werner@utastro.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) (06/27/88)
if you have a hard-disk you are probably familiar with the problem: how to name the hierarchy of folders into which you file away all the hundreds of files in an orderly fashion .... .... and how to distinguish (easily) the "permanent" organization folders from the miscellaneous files and folders which tend to show up in unexpected places (where they shouldn't be). for a while, I named such "organizational" folders starting with an integer and a "bullet" (OPTION-*) - thus I could force a display order in the OPEN-window independent of the alphabetical order ...but then I couldn't leave well-enough alone and looked for something "less cluttered" looking ... ... so I decided to name "permanent" folders starting with a "blank" .... (and the README files to document each folder with 2 blanks; this caused all the items to display nicely in the order which I wanted to see them in the OPEN-file-window: first the README, then the "permanent" folders, then the "misplaced" folders...) well, it isn't that easy (try it sometimes); to get a file/foldername to start with blank(s) [working on the DeskTop, at least], you have to start the name with a nonblank, follow it with blank(s), and then you go back and CUT the nonblank at the beginning of the name. This is nice, as it is highly unlikely that the occasional misplaced file/folder has a name which starts with a blank (intermingling with the "authorized" folders - a problem which existed when naming items with <integer><bullet><name>) so what is the problem, you wonder? well, I am a bit uneasy about the fact that it is "non-trivial" to get names to start with a blank and fear some "evil" lurking in the dark of the OS somewhere which will bite me one-of-these days for doing something which was "obviously" discouraged ... so my QUESTION is: does anyone know of any reason NOT to start names with blanks (other than that is is easy to get confused and not realize that there is a blank at the beginning of the name?) I can just see it happen: my disk crashes, needs to be restored, BUT .... the fact that there are names starting with blanks makes it impossible !!! too far fetched, you say ? HAhhh, you haven't been dealing with computers long enough (or did those things happen only in the 'olden times', before structured programming, program verification, walk-through reviews, alfa/beta/gamma-testing .... :-)
korn@eris.berkeley.edu (Peter "Arrgh" Korn) (06/30/88)
In <2824@utastro.UUCP>, werner@utastro.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) said: >if you have a hard-disk you are probably familiar with the problem: >... >... so I decided to name "permanent" folders starting with a "blank" .... >... >so what is the problem, you wonder? well, I am a bit uneasy about the fact >that it is "non-trivial" to get names to start with a blank and fear some >"evil" lurking in the dark of the OS somewhere which will bite me one-of-these >days for doing something which was "obviously" discouraged ... I would suggest trying option-space, which generates what looks to be a space, but isn't a kosher delimiter of any sort, etc. I would imagine the programs that attempt to strip off 'excess' spaces, and networked machine (connecting to Unix hosts, PC workstations, etc.) might also have problems. Other than that, I can't think of anything major that would break, but since option-space buys you basically what you want w/out risk, I'd go with that. Peter -- Peter "Arrgh" Korn korn@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU {decvax,dual,hplabs,sdcsvax,ulysses}!ucbvax!korn