The most common programs for this are:
uuencode/uudecode for UNIX (used for Usenet news postings of binary files and for mailing programs) The file extension (rarely encountered because there is little reason to store files in this format) is ".uue".
BinHex for the Macintosh (.hqx) Often combined with Stuffit (.sit.hqx). This is a common method for distributing all the files that come with a program as a single file.
uuencoded files can be recognized by the fact that every line begins with a capital "M" and is exactly the same length. The file starts with the word "begin" and ends with "end" The translating program needs these words, but nothing above or below them. Often a uuencoded file is split into several parts for transmission and must be reassembled (and stripped of mail headers, etc.) in a word processing program before it is decoded. If you do this be sure to save the resulting file as a text file and not in the proprietary format of the word processing program!
<Section 7.2> What To Do With Graphics
The second topic of this chapter is graphic images. Graphics are very important for Desktop Publishers—writers of newsletters, businesses that prepare their own brochures, and small printshops. Pictures can be stored in separate files or, in some cases, embedded in other formats such as the proprietary format of Microsoft Word files. Picture files take up a large amount of space—especially big pictures at high resolution. 1 Megabyte is a typical size for a smallish picture at moderate resolution. Thus, one picture is worth about 500 pages of text!
The lifecycle of a typical graphic goes something like this:
STEP 1. Capturing (scanning) of photograph with optical scanner or with a special "video" camera
The better sort of optical scanner looks like a small xerox machine. There are also cheaper hand-held models. Flatbed scanners cost in the $1000+ range so you are not likely to have one unless you are in the business. Most likely, the casual user will get a graphic from someone else, from a collection of "clip art", or create the graphic from scratch in a drawing program.
STEP 2. Storage in a file using an interchange format