DAT Files for Dummies

After our staffers trip over some bit of suspected freelance dumbassery codified in an online post, a couple of things take place. First, the staffer consults experts (people who know about the topic as opposed to freelance "journalists") to make certain their suspicion of dumbassery is correct and second, they check the writers' bios to see why they might have said something so dumb. That's what surprised us about "How to Edit a DAT File" at Chron.com: the author says he has a degree in computer science (one LinkedIn says Steve McDonnell hadn't used in 30 years)...

Whatever his reasons, McDonnell makes some pretty serious mistakes in his article. He starts off all right by telling his readers what he thinks DAT files are:

"A DAT file is a generic data file created by an application. It could be data from your accounting system, your automated PBX, Windows or any other program. DAT files sometimes contain configuration information or other data that more advanced users can modify to change a program's behavior. Use a generic text editor to edit the contents of a DAT file." Yup, Steve, that's pretty much the size of it... except for a problem: Anyone who knows what DAT files can be modified by "more advanced users" is a... well, a more advanced user who isn't going to ask this question. So you blew it by failing to explain that an awful lot of DAT files represent program data in binary form, and can't be modified by users. Oops: didn't mention that, did you...

McDonnell goes on to "explain" to the total bozo how to modify one of those DAT files that "more advanced users" can edit. As far as he's concerned, the proper method is,

1. ...launch the WordPad text editor.
2. Change the selection from "WordPad Documents" to "All Documents" on the right side of the file selection dialog box.
3. Locate the DAT file you wish to edit and double-click the file to open it.
4. Edit the file in the WordPad window.
5. ...save the changes to the file, then choose "File" and "Exit" to close WordPad

We have a couple of problems with that outline:

• Who uses WordPad to edit ASCII text files? You use NotePad, Steve!
• Giving detailed instructions like "Click 'Start | All Programs | Accessories | WordPad' to launch the WordPad text editor," yet condensing the rest of it to "Edit the file" seems rather unhelpful.
• The problem with WordPad, Steve, is that it's a rich text editor. You'll have to be certain that the file is saved as text unless you want to introduce formatting instructions to your file...

Given the weakness of his instructions and his suggestion to use an inferior editor, what else can we do but award McDonnell the coveted Dumbass of the Day? And that's not even taking into account his rather blasé attitude about software-generated DAT files.

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