UUTool
Encyclopedia
UUTool was a freeware application written for the Apple Macintosh by Bernie Wieser. The purpose of UUTool was to uuencode and uudecode files, however, the application functionality grew to translate uLaw encoded files to AIFF
format, segment large uuencoded files, and recombine multiple uuencoded files for decode.
However, UUTool was the first Macintosh program that encoded the data fork, resource fork
, and finder information into one uuencoded file with the .mu extension. The format for this was to catenate the three pieces of file information and uniquely name the resource fork and finder info as files. This allowed for some interoperability on non-Macintosh platforms.
Example
UUTool was written in C and hand-optimized 68K assembler for speed in the encoding and decoding process, taking advantage
of fewer cycles to process a 32 bit data word (4 bytes) as opposed to character by character.
The engine for UUTool also existed in a code resource to be incorporated into other programs.
UUTool functioned on MacOS System 6.x through to 9.x. (MacOS 10.x
had unix
tools bundled as it was based on the Mach kernel.)
(2) Pictures FAQ
(3) Center for the History of Music Theory and Literature
(4) BinHex
(5) StuffIt
AIFF
Audio Interchange File Format is an audio file format standard used for storing sound data for personal computers and other electronic audio devices...
format, segment large uuencoded files, and recombine multiple uuencoded files for decode.
Technical Details
UUTool uuencoded files and attached the .uu extension.However, UUTool was the first Macintosh program that encoded the data fork, resource fork
Resource fork
The resource fork is a construct of the Mac OS operating system used to store structured data in a file, alongside unstructured data stored within the data fork. A resource fork stores information in a specific form, such as icons, the shapes of windows, definitions of menus and their contents, and...
, and finder information into one uuencoded file with the .mu extension. The format for this was to catenate the three pieces of file information and uniquely name the resource fork and finder info as files. This allowed for some interoperability on non-Macintosh platforms.
Example
begin 0700 myfile
...
end
begin 0700 .rsrc
...
end
begin 0700 .finfo
...
end
Trivia
of fewer cycles to process a 32 bit data word (4 bytes) as opposed to character by character.
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
had unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
tools bundled as it was based on the Mach kernel.)
Version History
| 1990 | v1.0 | first 68k 68k The Motorola 680x0/m68000/68000 is a family of 32-bit CISC microprocessors. During the 1980s and early 1990s, they were popular in personal computers and workstations and were the primary competitors of Intel's x86 microprocessors... version |
| 1994 | v2.3.2 | most pervasive version and last of the 68k line |
| 1995 | v2.4 | first (and last) FAT Fat binary A fat binary is a computer program with code native to multiple Instruction sets which can consequently be run on multiple processor types. The usual method of implementation is to include a version of the machine code for each instruction set, preceded by code compatible with all operating... version for PPC PowerPC PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM... |
See also
(1) uuencoding(2) Pictures FAQ
(3) Center for the History of Music Theory and Literature
(4) BinHex
BinHex
BinHex, short for "binary-to-hexadecimal", is a binary-to-text encoding system that was used on the Mac OS for sending binary files through e-mail. It is similar to Uuencode, but combined both "forks" of the Mac file system together, along with extended file information...
(5) StuffIt
StuffIt
StuffIt is a family of computer software utilities for archiving and compressing files on the Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms: it was originally produced for the Macintosh. An old version for Linux and Sun Solaris 2.7 or later is also available...
External links
- http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Services/PDA/MacCompression.shtml