As from 2.05, SNOMAN uses Zebra's Exchange Format facilities which means that data written on one platform can be read directly on another. The application (SNOMAN) must inform the I/O software whether the device is tape or disk. Currently SNOMAN assumes disk by default although the FILE command can be used with the DEVICE option to specify tape. Possibly a way will be found to do this automatically. Care must be taken when transfering disk files across the network. See the User Manual for information.
Achieving machine independence has involved changing both the basic I/O and the external number representations from the native (binary READ/WRITE) that would be naturally used. Some important consequences flow from this as outlined below:-