Re: Mac OS X 10.1 File Name Extension Guidelines
Re: Mac OS X 10.1 File Name Extension Guidelines
- Subject: Re: Mac OS X 10.1 File Name Extension Guidelines
- From: Peter Ammon <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2001 18:32:27 -0400
Here's my suggestions, which I sent to Apple:
1) Add support for type/creator codes to Cocoa, and automatically insert
them into the proper methods. For example, the NSDictionary method
writeToFile: could automatically give a type code of DICT unless the
programmer specifies another one.
2) De-emphasize the importance of file name extensions; they're an
option for an application, but not a recommendation.
3) Most importantly: provide an API to map type/creator codes to
filename extensions, and use that API in applications such as Mail or
Fetch that would potentially transfer files to a machine that relies on
filename extensions.
Pretty much everyone seems to agree that filename extensions are for
compatibility purposes only, and that native type/creator codes are a
much better solution to the same problem. Therefore, it seems
reasonable to me that filename extensions should be enforced only when
compatibility is important, such as sending files to other machines,
instead of throughout the entire filesystem.
Just my $.02.
-Peter