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Re: Hello World in Russian

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30.01.2022 15:59 Richard Damon kirjutas:
> On 1/30/22 7:26 AM, Paavo Helde wrote:
> 
>> The slash can be still used as an option, there is no need to change 
>> that. One just needs to start to demand to separate options by spaces, 
>> something what a sane person has always done anyway, so that
>>
>> dir C:/B
>>
>> would list the file B in the root folder and
>>
>> dir C: /B
>>
>> would list all files in cwd of C: in bare format.
>>
> 
> and what should dir /B do?

In 'dir /B', /B would be an option. To specify a file, one would need to 
use 'dir C:/B' for example. That's the same as needing to use special 
syntax like 'ls ./-filename' in Unix for filenames starting with a dash.

> 
> Both path and options are optional.
> 
> 
> When it was decided to use / as the options separator, it essentially 
> forced the use of some other character for the directory separator in 
> that context.

IIRC, / as the option separator came from an OS (CP/M?) which did not 
support subdirectories, so there was no problem at that point.

> 
> In hindsight, maybe it was the wrong choice, but that was a LONG time ago.
> 
> But remember, at that point in time filenames were 8.3 ASCII only, with 
> limited special characters. Using - in the file name as a 'word' 
> separator wasn't uncommon, so - was an allowed filename character, so 
> not good for the option leadin character, that would make dir -B 
> ambiguous, so using / made some sense.

Even though '-' is allowed in file names, I believe there has never been 
many people wanting to *start* their filenames with it.

Also, '-' is allowed in Unix file names as well, and they can somehow 
cope with this, see the ./-filename example above.

Of course it is hard to foresee all future implications of current 
decisions. But when it becomes clear some decision was wrong, it should 
be corrected, with some gradual switch-over period if needed. For 
example, the Windows Explorer and standard file dialogs could easily 
have a regime to display file paths with forward slashes. This would 
make my life a bit easier, for copy-pasting file paths from-to Cygwin 
bash terminal or program code. I also keep hearing Windows has a Linux 
inside nowadays, I am sure it is also using forward slashes.

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Hello World in Russian Joseph Hesse <joeh@gmail.com> - 2022-01-29 05:51 +0200
  Re: Hello World in Russian James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2022-01-28 23:27 -0500
    Re: Hello World in Russian Muttley@dastardlyhq.com - 2022-01-29 10:21 +0000
  Re: Hello World in Russian Andrey Tarasevich <andreytarasevich@hotmail.com> - 2022-01-28 22:42 -0800
    Re: Hello World in Russian David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2022-01-29 13:01 +0100
      Re: Hello World in Russian "Alf P. Steinbach" <alf.p.steinbach@gmail.com> - 2022-01-29 14:12 +0100
        Re: Hello World in Russian David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2022-01-29 17:34 +0100
      Re: Hello World in Russian James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2022-01-30 14:17 -0500
        Re: Hello World in Russian Andrey Tarasevich <andreytarasevich@hotmail.com> - 2022-01-30 20:17 -0800
  Re: Hello World in Russian "Alf P. Steinbach" <alf.p.steinbach@gmail.com> - 2022-01-29 11:48 +0100
    Re: Hello World in Russian Paavo Helde <eesnimi@osa.pri.ee> - 2022-01-29 17:39 +0200
      Re: Hello World in Russian "Alf P. Steinbach" <alf.p.steinbach@gmail.com> - 2022-01-30 09:18 +0100
        Re: Hello World in Russian Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2022-01-30 12:12 +0000
          Re: Hello World in Russian "Alf P. Steinbach" <alf.p.steinbach@gmail.com> - 2022-01-30 14:02 +0100
            Re: Hello World in Russian Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2022-01-30 14:45 +0000
              Re: Hello World in Russian "Alf P. Steinbach" <alf.p.steinbach@gmail.com> - 2022-01-30 21:53 +0100
                Re: Hello World in Russian Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2022-01-30 21:00 +0000
            Re: Hello World in Russian James Kuyper <jameskuyper@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2022-01-30 14:02 -0500
          Re: Hello World in Russian Muttley@dastardlyhq.com - 2022-01-31 10:23 +0000
            Re: Hello World in Russian scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2022-01-31 16:11 +0000
              Re: Hello World in Russian Muttley@dastardlyhq.com - 2022-01-31 16:36 +0000
              Re: Hello World in Russian Paavo Helde <eesnimi@osa.pri.ee> - 2022-01-31 20:20 +0200
            Re: Hello World in Russian Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2022-01-31 16:12 +0000
              Re: Hello World in Russian Muttley@dastardlyhq.com - 2022-01-31 16:39 +0000
                Re: Hello World in Russian Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2022-01-31 23:47 +0000
        Re: Hello World in Russian Manfred <noname@add.invalid> - 2022-01-31 16:45 +0100
        Re: Hello World in Russian Andrey Tarasevich <andreytarasevich@hotmail.com> - 2022-01-31 10:10 -0800
          Re: Hello World in Russian "Alf P. Steinbach" <alf.p.steinbach@gmail.com> - 2022-01-31 19:25 +0100
      Re: Hello World in Russian Marcel Mueller <news.5.maazl@spamgourmet.org> - 2022-01-30 12:09 +0100
        Re: Hello World in Russian Paavo Helde <eesnimi@osa.pri.ee> - 2022-01-30 14:26 +0200
          Re: Hello World in Russian Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2022-01-30 08:59 -0500
            Re: Hello World in Russian Paavo Helde <eesnimi@osa.pri.ee> - 2022-01-30 18:21 +0200
              Re: Hello World in Russian Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2022-01-30 12:56 -0500
                Re: Hello World in Russian Vir Campestris <vir.campestris@invalid.invalid> - 2022-02-07 21:05 +0000

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