Why are we still using 8.3 filenames?

[Zoinks]

Case in point: why when I want to download "AMD Athlon? 64 X2 Dual Core Processor Driver for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Version (exe) 1.2.2" do I end up with amdcpu.exe? This is 2006. Is anyone still using DOS? Why can't we give things real file names so I don't end up with a folder full of miscelaneous files that I don't remember what they are after a few days!

 

[Elderly Newt]

You can rename it yourself if you really want to.

 

[n7]

Interesting point.

I find the same thing very annoying, so much so that i usually rename stuff immediately to avoid forgetting what it is.

 

[Zoinks]

Originally posted by: Elderly Newt
You can rename it yourself if you really want to.

But that's missing the point isn't it? Why should potentially thousands of downloaders each rename their file when you could give it an intelligent name once at the start.

 

[Slick5150]

I'm going to have to file this one under "who cares?"

I'd much rather have a filename of "amdcpu.exe" than "AMD Athlon? 64 X2 Dual Core Processor Driver for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Version 1.2.2.exe"

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Slick5150
I'm going to have to file this one under "who cares?"

I'd much rather have a filename of "amdcpu.exe" than "AMD Athlon? 64 X2 Dual Core Processor Driver for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Version 1.2.2.exe"

Yeah, it's a lot easier to manage. I hate files with huge names. That's what file description streams are for.

 

[Nothinman]

I'm not.

And a better question is why are you still using file extensions to identify filetypes?

 

[VicodiN]

Personally, Id rather "amdcpu.exe" then "AMDAthlon64X2DualCoreProcessorDriverforWindowsXPandWindowsServer2003Version122
exe"

 

[CTho9305]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
I'm not.

And a better question is why are you still using file extensions to identify filetypes?

Much more convenient when you "dir" or "ls".

 

[Continuity28]

Because shorter names are quicker to read. /thread
If someone has a use for the long filenames, they use them... if they don't, they won't.

 

[Nothinman]

Much more convenient when you "dir" or "ls".

Maybe, but even for that the 'file' command works fine.

 

[CTho9305]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Much more convenient when you "dir" or "ls".

Maybe, but even for that the 'file' command works fine.

You cd to a directory full of files. You do a "dir". You see foo.txt, bar.txt, etc. What are they? You see foo2.doc, bar2.doc. What are they?

You cd a directory and see foo, foo2, bar, and bar2. What are they?

 

[Nothinman]

You cd to a directory full of files. You do a "dir". You see foo.txt, bar.txt, etc. What are they? You see foo2.doc, bar2.doc. What are they?

You cd a directory and see foo, foo2, bar, and bar2. What are they?

As I said, if I don't know already I run 'file foo foo2 bar bar2' and see what it says.

 

[DBSX]

I'll also file this under "who cares".
Though to be honest, I am a proponent of both long and short file names.
When I try to install something on my linux box using the command line I hate trying to type a file name that's ungodly long (I am a terrible typist). At the same time, i love the ability to make long file names for some things, like movie or song titles that are long.

\Dan

 

[Nothinman]

When I try to install something on my linux box using the command line I hate trying to type a file name that's ungodly long (I am a terrible typist)

That's what tab-completion is for.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Slick5150
I'm going to have to file this one under "who cares?"

I'd much rather have a filename of "amdcpu.exe" than "AMD Athlon? 64 X2 Dual Core Processor Driver for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Version 1.2.2.exe"

now that we have file indexing utilities more descriptive filenames make for much easier searching. 8.3 for searching just really really sucks. for sake of easy organization and quick access long and descriptive file names just make sense.

 

[CTho9305]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

You cd to a directory full of files. You do a "dir". You see foo.txt, bar.txt, etc. What are they? You see foo2.doc, bar2.doc. What are they?

You cd a directory and see foo, foo2, bar, and bar2. What are they?

As I said, if I don't know already I run 'file foo foo2 bar bar2' and see what it says.

That could be a lot of output though.

 

[Nothinman]

That could be a lot of output though.

Not really. Sure it'll be longer than a 3 letter extension, but it'll also be more descriptive and hopefully more accurate.

 

[DeathReborn]

Originally posted by: Zoinks
Case in point: why when I want to download "AMD Athlon? 64 X2 Dual Core Processor Driver for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Version (exe) 1.2.2" do I end up with amdcpu.exe? This is 2006. Is anyone still using DOS? Why can't we give things real file names so I don't end up with a folder full of miscelaneous files that I don't remember what they are after a few days!

Windows still restricts you to a maximum path length of 255 (259 for the entire path 259 limit) characters.

This is fairly rudimentary but a handy site (especially for teaching oldies & kiddies) http://www.jegsworks.com/Lessons/win/filesandfolders/naming.htm

 

[BladeVenom]

Put each in their own individual folder, and add a readme. Or just add a summary to the file itself.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Would you prefer AMDX2XP2K3CPUDriver.exe ?

No?

Then quit whining.

 

[kt]

This is kind of off topic, but it's still about filename. We once found a Word document that has the whole memo typed in as the filename. Yup, the idiot clicked on it and proceed to rename the file thinking that he/she is typing up the memo.

 

[kamper]

Originally posted by: CTho9305

Originally posted by: Nothinman
I'm not.

And a better question is why are you still using file extensions to identify filetypes?

Much more convenient when you "dir" or "ls".

And also much more convenient for trojan writers.

And I hate it when I'm using a graphical filesystem navigator and it puts up bad icons or can't give me a preview of a file because it's misidentified the extension. Using magic is far better for guis and if you're dealing with the command-line then 'file' isn't really a big sacrifice. If you want, you can modify 'ls' to run 'file' on each file and include a filetype in the long listing.