... An electronic letter is stored in a file using a special format, and special mail programs are used to send and read the letters. Each user has an incoming mailbox (a file in the special format), where all new mail is stored. ... The delivery of mail to local or remote mailboxes is done by one program (the mail transfer agent or MTA , e.g., sendmail љ or smail љ ), while the programs users use are many and varied ( mail user agent or MUA , e.g., pine љ or elm љ ). ...

The first character in each record (line) of formatted output defines a carriage control character to the lineprinter, often called ASA-character, for a previous name of the US Standardization Organization ANSI. ... When using VAX/VMS for output first on a file, which is to be printed later on paper, it is advisable to use the extension .DAT . ... You use the compiler switch -vms f77 -vms prog.f and get the control characters removed from the screen output. ...