Ralph DiMola wrote:
Case sensitive file names also burn my a##. It's an accident waiting to happen. In my humble opinion case sensitive file names is one of those "Looks good on paper" type of things.
When I first started using Linux, getting used to case-sensitive file systems was very annoying.
But over time I got used to it, and the more I work with servers (where Linux dominates as much as Microsoft does on the desktop) I began to appreciate the efficiencies of case sensitivity.
Consider what a file system needs to do so be case-insensitive: for every path being referenced a conversion needs to be done, since of course the binary representations of "MyFile.txt", "myFile.txt", "myFILE.TXT", and "myfile.txt" are all very different.
On end-user systems the extra clock cycles don't matter much, but with servers - and in particular CGIs, since they're born, live, and die within the sort span of satisfying an HTTP request - shaving even a few clock cycles adds up.
So yes, it's definitely annoying when you're accustomed to file systems that do the extra work.
But maybe it helps to just keep in mind that on a server, saving a few clock cycles can mean accommodating more visitors before you need to consider other scaling options.
And like any other learning process, the more time you spend doing server work the more it becomes second nature to consider case sensitivity. For long-time Mac users like me this can take a while, but it happens eventually.
One habit many admins have adopted to help is to just always use lower-case wherever practical. It's easier to type, and if done consistently requires no memorizing of how you capitalized.
-- Richard Gaskin Fourth World LiveCode training and consulting: http://www.fourthworld.com Webzine for LiveCode developers: http://www.LiveCodeJournal.com Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/FourthWorldSys _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
