Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!know!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!rutgers!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!o.gp.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!cs4w+
From: cs4w+@andrew.cmu.edu (Charles William Swiger)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Copying System 5.0 to /ram5
Message-ID: <8atGHuW00VpDI0tkZC@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: 5 Sep 90 16:16:58 GMT
References: <13181@netcom.UUCP> <N0{%8D$@rpi.edu> <44521@apple.Apple.COM>,
	<13739@smoke.BRL.MIL>
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Lines: 15
In-Reply-To: <13739@smoke.BRL.MIL>

>"File forks" are an invention of the devil, or at >least of someone who
liked unnecessary complexity.


The forked files originally came from the Mac file system.  The original
theory was that a program would consist of "resources", like icons,
program code, etc, and changable "data", like strings, which could be
modified easily (to a different language perhaps).  This allows Mac
programs to be developed and modified much more easily than if data
items were buried in with the code.  Play with a program called ResEdit
(for the Mac) sometime.  It allows you to change various resources
without going through more elaborate methods like using a sector editor.

-- Charles William Swiger
   cs4w+@andrew.cmu.edu