zigamorph

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Noun 1.2.1 See also 1.3 External links

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From the common practice of repeating the letter "Z" as a trailer or marker because it is the last character in the English alphabet; such an alphabetic character is notionally a "zigamorph" by functional analogy. Character elements in computer codes with all bits asserted acquire special significance with punched tape because overpunching with all holes punched is an effective means of erasing any other character.

[edit] Noun

zigamorph (plural zigamorphs)

1. In computer science generally, a marker or flag with all bits asserted that is the last element in a table of characters or otherwise used to signal the end of data.
2. In Baudot/Murray code specifically, the "LTRS" (hexadecimal 1F) character.
3. In US ASCII code specifically, the "Delete" (hexadecimal 7F) control character. On old punched tape devices, this character was often labeled "Rubout."
4. In Unicode specifically, the all-bits asserted (U+FFFF) element which is defined to be not a valid character.

[edit] See also

Although taking its name from the last letter of the English alphabet, "zigamorph" denotes a binary numeral system encoding with all bits asserted, as distinct from a repeated block of letters ("ZZZZ") or numbers ("9999") commonly used as an ending delimiter in computing (especially in connection with punched cards) that would more properly be called a "trailer."

[edit] External links

• Jargon File definition of zigamorph