File format can be difficult to

understand.

It is simply the technical language

in which a document is written.

Graphic files can be written in

.jpeg, .png, .ps, .gif and .bmp formats.

Text documents can be written in

.doc, .txt, .pages and .rtf formats.

There are many more.

This graphic:

Can be written in the language .png, which looks like this:

âPNG IHDRH; ÿ[Ã(—iCCPICC Profile(ëçîœKa«ø≥ç

(A`f{à°CH®LeDÂÆøÿ¥mYîƒÏϪªì≥≥”ÃÏö" ^:f—

=* ˙<xËîó¬¿,ÈnQDÇóíÌyg∆›

It can also be written in .jpeg, which looks like this:

ˇÿˇ‡ JFIFHHˇ‚ @ICC_PROFILE 0appl mntrRGB XYZ  Ÿ

acspAPPLapplˆ÷”-appl dscmÚdesc¸ogXYZ lwtpt ÄrXYZ

îbXYZ ®rTRC º cprt Ã8chad ,gTRC º bTRC º mluc

There are formats which can be used

to write many kinds of documents.

.pdf, for example, is used to represent

graphic, text, spreadsheet, etc. formats.

Each format has a unique set of skills.

.jpeg is compressed and tends to produce smaller files.

.png supports transparency (alpha channels).

.ps is a Photoshop format and supports the features of Photoshop, such as layers.

.doc is a Microsoft Word format and can hold many font and formatting features.

.txt is text only, giving you just the facts… "Just the facts, ma'am."

.pdf can represent a variety of document types and cannot be edited.

Viewing and printing at high quality without the original creation program

is .pdf's strength.

In a Save As dialog box, you must answer three questions:

What do you want to name the document?

Where do you want to put it on your computer?

What file format do you want to save it as?

Your file format decision should be based on who will be using this file.

Be sure your recipient has the program which can read your file.

You can think of file format as a language which can only be spoken

by certain programs.

It is as if a French speaking person came to the US and tried to

communicate with a person who only spoke English.

Do not send a Powerpoint file to someone who might not have

the Powerpoint application. 

Some people don’t speak Powerpoint.

A friend of mine challenged me to write a poem using only programming code.

Furthermore, the poem should execute.

In other words, the poem (as a program) should run.

Here is the poem i wrote:

while :

# by rickiT

:Sleep

For zzz = 1 To 3

Next zzz

GoTo Sleep

Here is the poem with explanations of what each line means:

while :

The title is an infinite loop itself. With no argument after the colon,

the while command waits for an argument forever

# by rickiT

Hash mark indicates a comment. This comment is who the poem is by.

:Sleep

The colon in front of "Sleep" indicates a label to which a program can be pointed.

For zzz = 1 To 3

Next zzz

For/Next loops count. This one assigns the value 1 to the variable zzz

then 2 then 3. Then the program proceeds to the next line.

GoTo Sleep

GoTo sends the program to a label (in this case :Sleep)

And the program proceeds to the For Next loop and so on forever.

Here is the poem in a foreign language:

當时：

#由rickiT

：睡眠

為zzz = 1到3

下zzz

定位的睡眠

Here is an interpreted version of the poem in English:

Eternal Sleep

by rickiT

Begin to sleep

Catch one z

Catch two zz

Catch three zzz

Begin to sleep

One, two, three

repeat ...

Here is a haiku of the same poem:

hibernating bear

a momentary respite

of eternal sleep

--rickiT

Each example is the same poem.

Each poem is written in a different file format.

A person needs a certain skill set to understand each version of the poem.