Desree said:
So, did YHWX ever explain why file types extensions in file names are wrong? Other than he doesn’t personally like them, I mean. Something was said about how it was wrong on a technical level, but I never really saw anything that explained why. Just curious.
File name extensions are wrong on a principled (and technical, as well) level:
yhwx said:
TV’s Frink said:
yhwx said:
TV’s Frink said:
yhwx said:
Hopefully I’ll get to discuss why file name extensions are stupid.
I think you’re confused on the meaning of “hopefully.”
It’s really interesting, I promise.
Sounds fishy.
Back in the day, Macs had a unique way to identify file types: Type/Creator codes. In the resource fork of a file, the OS would store the type of file (basically the file name extension) and the creator of the file (the application you used to create the file). This system has many advantages, including the most important one (to me, at least): You can name the file whatever you want, and it’ll still open correctly.
The impossibility of this is what makes file name extensions terrible: You can’t give the user control of their data. Coding the file type in the file name is a fundamentally bad idea. Would you put the date created in the file name? Size? Metadata? You’d probably say no. These are all file metadata that are as important as the file type. But, no, file type is a-ok because that’s how it’s always been outside of the Mac world! That’s just how things are, isn’t it?
It is, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
Apple solved the problem again eleven years ago with Uniform Type Identifiers. This system has solves many major problems with type/creator codes, file name extensions, and MIME types. It first solves specificity problems: Type/Creator codes are limited to four characters, which is small enough to have collisions with other file types. (This is also a problem with file name extensions, as file name extensions can theoretically be as long as possible, Microsoft & Co. refuse to break from the EIGHT.THREE file naming convention of yesteryear) It also doesn’t need a registration with a standards committee, which is a problem with MIME types. There’s also many more benefits and intricacies to Uniform Type Identifiers, which you’ll have to see the link I linked above to get all the juicy details on.
Now, Apple has been far from perfect in this arena. Back around the transition from Classic Mac OS to Mac OS X (Windows users: Think of the transition from Windows 9x to XP, but much bigger), Apple basically abandoned Type/Creator codes, making file name extensions the required form of file type identification. This lasts until today, which many Apple users (such as myself) are grumbly about. (Along with the lack of a new file system — but that’s on the way!)
Also: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2005/04/macosx-10-4/11/