On Wed, Mar 10, 2021 at 02:01:29PM -0400, Cmdte Alpha Tigre Z wrote: > > I think all these shortened names derive from a time when computing > > resources were limited. If you're using an 80x25 terminal over at 50 > > bits per second to a time-shared mainframe, it's more comfortable to > > type "/usr" than it is to type "/Programs". Easier to type "cp" than to > > type "copy", and so on. It's all fairly arbitrary. Why C:\? Why not > > System:\? Convention and history and inertia. > > > > > > Cheers > > > > > > [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usr > > > > > > - t > > But why do we have to use a system designed for such old computers > when the now old computers are much more capable than that. You are still using the (human) language(s) you learnt when you were a kid. Granted, that language(s) evolved a bit in the meantime, but not so quicly as to prevent them from doing their job: allow communication between humans. A file system layout (like a kernel call interface, or a hardware architecture design) fulfill a similar role: since there's no way (well, nearly no way) one could build such complex things all alone -- on the contrary, you need a pretty big community, to achieve that [1], you need a set of conventions and rituals to gather around. Once the communities grow large, those conventions move more slowly. In a nutshell: Complex system development (be it buildings, math or software) is an inherently social activity, and need common languages, which tend to evolve, but according to a "time constant" in the order of a human life. > I think it needs a redesign. Go ahead. Perhaps you want to read first about strange beasts which roamed the earth before the idea of a hierarchical file system established itself, e.g. [2]. > By the way, C:\ looks fine since it is just a letter succession mechanism > for labeling storage devices: C, D, E... it is like: usb0, usb1, usb2... To me it looks weird, but hey. Putting everything in one tree and having special places (/dev, /proc...) for special things. And, oh, on my box it isn't just "usb0" without any context, but something like "/dev/bus/usb/001/001" (or then, perhaps, also "/dev/sdb", depending on how many layers of software you put in front of it ;-) Only "eth0" is special and weird. Who said our systems have no warts? Look at Plan9 [3] to see what other smart folks have attempted to do (heck, there, even GUI windows have a place in the file system. You "rm" that file, and pop goes the window). Enjoy [1] Have a look at Linux kernel development statistics to get a feeling about the orders of magnitude involved, e.g. in https://lwn.net/Articles/834085/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MVS#MVS_filesystem [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_9_from_Bell_Labs - t
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