---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Daniel Wilcox danomatika@gmail.com Date: Mon, May 31, 2010 at 5:42 PM Subject: Re: [PD] loading an .aif file into an array To: "padawan12@obiwannabe.co.uk" padawan12@obiwannabe.co.uk
Hrmph. Now I'm being harangued for suggesting people use spaces in filenames? This is 2010, not 1985. Spaces in paths/filenames are handled by OSX, Windows, Linux, etc. Personally, I use both, with a preference for spaces on the Gui and no spaces when I'm working in the terminal. Tab completion works just fine with spaces.
I see you're point, but it's not going to convince all of the people out there to batch convert their filenames because the *should*.
Add a disclaimer to the heading of the floss manual page.
On Mon, May 31, 2010 at 3:54 PM, padawan12@obiwannabe.co.uk < padawan12@obiwannabe.co.uk> wrote:
Hey Dan,
Three times per year, to a class of 72 students, at about lecture 2,
I do a 5 minute chunk which is basically
"Why you should NOT use spaces in filenames":
Of course that extends to good naming style and why some other
characters like !"£$%^&*()}{[];:.<> are not a good idea either.
The impression they get (I am frequently told) is a rather good one.
They are suprised and delighted to discover there is a bit of deeper
computer science knowledge which explains why sometimes, certain filenames
don't work with a whole range of applications.
This is something true of not just Pd, but many applications on many
platforms.
We agree that one should not accept everything that a machine will
let you do as OK, just because you can. After all a car will let
you steer it off the road.
Allowing spaces in filenames was something Windows introduced,
to the horror of many, back in the 90's. There are still problems
caused by this 20 years later because Microsoft broke with what
was a widely understood convention (spaces are delimiters and should
be replaced by underscore _ or endash - in file names .
So, my opinion is that not using spaces in filenames is good advice.
Especially to new users who might not understand why.
All the same, I totally agree with you that Pd is wanting when
an informed programmer cannot easily deal with this situation
Best to you,
Andy
On 31 May 2010 at 12:36 Dan Wilcox danomatika@gmail.com wrote:
I hope you don't suggest this as the solution to new pd users, I'm sure
it doesn't give a very good impression ...