C Programming Data Files?

1. Anonymous Says

   “formatted” just means the data is arranged in a certain way such that an application can read it and make determinations based on the way the data is arranged.
   E.g., the old FORTRAN compilers read source code as “formatted” data, and the definition of the format was, among other things, that a non-blank character in column 6 meant that the line was a continuation of the previous line. So the program reading that data (the Fortran compiler) could use that formatting information to correctly construct the Fortran source code.
   If you open formatted or non-formatted file in Notepad, whether or not you can recognize if there’s any formatting would depend entirely on the format, and your ability to recognize it. Formatting sometimes involves using non-printable characters that will make Notepad choke. But sometimes non-formatted data involves using non-printable characters that will make Notepad choke. So, you have a choked Notepad, now what?
   If you opened a Fortran source file, and you were knowledgeable of Fortran’s formatting rules, you might recognize it as data that’s been formatted as Fortran source code. But if you weren’t so knowledgeable, then it wouldn’t make any sense to you, and you might decide (incorrectly) that the data is non-formatted.

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