Transferability and translation of data
Alan G. Merten, Edgar H. Sibley · ACM SIGPLAN Notices · 1973
Data translation is defined as the process whereby data stored in a form that can be processed on one computer (the source file) can be translated into a form (target file) which can be used by the same or different processing systems on a possibly different computer. The research approach is to develop a generalized methodology of data translation and within this framework to design and implement a specific prototype translator. The current methodology for translating data and files from one system to another typically consists of writing file translation programs. This method, which involves writing a new program for each file to be translated, is often referred to as manual file translation . Because of the machine level detail required, these translation programs are typically written in assembly language. As a result, the programming time is large.