3 ms·

I don't think the problem is having case insensitive file systems, the problem is having both on different platforms. A similar problem as with different endian

I don't think the problem is having case insensitive file systems, the problem is having both on different platforms. A similar problem as with different endians. If everything were case insensitive, it wouldn't cause issues. While as a programmer, I prefer the level of precision case sensitivity provides, I'm hard pressed to make the case that it is better for an average computer user.

ploxiln 11y ago
... which exact type of case insensitivity would you do? Only for latin letters in ascii? or such letters plus just one accent type? or also less familiar symbols used in other writing systems? Did you know that different languages can contradict one another? [1] Are you also going to normalize unicode representation, like Mac OS X does? (it uses a variant of NFD normalization, which is arguably the wrong one to do but that's life) (I only know this because I've been tripped up by it) Basically, you can't "just do case insensitive everywhere", that doesn't fix the confusion and inconsistency. [1] http://www.i18nguy.com/unicode/turkish-i18n.html http://www.i18nguy.com/unicode/turkish-i18n.html (see table titled "English vs. Turkish Case Mappings") (this is just the first example I could find with a quick search)
- reitzensteinm 11y ago
  Point taken; I made the mistake of writing a prescription for the world based on my narrow English speaking world view. I stand by what I said for ASCII, but in a Unicode world, I think you're right. When the mapping stops being simple, the principle of least surprise reverses in the favor of case sensitivity.
hyperion2010 11y ago
Case insensitivity is a nice way of phrasing "there are these arbitrary mappings between two sets of character codes which are meaningful only to the human being looking at the screen." This only works for ASCII and is complete madness as soon as you consider that any symbol you support for input anywhere in the world can and probably will be used by someone to name their files (try explaining why they can't to an irate user). Really, of the hundreds of thousands of unique symbols that human beings use an arbitrary subset of 26 of them have been deemed to be identical when it comes to naming things with symbols. I would say more but it would come out even worse.
- ygra 11y ago
  They don't only work for ASCII. While the majority of writing systems in this world do not have case distinction, some that are widely used do. And arguably it is easier for the user to understand. The people who do trip over it are mostly programmers with the wrong assumptions about how things work and then complaining that things can't ever be simple ...
natosha_bard 11y ago
> I don't think the problem is having case insensitive file systems, the problem is having both on different platforms. A similar problem as with different endians. If everything were case insensitive, it wouldn't cause issues. Indeed; if everything were case-sensitive, or case-insensitive, we definitely wouldn't have these problems. But alas, it's not, and in 2015 here we are still having problems with case sensitivity. :-P > While as a programmer, I prefer the level of precision case sensitivity provides, I'm hard pressed to make the case that it is better for an average computer user. I also personally prefer it ('a' and 'A' are not the same character!!!!), but I'm not sure if thats because it's inherently 'right' or because I'm used to Linux where case sensitivity is more or less a given. :-)

ploxiln 11y ago

... which exact type of case insensitivity would you do? Only for latin letters in ascii? or such letters plus just one accent type? or also less familiar symbols used in other writing systems? Did you know that different languages can contradict one another? [1] Are you also going to normalize unicode representation, like Mac OS X does? (it uses a variant of NFD normalization, which is arguably the wrong one to do but that's life) (I only know this because I've been tripped up by it) Basically, you can't "just do case insensitive everywhere", that doesn't fix the confusion and inconsistency. [1] http://www.i18nguy.com/unicode/turkish-i18n.html http://www.i18nguy.com/unicode/turkish-i18n.html (see table titled "English vs. Turkish Case Mappings") (this is just the first example I could find with a quick search)

reitzensteinm 11y ago
Point taken; I made the mistake of writing a prescription for the world based on my narrow English speaking world view. I stand by what I said for ASCII, but in a Unicode world, I think you're right. When the mapping stops being simple, the principle of least surprise reverses in the favor of case sensitivity.

hyperion2010 11y ago

Case insensitivity is a nice way of phrasing "there are these arbitrary mappings between two sets of character codes which are meaningful only to the human being looking at the screen." This only works for ASCII and is complete madness as soon as you consider that any symbol you support for input anywhere in the world can and probably will be used by someone to name their files (try explaining why they can't to an irate user). Really, of the hundreds of thousands of unique symbols that human beings use an arbitrary subset of 26 of them have been deemed to be identical when it comes to naming things with symbols. I would say more but it would come out even worse.

ygra 11y ago
They don't only work for ASCII. While the majority of writing systems in this world do not have case distinction, some that are widely used do. And arguably it is easier for the user to understand. The people who do trip over it are mostly programmers with the wrong assumptions about how things work and then complaining that things can't ever be simple ...

natosha_bard 11y ago

> I don't think the problem is having case insensitive file systems, the problem is having both on different platforms. A similar problem as with different endians. If everything were case insensitive, it wouldn't cause issues. Indeed; if everything were case-sensitive, or case-insensitive, we definitely wouldn't have these problems. But alas, it's not, and in 2015 here we are still having problems with case sensitivity. :-P > While as a programmer, I prefer the level of precision case sensitivity provides, I'm hard pressed to make the case that it is better for an average computer user. I also personally prefer it ('a' and 'A' are not the same character!!!!), but I'm not sure if thats because it's inherently 'right' or because I'm used to Linux where case sensitivity is more or less a given. :-)