Question

Which of the given statements is untrue?

(a) Sequence and other data files that contain non-ASCII characters also may not be transferred correctly from one machine to another and may cause unpredictable behavior of the communications software

(b) The ASCII mode is useful for transferring text files, and the binary mode is useful for transferring compressed data files, which also contain non-ASCII characters

(c) ASCII and binary modes cannot be set by the user

(d) Most sequence analysis programs also require not only that a DNA or protein sequence file be a standard ASCII file, but also that the file be in a particular format such as the FASTA format

I had been asked this question by my college director while I was bunking the class.

I would like to ask this question from Sequence Formats & Computer Storage of Sequences in section Collecting & Storing Sequences in Laboratory of Bioinformatics

Answer 1

The correct choice is (b) The ASCII mode is useful for transferring text files, and the binary mode is useful for transferring compressed data files, which also contain non-ASCII characters

To explain I would say: The file transfer program (FTP) has ASCII and binary modes, which may be set by the user. Some communications software can be set to ignore such control character. The use of windows on a computer has simplified such problems, since one merely has to copy a sequence from one window, for example, a window that is running a Web browser on the ENTREZ Web site, and paste it into another, for example, that of a translation program.