--- Matt Sealey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > That, and also the fact that even if you name a file > > > > > > "A file for Jamie" > > > > > > Most Amiga apps wouldn't know whether it was a picture or a text file > > > if it hit them on the head. > > > > Not true actually! Many Amiga apps don't look for the stupid PC .ext > > convention. > > Which is crap. >
Relying on a method that was most appropriate for the '80s microcomputer is crap. One expects something more sophisticated today. > Open a DPaint file requester - or an ADpro one, or an ImageFX one, and > lo and behold: they will display "A file for Jamie" whether they support > it or not. > Don has answered this sucinctly. I prefer to see all the files in a dir and leave it to the file req to filter if necessary. A well organised storage medium should only have files of a suitable type anyway. Unless people like saving .wav in the image files drawer of a gfx program etc. > > > Just for a laugh, how about we start sending winPC users .mp3s and that > > bloatcode that is .PDF as .html?! Jolly good fun on a rainy Sunday > > afternoon methinks! ;) > > That's not funny, though. > If they're a windows user, I guess not! :) > > > How do you tell if a file is an IFF file > > > from inside a DPaint requester, with a name like that? > > > > They're discussing the merits of the computer doing the donkey work of > > checking a files type not the user! > > Dpaint doesn't check, though, does it? Think. > Probably not. I haven't used that in a looooooong time. But they weren't discussing a particular programs' faults. Please re-read my, and their, previous statements. > > > > And windows is about 15-20 years old, used by like 99.9% (figures supplied > > by Off-the-top-of-my-head-facts TM ;) of the desktop 'puter market and it > > STILL doesn't bloody have it!! > > It doesn't need it. If you give a file the right name, Yeah, IF! Just see some other post earlier in this thread IIRC to see the problems that brings. > you don't even need a computer to tell you what's in it. Of course you do! Unless you can read a hard disk with your own eyes! ;) In which case, you've been using a computer for too long (or become one ;) and you ought to take a break... ;) > It's 100x faster to say "this file has an mp3 extension, > therefore there is a very good chance that it is in fact an > mp3 file", Of course it's faster! Doesn't mean it's the best/most reliable way though. There is also a very good chance that it isn't an .mp3 too. > than to scan the first few kilobytes pattern matching it against a > database of 100-200 descriptions of file formats. > If the header structure is organised/designed effeciently, only a few bytes need to be checked and there are faster, more effecient ways of achieving this than pattern matching. As I (and Don) said, it's a fundamentally flawed (not to mention basic) method. > Even Deficons manages to mis-label a file sometimes. It's sometimes a lot > easier, when you have 99.9% of the planet and 20 years of experience in use, > to do the quick and semi-reliable assumption than to waste time getting it > wrong - which is a support headache to say the least. > Hey nothing is 100% foolproof/reliable but I (and a lot of other users no doubt) would rather have something more sophisticated than .ext matching. > If you say so. Do you get off on being so narrow minded? > Hmmmm.... that must be me and a whole bunch of other win/non-win users too then. > > > > Considering that it's supposed to have mem protection windows is one big > > lock-up bug! ;) > > Memory protection doesn't prevent crashes, it merely catches them. > It should be called, memory minding then. ;) > One day when you learn how computers work in the real world, maybe you'll > be qualified enough to talk about them. Until then you seem to be little > more than a BAF. > Oh, and I suppose you do then?! You, the one who thinks 80s filetype recognition is acceptable today! I don't think many frustrated win users would agree with you there.... __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? U2 on LAUNCH - Exclusive greatest hits videos http://launch.yahoo.com/u2
