Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!quiche!depeche From: depeche@cs.mcgill.ca (Acme Instant Dehydrated Boulder Kit) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: case insensitivity in TOS Message-ID: <1991Jan22.170111.12465@cs.mcgill.ca> Date: 22 Jan 91 17:01:11 GMT References: <1991Jan12.023029.20022@convex.com> <1991Jan18.005041.22961@convex.com> Sender: news@cs.mcgill.ca (Netnews Administrator) Organization: Save the Missippi Riverboat Paddlewheel Fund Lines: 65 In article <1991Jan18.005041.22961@convex.com> rosenkra@convex.com (William Rosencranz) writes: >In article kentd@FtCollins.NCR.com (Kent.Dalton) writes: >>>is there any inherent reason why future TOS versions can't be case >>>sensitive, at least WRT file names (and directories)? i know that >> >>Seems to me that it would break a ton of existing code for a relatively >>small and (debatable) benefit. Not a win, IMHO. > >who decides what/how much benefit something is? you? i hope not. it IS a >win, and for me, at least, a relatively large benefit. really? ok... why do you think so? >it would probably not break any existing code. if so, how? For one thing, most file selector boxes, and command shells, translate lower case characters into uppercase before processing input lines (sometimes they even echo back uppercase, but sometimes they don't, so you find this out the hard way). Neodesk and PCOMMAND and LGSELECT are three examples I can think of offhand. Another problem is that the people who write programs which have a call like fp=fopen("datafile.in","r"); assume that there is a file on the disk matching this name - but when we suddenlly add case sensitivity to TOS, what happens to the files which are on disk already? will they be considered all caps (so most programs can read them after this conversion to uppercase) or all lower case (so the c programs with lines like above will work)? It is a FACT that if such a convention were added, TONS of programs would need little changes to work again. I happen to use a few programs which are no longer being maintained by the author, and I don't have the sourcecode. What do I do now that I can't run them anymore? > and it is a BIG win, IMHO. don't knock it 'til you've tried it. yeah you said that already. so lets hear why you think so! All you've said is "it's great - everyone who likes unix should love it!". Well, I love unix myself, I don't see the connection. Lets hear some support for your opinions. Why is it so great to have those extra 26 characters? Well, you can have IN THE SAME VERY DIRECTORY files like jove.RC jovE.rC JoVe.Rc JOVE.RC jove.rc big deal. And this is just a half-assed step towards a unix-like filesystem - if you want a real unix filesystem, you gotta throw out all this TOS and MSDOS bullshit and start FROM SCRATCH - we don't need all these tiny little steps which make everything incompatible but look a little more like unix - give me a break! -- |S. Alan Ezust McGill University SoCS depeche@cs.mcgill.ca | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | "Lick the carpet, dust the dog, mow the windows, shine the socks.... | | you got to keep things CLEAN." - E. KaSpel |