Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ceres.physics.uiowa.edu!news.iastate.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!maverick.ksu.ksu.edu!kuhub.cc.ukans.edu!wuarchive!usc!apple!apple.com!rmh Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: System 7.0 Upgrades Message-ID: <13501@goofy.Apple.COM> From: rmh@apple.com (Rick Holzgrafe) Date: 15 May 91 20:44:37 GMT Sender: usenet@Apple.COM References: <52814@apple.Apple.COM> Organization: Apple Computer, Inc. Lines: 38 In article francis@arthur.uchicago.edu (Francis Stracke) writes: > In article <52814@apple.Apple.COM> mjohnson@Apple.COM (Mark B. Johnson) writes: > > >The System 7 Finder offers users a new capability known as aliases. Aliases > >allow all Macintosh users to organize their system the way they prefer and puts > >information just a double-click away. An alias, usually about 2K in size, of > > *WHY* does it take so much space? Two reasons. First, your disk probably won't allocate any less than a half a K at a time, maybe no less than a K at a time. All file sizes are effectively rounded up to the drive's block size. Second, and more important: an alias is not just a pathname to the original. It is much more. If it were just a pathname, then renaming your disk, or your file, or any of the folders above it, or moving it to a different folder, or moving its folder, would all break the alias. System 7 aliases can *survive* all of that. They do this by keeping a *lot* of information about the original file. When you use the alias, the system tries the simplest, fastest lookup first. If that doesn't work, it digs more data out of the alias and widens its search until it finally locates the file, or runs out of places to look. (Yes, aliases *can* be broken; they're not magical.) Try it, you'll like it. :-) ========================================================================== Rick Holzgrafe | {sun,voder,nsc,mtxinu,dual}!apple!rmh Software Engineer | AppleLink HOLZGRAFE1 rmh@apple.com Apple Computer, Inc. | "All opinions expressed are mine, and do 20525 Mariani Ave. MS: 3-PK | not necessarily represent those of my Cupertino, CA 95014 | employer, Apple Computer Inc."