4 ms·

This was never a problem with classic Mac OS. Files had a type code and a creator code. The type code told application whether they could open the file. The cr

by yrro 7y ago

This was never a problem with classic Mac OS. Files had a type code and a creator code. The type code told application whether they could open the file. The creator code told the Finder which application to open when the file was double-clicked. It was impossible for the user to change either (in the stock OS).

munk-a 7y ago
Wait a tic - so the creator code forced the opening program to always be the same for a given file? There way no way to declare a preference that `.csv` files should now be opened with textedit or some such?
- yrro 7y ago
  Not as far as I remember, though I don't have an old Mac handy to check. Anyone? :)
thaumasiotes 7y ago
> It was impossible for the user to change either (in the stock OS). That's... much, much worse than dot extensions.
- mrkstu 7y ago
  He's mis-stating it slightly. You couldn't fiddle with a file's creator code, but there wasn't much reason to. The type codes were editable, in the sense you could choose the default app you wanted to open files of that type, which is really what you'd want to modify most of the time.
  - yrro 7y ago
    I don't remember this being the case. I don't think it was possible to change either a file's type or creator code without a tool such as ResEdit that wasn't included in the OS. BTW, I think you're referring to the 'creator' code, not the 'type' code. The 'creator' code determined which application would open a file when it was opened. And it was per-file; I don't remember any mention of a system-wide 'default application' or anything like that. This was actually rather nice in practice. It meant a JPEG image created by e.g., GraphicsConverter would be opened by GraphicsConverter when double-clicked; whereas one saved by a web browser would be opened in the web browser. But either could be dragged into either application in order to open the web-browser-saved image with GraphicsConverter.
- yrro 7y ago
  It worked well enough and ensured the example 'grandma' problem above could not occur. The Finder maintained a 'desktop database' which, I believe, was used by the operating system to determine which Applications were able to open files given their type. This was updated automagically, so given a floppy disk with an application on it, and a file that could be opened by that application, the user could insert the disk, double-click the file and the application would be launched to open the file--even if the application was previously unknown to the machine in question. Power users could use ResEdit or some other tool to change such attributes of a file. http://vintagemacmuseum.com/macintosh-type-and-creator-codes/ http://vintagemacmuseum.com/macintosh-type-and-creator-codes... has some more info about the system. Also https://tidbits.com/2009/09/06/snow-leopard-snubs-document-creator-codes/ https://tidbits.com/2009/09/06/snow-leopard-snubs-document-c... which remarks on the system's retirement in OS X 10.6. Reminiscing about all this makes me remember fondly how much better the experience of using a Mac back in the 90s was compared to computing nowadays!

by yrro 7y ago

munk-a 7y ago

Wait a tic - so the creator code forced the opening program to always be the same for a given file? There way no way to declare a preference that `.csv` files should now be opened with textedit or some such?

yrro 7y ago
Not as far as I remember, though I don't have an old Mac handy to check. Anyone? :)

thaumasiotes 7y ago

> It was impossible for the user to change either (in the stock OS). That's... much, much worse than dot extensions.

mrkstu 7y ago
He's mis-stating it slightly. You couldn't fiddle with a file's creator code, but there wasn't much reason to. The type codes were editable, in the sense you could choose the default app you wanted to open files of that type, which is really what you'd want to modify most of the time.
- yrro 7y ago
  I don't remember this being the case. I don't think it was possible to change either a file's type or creator code without a tool such as ResEdit that wasn't included in the OS. BTW, I think you're referring to the 'creator' code, not the 'type' code. The 'creator' code determined which application would open a file when it was opened. And it was per-file; I don't remember any mention of a system-wide 'default application' or anything like that. This was actually rather nice in practice. It meant a JPEG image created by e.g., GraphicsConverter would be opened by GraphicsConverter when double-clicked; whereas one saved by a web browser would be opened in the web browser. But either could be dragged into either application in order to open the web-browser-saved image with GraphicsConverter.
yrro 7y ago
It worked well enough and ensured the example 'grandma' problem above could not occur. The Finder maintained a 'desktop database' which, I believe, was used by the operating system to determine which Applications were able to open files given their type. This was updated automagically, so given a floppy disk with an application on it, and a file that could be opened by that application, the user could insert the disk, double-click the file and the application would be launched to open the file--even if the application was previously unknown to the machine in question. Power users could use ResEdit or some other tool to change such attributes of a file. http://vintagemacmuseum.com/macintosh-type-and-creator-codes/ http://vintagemacmuseum.com/macintosh-type-and-creator-codes... has some more info about the system. Also https://tidbits.com/2009/09/06/snow-leopard-snubs-document-creator-codes/ https://tidbits.com/2009/09/06/snow-leopard-snubs-document-c... which remarks on the system's retirement in OS X 10.6. Reminiscing about all this makes me remember fondly how much better the experience of using a Mac back in the 90s was compared to computing nowadays!