Been using Linux as my primary OS for (counts on fingers)... decades now. Called them folders the whole time. Never had a problem with it. Nobody who matters cares.
well it sorta just makes sense, the gui presents it as a folder, you can move things around in it like a folder, conceptually it presents them in a way to make you think they are physical things stored in a physical folder/box. cli it really just feels like you are using a string of characters indicating the desired file, it feels more like a directory that way, even if it always really is that way, just showcased differently in the gui.
brain doing brainy things, strings/lines vs pictures/labels
meh. folder is 2 syllables, directory is like 4. I'm lazy. If someone gave me a clear one syllable alternative that others would know what I meant (even if while cringing), i'd probably start using that instead. I've tried just "dir", but no one ever knows wtf i'm saying.
Yep, while this meme is funny and in jest. If someone actually seriously gave me shit for saying "folder" or "directory" I would have to ask them what Stallman's toe nails actually taste like. Because that is up there with his level of being rigid about something that I just can't stand.
While conversing with Linux users, they should know what dir means... I mean, even if they don't use the terminal that often, dir is often used in GUIs as well in Linux.
I might should clarify that when using "dir" verbally no one knows what I'm saying, but maybe how I pronounce it in my head isn't how everyone else does, lol. In text it's plenty clear, imo.
Idk about hierarchy but PATH is a thing and the proper terminology is filepath, so the word path becomes ambiguated as it could be used to refer to either. Hence why I say it is bad practice to use it as a primary reference in conversation. Otherwise you'll get interns and users modifying their PATH for no damn reason and wondering why nothing works.
My intuition is that directory is the older term and refers to something existing on the file system while folder can be that but also includes "virtual folders" that group together different files from across the file system like when photo manager shows you categories like 'recently viewed' or 'taken in 2023'.
Directory is the older term, but when they started making computers user friendly they needed a friendlier word for it. Folders make sense because people understand putting files in folders in real life.
Exactly, except like all computer metaphors they break down when you get into the details. I can't put a document in more than one folder and update them at the same time IRL like I can do with a symlink.
You bring up a pretty good point. Whenever I have a personal document that could go into multiple categories (eg a travel insurance certificate can go into travel, insurance, or finance folder) I place it in all 3 at once with hard links. What's more is that if I intuitively first search for a document in place A but it's actually in place B I simply place a link in A for the next time.
Before I learned a bit about file systems I didn't even conceive of such a thing being possible; precisely because the folder metaphor had imprinted upon me the physical world constraint that things can only be in a single place at once.
Uhhh directories are files where other files are stored in a computer, folders are pieces of paper used to store pieces of paper (or a file used to store another files in a computer)
I mix and match. I used to have an Amiga back in the day, and they were called directories there. As such, most of my parlance is from those days. But most of my work life has been on Windows. So, folder has sneaked into everyday usage.
Directory means a listing. You are referring to the list of names of some items.
I'm usually working with folders that actually contain files and other folders. It's often closed, so the content is not shown. A folder is a container.
Wikipedia clarifies this difference.
A telephone directory does not contain telephones.
I switched to Linux only about a year ago. I frequently called them directories even in Windows. I sometimes use folder too, but usually directory I think.
I have been switching a number of computers over to Linux over the last few months in preparation for the end of Windows 10. But honestly shit like this that makes me think, maybe Windows 11 isn't so bad?
I mean, calling them Mac(Book) does clarify that they run macOS. And historically âMac and PCâ have been used to differentiate between Windows and macOS, not just by Mac users. Never met anyone who persisted on MacBooks not being laptops. People just call them MacBooks because thatâs what they areâŠ
TBF, most of the time (with a small exception for the period from 2006 to 2020ish) it would have been wrong to call a Mac a PC, as PC (and PC compatible) is the name of a specific platform based on the 8086 and compatible processors with a specific BIOS and a specific IO-interfaces. And Mac's most of the time are not PC compatible.
And I've never heard anyone say, that a MacBook is not a laptop.
As an IT guy in the early 2000s, it was really annoying to see all the "Mac vs. PC" arguments. PC stands for Personal Computer - a Mac is literally a PC! When I was a kid in the '80s-'90s, my schools all used Apple IIe computers (and later versions of Apple products as I got older), but they always called them PCs.
But those Apple ads convincing people to ditch the frumpy old guy PC for the young, hot Mac guy did their job, and pop culture decided that a Mac wasn't a PC.
PC stands for Personal Computer, but that doesn't mean that every personal computer is a PC. Just as VW stands for Volkswagen but not every wagon used by folks is a VW.
