the scary thing about #Plan9 is when in file formats it has stuff like:

file: refers to a file
some-special-string: does a special thing

and that just invites the problem of someone using some-special-string as a file name

pls, anyone who does #programming
do not ever do anything like this
keep your formal grammars unambiguous

if you do not, Ada Lovelace will come down from Programmer Heaven and smite you

@Shamar idk, read it in some manpage the other day, not sure which
but similar problems apply to a lot of the system, eg. how basically nothing can handle spaces in file names

(hot take, $ifs should only contain tab and newline, or better yet, there should be no $ifs)

@Shamar this isn't really a Plan 9 specific problem, but it's one of those things that mess up an otherwise nice system

@grainloom

To be honest I don't know why one could need spaces in file names.

I should probably forbid them in at kernel level

@xj9

I can.

Every programmer continuously does that to users: we restrict what you can do with computers so that you can actually do something.

For example you can't put a 0x0 byte in the middle of a file name. Or a "/" in a domain name.

You are so used to our power you can't see it anymore. And actually most programmers are unaware of it.

But the truth is that we CAN tell you what to do and what not. And that's nothing!

Software programmers dictate how people THINK!

And this was true way before Cambridge Analytica: you perceive and act on the world through the software we write.

Through software we shape your synapses.

@grainloom

@xj9

Maybe you will.

Because you might discover that such design decision makes scripting (and programming in general) easier and faster, for example.

What makes you more free, spaces in filenames or easier programming?

@grainloom

@Shamar @grainloom

spaces in filenames. dealing with escaping spaces when programming is easy. caring about implementation details when I'm organizing my music is annoying and I wont have it.

@xj9

That's an UI issue in the software you use to organise your music.
Use an higher level UI if you don't want to mess with such low level details.

@grainloom

Follow

@xj9 @grainloom

Basically it's a matter of habits.

You are used to operating systems that care much more about looking simple that about being simple.

But sometimes few consistent constraints can make a system more predictable and easy to compose.

Sign in to participate in the conversation
Qoto Mastodon

QOTO: Question Others to Teach Ourselves
An inclusive, Academic Freedom, instance
All cultures welcome.
Hate speech and harassment strictly forbidden.