Ports upgrade script

Steve O'Hara-Smith steve at sohara.org
Sat Apr 16 17:40:39 UTC 2016


On Sat, 16 Apr 2016 18:37:59 +0200
Polytropon <freebsd at edvax.de> wrote:

> On Sat, 16 Apr 2016 17:08:10 +0100, Steve O'Hara-Smith wrote:
> > On Sat, 16 Apr 2016 17:08:37 +0200
> > Polytropon <freebsd at edvax.de> wrote:
> > 
> > > Terminology sidenote: The thing is called a directory, not "folder";
> > > "folder" is the name of the graphical representation of a
> > > directory. :-)
> > 
> > 	Introduced in order that people would not be frightened away
> > from a new user friendly operating system by scary technical terms and
> > instead have something familiar.
> 
> Wrong. Earlier representations of the directory (which today is an
> integral part of a hierarchical file system) was the filing cabinet.
> This metaphor did not survive.

	Nope, the hierarchial filesystem was invented as part of the design
of Multics - the 1965 paper is here http://www.multicians.org/fjcc4.html.
The terms defined in that paper include file, directory and filesystem used
for the first time as we use them today in unix.

	This was long before visual representations which started with the
Alto in 1973 but didn't escape to a commercial product until the Star
in 1981, you can see them here
<http://design.tutsplus.com/articles/know-your-icons-part-1-a-brief-history-of-computer-icons--psd-9805>.
AFAIK that was the first ever visual representation of files and
directories in an interface, produced by the man who invented the concept of
icons in 1975.

	When was the filing cabinet used ? I've never seen it.

-- 
Steve O'Hara-Smith                          |   Directable Mirror Arrays
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The computer obeys and wins.                |    licences available see
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