Calling any personal computer PC would cause all sorts of confusion, as PCs are able to run specific pieces of software (which were literally marketed as »PC 3,5"«, »PC CD ROM« or something of the like) such as »PC (or MS) DOS«, Windows etc. It would have been pretty annoying if someone sold you a game, telling you that it runs on PCs, leaving it to you to guess which kind of personal computer they meant: Atari ST, Apple II, C64, or IBM PC. All of them are personal computers, but only the PC is a PC.
Btw, all that was set in stone already in the 1980s and 1990, decades before Apple launched the Mac Vs. PC campaign in 2006. If your teacher called an Apple IIe PC, he was wrong about that, even before it was cool.
Tired of users' elitism? Get some corporate elitism instead!
What's wrong babe? We've just moved your taskbar, created one another directories for program files and documents, and renamed This Computer to Our Computer. It's not a big deal!
102 Comments
nulluser@programming.dev · 92 pts · 2y
Been using Linux as my primary OS for (counts on fingers)... decades now. Called them folders the whole time. Never had a problem with it. Nobody who matters cares.
ignotum@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 2y
Until now, i care a ton!
Oh wait, "Nobody who matters"
dang, nevermind
state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de · 6 pts · 2y
Exactly, thank you. My thought when seeing this was "who the fuck cares?"
poinck@lemm.ee · 2 pts · 2y
I care.
Forester@yiffit.net · 0 pts · 2y
Forester@yiffit.net · 1 pts · 2y
In parlance I have found you can say 'what directory is that folder in?' If you want to have a user give you a full path.
Cipher22@lemmy.world · 87 pts · 2y
I typically call them folders when going through the GUI and directories when using CLI.
bassomitron@lemmy.world · 34 pts · 2y
I never realized I subconsciously did this until your pointing it out. Huh. Thanks for that insight I suppose, haha
Kyatto@leminal.space · 7 pts · 2y
well it sorta just makes sense, the gui presents it as a folder, you can move things around in it like a folder, conceptually it presents them in a way to make you think they are physical things stored in a physical folder/box. cli it really just feels like you are using a string of characters indicating the desired file, it feels more like a directory that way, even if it always really is that way, just showcased differently in the gui.
brain doing brainy things, strings/lines vs pictures/labels
0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 2y
Exactly my thoughts.
HEXN3T@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 2y
lefixxx@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
To move a folder (gui), you just do it. To move a directory (cli) you have to implicitly say you want the contents too.
EffortlessEffluvium@lemm.ee · 2 pts · 2y
Big Brother approves
ZeroCool@slrpnk.net · 51 pts · 2y
littletranspunk@lemmus.org · 49 pts · 2y
You make and use folders
I make directories and call them folders anyway
We are not the same
Crozekiel@lemmy.zip · 47 pts · 2y
meh. folder is 2 syllables, directory is like 4. I'm lazy. If someone gave me a clear one syllable alternative that others would know what I meant (even if while cringing), i'd probably start using that instead. I've tried just "dir", but no one ever knows wtf i'm saying.
flop_leash_973@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 2y
Yep, while this meme is funny and in jest. If someone actually seriously gave me shit for saying "folder" or "directory" I would have to ask them what Stallman's toe nails actually taste like. Because that is up there with his level of being rigid about something that I just can't stand.
0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y
I do agree, but I do double check how I wrote and what I wrote when replying on GitHub đ.
nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org · 10 pts · 2y
I just use "dir" about 90% of the time.
MehBlah@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2y
I like how you put things.
0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y
While conversing with Linux users, they should know what dir means... I mean, even if they don't use the terminal that often, dir is often used in GUIs as well in Linux.
Crozekiel@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 2y
I might should clarify that when using "dir" verbally no one knows what I'm saying, but maybe how I pronounce it in my head isn't how everyone else does, lol. In text it's plenty clear, imo.
0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 2y
Oh, yeah, in that case it does make sense đ.
grrgyle@slrpnk.net · 35 pts · 2y
The real hard Linux nerds will just call them files
Sethayy@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 2y
Everything. Is. A. File.
grrgyle@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 2y
You just put in my head an idea for the most boring "real or cake" spin-off imaginable
boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net · 34 pts · 2y
WELL ACKSHUALLY
Landless2029@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 2y
jelloeater85@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y
pythonoob@programming.dev · 33 pts · 2y
I only call them by inode. Scoffs
hperrin@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
inodes can be files or directories though.
pythonoob@programming.dev · 15 pts · 2y
I just learned what an inode is last week so I'm doing my best here.
