Is there any issue with a file and directory set up that includes a space?

Richard Gaskin ambassador at fourthworld.com
Sun Jul 14 10:45:49 EDT 2013


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




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