Author: Peter Berger
Date: 14:47:18 05/23/02
Go up one level in this thread
On May 23, 2002 at 16:03:11, Christophe Theron wrote: >On May 23, 2002 at 11:15:14, Robert Hyatt wrote: > >>On May 23, 2002 at 01:31:56, Jeremiah Penery wrote: >> >>>On May 23, 2002 at 01:16:44, Robert Hyatt wrote: >>> >>>>On May 22, 2002 at 22:08:45, Christophe Theron wrote: >>>> >>>>>Filenames are case sensitive in Windows only for storing. When searching for >>>>>filenames, the search is case insensitive. That's the best way to do it in my >>>>>opinion. >>>> >>>> >>>>Not in mine. I want WCCCxxxx to mean something significant, since WCCC is >>>>obviously an abbreviation for something. wcccxxxx should (to me) be a >>>>different file. Otherwise, _why_ would I name one WCCCxxxx and the other >>>>wcccxxxx and expect them to be the same? Why not just type them the same >>>>and it works. IE if you don't like case-sensitive filenames, simply make >>>>all your filenames lowercase and the problem is instantly solved, but >>>>leaving the rest of us the option of using case sensitivity to do whatever >>>>we want... >>> >>>He's not talking about saving a file with different case. If a filesystem can >>>do that, great. But when you're _searching_ for a file, you should be able to >>>search for "wccc..." and see a list with _both_ sets of files. That is what >>>Christophe is saying, and it makes way more sense to do it this way. >> >> >>This is already trivial to do using regular expressions. Or anybody could >>write their own "find" command that is case insensitive. I did this inside >>Crafty to match GM/IM names to adjust how crafty behaves. And I found it >>tedious to try to match strange combinations of upper and lower case letters, >>so I simply mapped them all to lowercase _first_... >> >>But in Unix, if you are looking for files or strings in files, it is trivial >>to make it case insensitive already. Just study "regular expressions"... > > > >And here we get a good understanding of one of the problems that will keep Linux >away from mainstream (and that's a pity). > >The file matching convention is user unfriendly (convince yourself by making a >poll here for example), and the proposed solution for this problem is even more >unfriendly (regular expressions, how am I going to explain that to my mother - >she just wants to do word processing and email). > >That's all the Linux philosophy in a snapshot. It's just an example, but you can >repeat the same pattern for many features of the OS. > >Normal people care more about useability than about features. > >But not Linux users/developpers. Linux users/developpers care more about >features than about useability. > >The result is a clear success: the stuff is unuseable for normal people. And >Linuxers like it: normal people are a threat to the philosophy. They might >demand stupid things, like being able to retrieve a file called "WCCCxxx" by >just typing "wccc*". Geez! > >Time for new blood to kick in and reconsider some basic things... There is a >huge potential in Linux. > > > > Christophe Hmm ;) - do you remember how I was completely at a loss when I tried to deinstall and install your Chess Tiger program on my Palm ? I really tried to do my best but it was too difficult for me. I agree it was really easy enough after you explained how to do it but my mother definitely would have been of little help. When it is about the problems you posted I would have known most easy solutions how to do this on Linux ( even way easier ones than posted) Another trivial example : You sit in a directory full of PGN-Files - you know there were some interesting games by Weird-engine in one of them but you don't remember in which file or any further details. Sitting at Linux prompt I would type $ grep -i weird-engine * I have yet to find out how to do this with Windows let alone on my Palm ;) .. Peter
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