Zacryon@lemmy.wtf · 6 pts · 2y
"Everything is a file."
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 29 pts · 2y
No one cares
casual_turtle_stew_enjoyer@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 2y
As long as you don't call it a path.
dezmd@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2y
Always have, and always will! /waves old man cane around in a threatening manner
Don't try to fuckin understand me, just let me escape from reality, ain't nobody telling me what to do, or what not to do, this is my life, this is my computer, so...
PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks · 1 pts · 2y
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
Don't try to fuckin understand me, just let me escape from reality, ain't nobody telling me what to do, or what not to do, this is my life, this is my computer, so...
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
TimeSquirrel@kbin.social · 3 pts · 2y
Isn't that what a hierarchical string of them are called?
casual_turtle_stew_enjoyer@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y
Idk about hierarchy but
PATHis a thing and the proper terminology is filepath, so the word path becomes ambiguated as it could be used to refer to either. Hence why I say it is bad practice to use it as a primary reference in conversation. Otherwise you'll get interns and users modifying theirPATHfor no damn reason and wondering why nothing works.SlothMama@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 2y
Well dir
takeheart@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 2y
So what's the difference?
My intuition is that
directoryis the older term and refers to something existing on the file system whilefoldercan be that but also includes "virtual folders" that group together different files from across the file system like when photo manager shows you categories like 'recently viewed' or 'taken in 2023'.ConstantPain@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 2y
None.
Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 2y
Directory is the older term, but when they started making computers user friendly they needed a friendlier word for it. Folders make sense because people understand putting files in folders in real life.
takeheart@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
Aha, to me it's an apt metaphors as files go into folders and it fits with the whole desktop analogy.
Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
Exactly, except like all computer metaphors they break down when you get into the details. I can't put a document in more than one folder and update them at the same time IRL like I can do with a symlink.
takeheart@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
You bring up a pretty good point. Whenever I have a personal document that could go into multiple categories (eg a travel insurance certificate can go into travel, insurance, or finance folder) I place it in all 3 at once with hard links. What's more is that if I intuitively first search for a document in place A but it's actually in place B I simply place a link in A for the next time.
Before I learned a bit about file systems I didn't even conceive of such a thing being possible; precisely because the folder metaphor had imprinted upon me the physical world constraint that things can only be in a single place at once.
femboy_bird@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 2y
Uhhh directories are files where other files are stored in a computer, folders are pieces of paper used to store pieces of paper (or a file used to store another files in a computer)
festnt@sh.itjust.works · 17 pts · 2y
folders are only considered files in linux, in windows, its a mess
femboy_bird@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 2y
something about not unix operating systems not being valid
dohpaz42@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 2y
obligatory mansplaining that Linux is not Unix
funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 2y
obligatory its a Unix system, I know this
kamenoko@sh.itjust.works · 13 pts · 2y
A directory outside of computing is simply a list of items with a common characteristic. A list of names at an apartment building for example.
4am@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 2y
And on a CLI a directory is just a list of other files.
minamoog@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 2y
everything in my home directory is a folder, everything outside of that is a directory
Sethayy@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 2y
And interestingly enough the home directory itself falls outside of itself
ManniSturgis@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 2y
Utterly mind-shattering revelation
QuazarOmega@lemy.lol · 16 pts · 2y
Me when I don't say inodes to refer to folders in iOS:
metaStatic@kbin.social · 5 pts · 2y
da fuck?
QuazarOmega@lemy.lol · 17 pts · 2y
Dumb joke, iKnow
starman@programming.dev · 5 pts · 2y
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 2y
I'm referring to folders as iFolders from now on
QuazarOmega@lemy.lol · 1 pts · 2y
That actually sounds like a great name for a cloud service, lol
Tebbie@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
Ew, inodes is pretty cringe. :(
fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com · 16 pts · 2y
alias cf=cdNote: I don't actually do this. I'm not a monster.
pythonoob@programming.dev · 1 pts · 2y
Cloud foundry? Not familiar with cf
toynbee@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 2y
Given that
cdis "change directory," I assumecfis meant to be "change folder."ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 2y
Yes and itâs telling the computer to treat cf as if it was cd
0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 2y
It's interesting that Windows also uses cd, even though they call them folders đ.
MehBlah@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 2y
Meh, I dont care. If they used a word that wasn't directly linked to the concept then I might care.
0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y
Likewise, we all know what it means, regardless if you say it like this or that.
r00ty@kbin.life · 11 pts · 2y
I mix and match. I used to have an Amiga back in the day, and they were called directories there. As such, most of my parlance is from those days. But most of my work life has been on Windows. So, folder has sneaked into everyday usage.
sagrotan@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 2y
In our forum you just give the coordinates in your woven core memory...
