h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

According to the book 'Advanced data communications and networks' by William Buchanan (CRC press, 1997), the TIFF file format contains the decimal number 42 in the version number field in the file header. Buchanan believes this may be a reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The number is used to identify that the file is TIFF format.

I read the formal spec for TIFF many years back (sometime in the 1980s)and saw this - and laughed. Although the latest version (6) doesn't mention the reason for '42', earlier specifications said ..

The number 42 was chosen for its deep philosophical significance.

From reading 'Frank the Vandal' in 'The Salmon of Doubt' it seems that Douglas Adams probably didn't know about this.

Hi Wes, and welcome to h2g2

I haven't read the Salmon of Doubt for a while, but I'll take another look. I suppose there's no reason the TIFF designers would have had to ask/tell him, is there?

Icy

Hi Icy,
There would be no reason at all to ask or tell Douglas. I suspect it was put there as an 'in' joke for anybody who might understand it.

42 in binary is 101010, and since we are coming up to the 10th October 2010, its good to be discussing Douglas. I only discovered recently that he was born 2 days before me, which may be why I find so many resonances in his humour and outlook on life.

In that case, you might be interested in Forty-Two Day (organised by the Douglas Adams fan club ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha)

http://fortytwoday.com/