Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!apple.com!chewy
From: chewy@apple.com (Paul Snively)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: System 7.0
Message-ID: <3908@internal.Apple.COM>
Date: 25 Aug 89 00:47:23 GMT
Sender: usenet@Apple.COM
Organization: Apple Computer, Inc.
Lines: 35
References:<227700026@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> <483@sunfs3.camex.uucp> <9173@thorin.cs.unc.edu> <13784@shamash.cdc.com> <490@sunfs3.camex.uucp> <8368@hoptoad.uucp> <3214@zeus.unl.edu> <1394@intercon.UUCP>

In article <1394@intercon.UUCP> amanda@intercon.uu.net (Amanda Walker) 
writes:
> AppleShare & the new desktop interface don't use file IDs; it's something
> new, and something which I think can only encourage bad programming...
> 
> As for Tim's note, I'm afraid the people working on the Mac file system
> simply don't care.  It fits into Apple's general attitude towards other
> machines doing things that "could be done with Macs": "Why would you want
> to do that?"  They even take this stand towards some of their own 
products,
> annoyingly enough :-(.
> 
> Grumble.

I really must take exception to this, because it simply isn't true at all. 
 The rationale around providing fileIDs is actually to correct a glaring 
deficiency in all existing Macintosh file systems, namely that the only 
way to uniquely identify a file right now is--guess how?--the file name!  
And guess what?  The user can change file names anytime s/he wants to!  So 
if your program keeps track of where a file is the "right way" (Volume 
name/dirID/file name), you're screwed if the user changes the name of the 
volume or the name of the file, and you have to "locate" the "lost" file, 
even though the thing may not have moved so much as a pixel in its Finder 
window.  [sigh].

As for implementation on other platforms, actually, we're quite pleased 
when someone implements an AFP server on another platform, such as CAP or 
the Gator Box from Caymen systems (even if it is slow; YOU try doing 
NFS/AFP protocol translations on the fly sometime).

___________________________________________________________________________
chewy@apple.com
Just because I work for Apple Computer, Inc. doesn't mean that they 
believe what I believe or vice-versa.
___________________________________________________________________________