<s>
The	O
banner	B-Device
program	B-Application
on	O
Unix	B-Application
and	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
operating	I-Operating_System
systems	I-Operating_System
outputs	O
a	O
large	O
ASCII	O
art	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
text	O
that	O
is	O
supplied	O
to	O
it	O
as	O
its	O
program	B-Application
arguments	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
use	O
of	O
the	O
command	B-Application
is	O
to	O
create	O
highly	O
visible	O
separator	O
pages	O
for	O
print	B-General_Concept
jobs	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
print	O
multiple	O
words	O
on	O
a	O
single	O
line	O
,	O
they	O
must	O
therefore	O
be	O
passed	O
as	O
a	O
single	O
argument	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
done	O
from	O
the	O
shell	B-Operating_System
by	O
escaping	O
or	O
quoting	O
the	O
words	O
as	O
appropriate	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
related	O
and	O
more	O
flexible	O
program	B-Application
is	O
FIGlet	B-Protocol
,	O
which	O
can	O
display	O
text	O
in	O
different	O
fonts	O
and	O
orientations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
way	O
that	O
the	O
program	B-Application
is	O
implemented	O
internally	O
is	O
antiquated	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
character	O
fonts	O
used	O
are	O
hardwired	O
into	O
the	O
program	B-Application
code	O
itself	O
,	O
as	O
statically	O
initialized	O
data	O
structures	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
is	O
a	O
data	O
table	O
comprising	O
a	O
sequence	O
of	O
printing	O
instructions	O
that	O
encode	O
the	O
bitmap	O
for	O
each	O
character	O
(	O
in	O
an	O
encoding	O
specific	O
to	O
the	O
banner	B-Device
program	B-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
He	O
observes	O
a	O
stark	O
contrast	O
between	O
the	O
source	O
code	O
of	O
the	O
banner	B-Device
program	B-Application
and	O
automatically	O
generated	O
source	O
code	O
for	O
encoding	O
computer	O
fonts	O
into	O
program	B-Application
data	O
(	O
using	O
the	O
6-by-10	O
font	O
data	O
in	O
the	O
source	O
code	O
of	O
the	O
mac68k	O
port	O
of	O
NetBSD	B-Device
for	O
comparison	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
automatically	O
generated	O
data	O
were	O
generated	O
from	O
a	O
bitmap	O
file	O
,	O
itself	O
generated	O
using	O
a	O
bitmap	O
creation/editing	O
program	B-Application
with	O
a	O
graphical	O
user	O
interface	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
And	O
the	O
automatically	O
generated	O
data	O
are	O
organized	O
in	O
a	O
straightforward	O
and	O
obvious	O
manner	O
—	O
a	O
fixed-length	O
sequence	O
of	O
unencoded	O
bytes	O
for	O
each	O
glyph	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Spinellis	O
further	O
observes	O
that	O
in	O
modern	O
computer	O
systems	O
it	O
is	O
seldom	O
sensible	O
to	O
embed	O
such	O
data	O
into	O
the	O
program	B-Application
executable	O
image	O
itself	O
,	O
the	O
performance	O
gains	O
of	O
doing	O
so	O
being	O
negligible	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Doing	O
so	O
makes	O
it	O
difficult	O
to	O
adapt	O
the	O
program	B-Application
to	O
different	O
locales	O
,	O
or	O
to	O
maintain	O
the	O
program	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
more	O
preferred	O
approach	O
in	O
modern	O
systems	O
is	O
to	O
store	O
such	O
data	O
in	O
a	O
separate	O
data	O
file	O
,	O
distinct	O
from	O
the	O
program	B-Application
executable	O
image	O
file	O
,	O
or	O
in	O
a	O
resource	B-Operating_System
fork	I-Operating_System
of	O
the	O
program	B-Application
,	O
that	O
the	O
program	B-Application
reads	O
at	O
run-time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
AT&T	O
,	O
in	O
UNIX	B-Operating_System
System	I-Operating_System
V	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Runs	O
on	O
modern	O
Linux	B-Application
systems	O
as	O
of	O
2008	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Runs	O
on	O
modern	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
GNU	B-Application
Hurd	I-Application
,	O
and	O
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
systems	O
as	O
of	O
2008	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
From	O
the	O
terminal-oriented	O
banner	B-Device
program	B-Application
:	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
letter	O
from	O
the	O
printer-oriented	O
banner	B-Device
program	B-Application
as	O
usually	O
found	O
in	O
BSD	B-Operating_System
and	O
derivatives	O
:	O
</s>
