Few questions with regard to programming 101-Big Picture

[PHXSYS at aol.com]

Hi

I am trying to find a program I got several years ago used for the GM 
Alternate Fuel Challenge. Students were given a program for altering the prom 
to maximize the vehicle for alternate fuel use. If I can find it, would that 
be of interest to the group?

I studied the archives for programming 101 related material. In fact I 
printed all the "101" related archives and read them. I hope someone can take 
a little time to answer a few questions as I am a latecommer to this project. 
I am going to ask several questions, if it is too lengthy maybe a few of you 
could just answer one or two questions.

1) What is the current status of the ecm projects?

I have read eproms before and seen the hex file in the editor.  Many 
discussions were about bin files. 

2) Is the bin file a conversion of the hex file?

3) I suppose it is easier to read in bin form, then it has to be converted 
back to hex to burn prom?

4) What is the best and easiest prom editing software. PromEdit,  DelcoEdit, 
MapEdit?

5) In the prom_edit ecu file sample I can't figure out how to read it for 
example. I read the help file and I need help. 

{0x002, 2, 1, 1, 0, 0.0, 0, 1  ,PromID}

I believe the prom id is 2 bytes long. What is the relatioship between the 2, 
1, 1, 0, 0.0, 0, 1 and the data contained in the location 0x002?

6) Is the xxx.ecu file just for the PromEdit software?

7) If you alter the code in the prom won't the checksum values be incorrect? 
Does the checksum have to be disabled?

Thanks in advance

Jon