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Just my anecdote... The folder metaphor helped me grasp what was going on. The first computers I spent significant time with were BBCs. They had two filesystem

Just my anecdote... The folder metaphor helped me grasp what was going on. The first computers I spent significant time with were BBCs. They had two filesystems: DFS and ADFS (I think). The Advanced Disk Filing System had folders, but all the documentation I found called them "files". Files could point to files and make a tree of files. 11 year old me just gave up on this. Why would you want a tree of files? Why should a file link to a file...? Nonsense. Folders (in Gem and Windows) made MUCH more sense. Aaah... it's for organising ideas. Bingo!

alxlaz 6y ago
Yeah, things were very bad for 10 year-old me: in English, the slimmed-down binder we use around here for, well, filing, is called a file. It made absolutely zero sense that "a folder is a collection of files" and "a file is a document". We didn't use folders, and a real-life file usually had several documents. It was pretty stupid but it made sense on its own after a while.