII file has become synonymous with a 'plain text' file such as text editors edit, without font or layout information and therefore displayed in the standard system (typewriter) font. --Regards, Woof Woof, Glug Glug-- X E M U * Who Drowned theJUDGe's Dog ? s p 4 \ |\ answers on (alt.religion.scientology! /~~~~~~~ @----, ++++++++++++(/x/clam/faq/woofglug.html -;'^';,_,-;^; : : : :http://www.demon.net/castle/x/clam/index.html