6 Sep
2009
6 Sep
'09
9:54 a.m.
The reason I want this is because it contains an
example "Freeform"
script (format description) for an Amiga floppy disc. I'm looking into
ways to describe a disc image in generic terms -- that is, you write a
script that describes the format, then the software drivers can use that
description to convert timing data (the time between flux transitions)
into data (and vice versa). To put it another way, this is the "DRY"
principle -- Don't Repeat Yourself. Why write two dozen programs to
decode various disc formats, when one program and a couple of scripts
will work just as well (and be easier to maintain)?
From what I can gather, the Freeform language was
designed by a
company called Magnetic Design Corporation, for the "Trace" series of
disc duplicators. So if someone has the docs for a Trace machine kicking
about, I'd hazard a guess that a copy of the chapter on the Freeform
language would be just as useful...
I had seen those machines, many many years ago. It was a world of
escalating copy protection on one side and copy protection defeating
tools on the other. And the media duplicator guys were a little stuck
in the middle :-).
All that said, in the DRY principle there is the problem of going into
analysis paralysis. If you devote yourself too strongly to the principle
of a single end-all-and-be-all application you can find yourself not doing
anything useful at all.
In fact, until you've repeated yourself several dozen times, you probably
don't honestly have a good idea of the broad range of abstractions or
at the very least parameters you'll need. Sure, I might
have 20 years experience with one particular brand of
disk format or communications protocol... that does not give me the
breadth I need to think that I understand them all! School of hard
knocks rules above all else.
Tim.