Below are basics terms/concepts that everyone using a computer must know in order to manage their files. Please ensure that you are familiar with these.
Default: A state or setting that is assumed to be true unless otherwise changed, e.g., currently active or working directory is assumed to be the default folder by the operating system.
File: A named collection of data used for organizing secondary memory, e.g., a hard disk drive, thumb drive, etc.
File System: The operating system's logical view of the files it manages
File Type: A specific kind of information contained in a file.
File Extension: Part of a file name that indicates the file type; below are some examples:
Extension
File Type
txt
text data file
mp3, au, wav
audio file
gif, tiff, jpg
image file
doc, wp3
wordprocessing document
jave, c, cpp
program source file
Plain text file: ASCII or Unicode character set, e.g. applied to user account info, html source file, etc.
Binary files require specific interpretation of the bits based on the information in the file. e.g. graphic files, word-processed files
Note: All files stored in a computer are, in the end, "binary" because they are stored as binary digits. The distinction between text files and binary files made above refers to the fact that depending on how the bits are formatted and interpreted either as characters or some special format representing, for example, wordprocessed document, spreadsheets, images, sound, video, etc.
What we do with the files with the help of the Operating System is called file operations such as:
- Create a file
- Delete a file
- Open a file
- Close a file
- Read data from a file
- Write data to a file
- Append data to the end of a file
- Truncate a file (delete its contents)
- Rename a fle
- Copy a file
Directory: A named group of files (a folder); a directory that contains more folders (subdirectories) are called the "parent" and the folder within it is referred to as the "child" of that directory..
Root directory: The topmost directory, in which all others are contained; a working directory is the currently active subdirectory. The currently active subdirectory is referred to as the working directory.
Directory tree: A structure showing the nested directory organization of the file system -- .
Path: A text expression of the location of a file or subdirectory in a file system. An absolute path begins at the root and includes all successive subdirectories to uniquely locate a file within a system. A relative path begins at the current/working/default directory.
Fig. 1 shows the folder mysite.com as the parent directory for all other folders which are its subdirectories and their content files.
Fig. 2 shows three folders, application, library and public in the same directory level in the tree.
Fig. 3 shows a connection screen in Filezilla.
- Note the "double dot" icons on both sides indicating the level above to the parent folders.
- The active local site directory path from the root is: E:\_CoursesD\1010a-su13\
- Inside this folder is another subfolder named "images" and several files.
- The remote site location belonging to username "pkashiya" is empty at this point as it was for you when you first logged in to your web space.
- You could 2x click the double dot in the remote folder to get out into your numbered volume but you have no priviledges to modify that folder; everything the user can do is restricted to within the username directory -- When making your folders or uploading files, be sure that you are in your username directory in the remote site..
Syntax: Rules regarding how statements, e.g., file path, must be arranged/expressed.
In specifying a path, remember that if the slash symbol preceeds the first directory name, it always represents the root. So for example, \mysite.com\main-directory\directory1\directory2\page2.html, the assumption is that mysite.com folder is a subfolder of the root directory.
Referring to Fig. 1, if the volume name is C, then the absolute path specification for page2.html would be:
C: \mysite.com\main-directory\directory1\directory2\page2.html
Note that Windows OS uses the back-slash symbol "\" as a delimiter rather than the UNIX convension of the forward-slash "/" which is also used in FTP.
See Fig. 4 example of a Windows directory tree.
Fig. 1 PC Example
Fig. 2 Mac Example
Fig. 3 Filezilla Connection Sample
Fig. 4 Windows Directory Tree Sample
