Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2010 14:39:42 +0200 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: FreeBSD <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Cc: Jerry <freebsd.user@seibercom.net> Subject: Re: Cleaning /var/db/portsnap/files/, how? Message-ID: <20101004143942.559f480c.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <20101004081702.7197fc57@scorpio> References: <4CA9A5F4.6020108@zedat.fu-berlin.de> <20101004132418.68727b62.freebsd@edvax.de> <20101004081702.7197fc57@scorpio>
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On Mon, 4 Oct 2010 08:17:02 -0400, Jerry <freebsd.user@seibercom.net> wrote:
> You say po-tah-toes, he says po-tay-toes, who cares?
I say Kartoffel, you say name server, who cares? :-)
> Were you
> completely baffled by what he was trying to convey? At the very least,
> you could have attempted to answer his question before giving him a
> lecture that served no purpose other than to belittle the OP.
You know that I'm a bit picky about correct terminology, and I've
often said on this list that the things are correctly called
"directories" because that is their correct name, and even
their "more correct" name in UNIX context.
In specific fields of language, you have terminology. You have
them in education, in commerce, in politics, in the context of
law, and of course you have them in the field of IT. That is
nothing special, bad, or strange.
> By the way, in Linux and other Unix-like operating system, everything
> on the system is treated as being a file, and a directory is thus
> considered to be just a special type of file that contains a list of
> file names and the corresponding inodes for each file and directory
> that it appears to contain. An inode is a data structure on a
> filesystem that stores all the information about a file except its name
> and its actual data. Therefore, strictly speaking, he could have just
> referenced "file" instead.
As he refered to a special file (in the more system-level context
of a file system) the naming "directory" would be better as it is
not misleading. Using the term "file" without further explainations
usually refers to a "plain file". Let me give a quite formal
example:
usage of inodes = { file | directory | link }
file = { regular file | block device | pipe | ... }
This is not complete (and not trying to be), but it illustrates
that the word "file" does not carry the meaning "directory" per se
in its normal in-context use.
> The term folder is used as a synonym for directory on the Microsoft
> Windows and Macintosh operating systems.
Erm... no. Not quite correct.
The term "folder" is a description of a pictural element that
represents a directory, or, to be correct, it is the NAME of that
pictural element that represents a directory. This word is common
used *instead* of "directory" in the MICROS~1 land. While
"directory" is a technical term (as seen in the context of
IT), "folder" is a rather descriptive term that is used to
refer to the technical term (like when you're refering to
a heavy load transportation truck as a "big car").
Jerry, I don't want to pollute the list with discussions about
terminology and other aspects of language and their use, but please
be sure that it was not my intention to "belittle" the OP, and
I'm sure the OP did understand my comment correctly, as so did
many others before him.
The fact is that we have certain terminology here, and it should
be the most natural thing to use it properly. That's just the
way it is. The use of the correct words distinguishes those who
know what they are talking about from those who don't (yet).
As the OP did post a valid (non-stupid) question to this list,
I am SURE that he knows the difference, so he definitely knows
what he's talking about. Using "folder" instead of "directory"
is therefore considered a simple fauxpas by me. It's possible
that the OP has also to work with "Windows" stuff, or he's also
using a Mac, so he got a little "confused".
Now I have to check the zone papers of my Kartoffel, who cares. :-)
--
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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