From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.4 required=5.0 tests=AC_FROM_MANY_DOTS,BAYES_00 autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,3689d3c938c589e5 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-01-23 15:16:30 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!dispose.news.demon.net!demon!psiuk-p2!psiuk-p3!uknet!psiuk-n!news.pace.co.uk!nh.pace.co.uk!not-for-mail From: "Marin David Condic" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Directory listings and path names Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2002 18:00:12 -0500 Organization: Posted on a server owned by Pace Micro Technology plc Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: dhcp-200-133.miami.pace.co.uk X-Trace: nh.pace.co.uk 1011826813 7284 136.170.200.133 (23 Jan 2002 23:00:13 GMT) X-Complaints-To: newsmaster@news.cam.pace.co.uk NNTP-Posting-Date: 23 Jan 2002 23:00:13 GMT X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4522.1200 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:19264 Date: 2002-01-23T23:00:13+00:00 List-Id: My thinking on URLs is that as a "Uniform Resource Locator" they could be used as a kind of "File System" - directory tree structured or not. Hence, there might be some desire to do things like copying resources, deleting them, etc. I don't know of an OS that specifies its files with URL syntax - but given "The Net" and similar directions in computer software, it seems like something that might come up. I don't object to getting an Ada package that deals only with more traditional tree structured directories or only a few common file systems. What I'm suggesting is that in the process of talking about such a creature that possibly some thought be given to reasonable future needs. If its useful, people will want to expand its capabilities. Obviously, unless Ada develops its own abstraction for a "File System" or a full-blown OS, (something that could be mapped to some/most existing OS's - similar to how Tasking is a kind of abstraction that can be mapped to most OS multitasking facilities) anything it does to connect to such services is going to be rather system dependend and non-portable. Trying to come up with such an abstraction would be a big job. Anything less is still more than we have now, so its not something I'd discourage. MDC -- Marin David Condic Senior Software Engineer Pace Micro Technology Americas www.pacemicro.com Enabling the digital revolution e-Mail: marin.condic@pacemicro.com Web: http://www.mcondic.com/ wrote in message news:flF38.35525$%51.1922466961@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com... > The whole idea of directories and paths presumes a tree structure. > URLs are more like unique names, where '/' is just another character. > "a.com/b/c*.htm" is not meaningful as a URL (unless of course the server > wants to give "b/c*.htm" some meaning). Tree structured directories > date from the days of tree structured databases. They will eventually > disappear. Then people will want standardized packages to handle > URLs and organize related URLs. In the meantime, let's standardize at > least the simplest, least common denominator, directory walking routines. > IMHO