Editing BinHex (section)

=== TRS-80 BinHex ===

BinHex was originally written in 1981 by Tim Mann for the [[TRS-80]] computer, as a standalone version of the encoding scheme of the popular [[terminal emulator]] ''ST80-III'', for users of other terminals. It was used for sending files via major [[online service]]s such as [[CompuServe]] which, not being 8-bit clean, required files to use [[ASCII armoring]] to survive. The system became very popular after Mann uploaded it to CompuServe's TRS-80 files area.{{sfn|Mann|1997}}

The original scheme converted the binary file contents to hexadecimal numbers, encoding those as [[ASCII]] digits and letters (<code>0</code>–<code>9</code>, <code>A</code>–<code>F</code>), and adding a [[newline]] after every 60 characters. The system quickly gained the addition of a [[checksum]] at the end of every line to check for errors, and a subsequent conversion to use the [[BASIC|BASIC/S]] [[compiler]] allowed it to run much faster than the original [[Interpreter (computing)|interpreted]] version.{{sfn|Mann|1997}}

BinHex files of the era were typically given the [[file extension]] {{code|.hex}}. Ports soon appeared for other popular computers of the era, including the [[Apple II]]. When CompuServe later added support for 8-bit transfers, the format fell out of use.{{sfn|Mann|1997}}