4 ms·
What is your definition of a file? Does it include bundles of files? What metadata does it include? Can it exist in more than one place? When a file is opene
by adolph 3y ago
What is your definition of a file?
Does it include bundles of files?
What metadata does it include?
Can it exist in more than one place? When a file is opened, is the file what is in processor and cache/RAM or what gets serialized to some persistent media?
Metaphorically, is a file a sheet of paper or folded tan cardstock that holds many sheets of paper?
Is a file unitary or can it contain other files? Is a directory a file? Is a link? Is a device a file?
- asveikau 3y agoI mean, a file is an abstraction of several of the choices you are asking about in these questions, and different people will answer different things. ps. I've worked on filesystem drivers...
- adolph 3y agoOk, can you "reason through exactly how to define a file?" Is defining something as an "abstraction" the same as saying you can't provide a definition? Since you are a driver worker, do you consider something a file before it is written to a filesystem?
- asveikau 3y agoI read you as needlessly combative here, getting far from the points made. Commenter said they told a kid that websites are just a collection of files, kid replied "what's a file?", and I chimed in that that's not so strange, because even people who work with them might have a hard time nailing down a definition. None of this is incompatible with your soap box, but you're writing as if we disagree.