Klnsfw@lemmynsfw.com · 9 pts · 2y
theyrethesamepicture.jpg
ian@feddit.uk · 7 pts · 2y
Directory means a listing. You are referring to the list of names of some items.
I'm usually working with folders that actually contain files and other folders. It's often closed, so the content is not shown. A folder is a container.
Wikipedia clarifies this difference.
A telephone directory does not contain telephones.
DriftinGrifter@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 7 pts · 2y
a file directory doesent contain anything but adresses aswell
ian@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 2y
Go down that path and it's all binary. But users deal with metaphors. And containers are very useful.
Djtecha@lemm.ee · 5 pts · 2y
Both are noobs. Its Linux, they're all files!
FlickeringScreens@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2y
kill this heathen!
0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y
Burn the witch!
antihumanitarian@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y
Funny how the DOS equivalent of ls is dir, so before the GUI folder metaphor.
0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 2y
Don't forget cd.
Cethin@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 2y
I switched to Linux only about a year ago. I frequently called them directories even in Windows. I sometimes use folder too, but usually directory I think.
Sethayy@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 2y
Oddly enough this made me realise I solely use directory for windows, I think cause windows uses dir instead of ls and cd is used in both lmao
SomeBoyo@feddit.de · 2 pts · 2y
it's directory, if you refer to it in a cli context and folder if you refer to it in a gui context
lessthanluigi@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
Rubeus and the Hagrids - I Should NOT Have Said That
PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks · 2 pts · 2y
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
Rubeus and the Hagrids - I Should NOT Have Said That
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
0x4E4F@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 2y
Allero@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 2y
threatening to open a folder
Thcdenton@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
[Whole discord begins screeching like a parrot store]
dan@upvote.au · 4 pts · 2y
Discord? For Linux communities? Linux communities usually like to stick to non-proprietary solutions.
Thcdenton@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
My beard isn't big enough for those ones
FatCat@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 2y
Funny!!! I love Harry potter and Hagrid is so sweet!
doingthestuff@lemmy.world · -12 pts · 2y
I have been switching a number of computers over to Linux over the last few months in preparation for the end of Windows 10. But honestly shit like this that makes me think, maybe Windows 11 isn't so bad?
NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de · 14 pts · 2y
Have you ever actually seen someone care about that particular choice of terminology, without being sarcastic trying to be funny?
SomeBoyo@feddit.de · 3 pts · 2y
apple users
accideath@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
What terminology do Apple users passionately care about?
SomeBoyo@feddit.de · 3 pts · 2y
devices not being called laptop or pc
accideath@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
I mean, calling them Mac(Book) does clarify that they run macOS. And historically âMac and PCâ have been used to differentiate between Windows and macOS, not just by Mac users. Never met anyone who persisted on MacBooks not being laptops. People just call them MacBooks because thatâs what they areâŠ
brotundspiele@feddit.de · 1 pts · 2y
TBF, most of the time (with a small exception for the period from 2006 to 2020ish) it would have been wrong to call a Mac a PC, as PC (and PC compatible) is the name of a specific platform based on the 8086 and compatible processors with a specific BIOS and a specific IO-interfaces. And Mac's most of the time are not PC compatible. And I've never heard anyone say, that a MacBook is not a laptop.
cobysev@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
As an IT guy in the early 2000s, it was really annoying to see all the "Mac vs. PC" arguments. PC stands for Personal Computer - a Mac is literally a PC! When I was a kid in the '80s-'90s, my schools all used Apple IIe computers (and later versions of Apple products as I got older), but they always called them PCs.
But those Apple ads convincing people to ditch the frumpy old guy PC for the young, hot Mac guy did their job, and pop culture decided that a Mac wasn't a PC.
brotundspiele@feddit.de · 0 pts · 2y
PC stands for Personal Computer, but that doesn't mean that every personal computer is a PC. Just as VW stands for Volkswagen but not every wagon used by folks is a VW.
Calling any personal computer PC would cause all sorts of confusion, as PCs are able to run specific pieces of software (which were literally marketed as »PC 3,5"«, »PC CD ROM« or something of the like) such as »PC (or MS) DOS«, Windows etc. It would have been pretty annoying if someone sold you a game, telling you that it runs on PCs, leaving it to you to guess which kind of personal computer they meant: Atari ST, Apple II, C64, or IBM PC. All of them are personal computers, but only the PC is a PC.
Btw, all that was set in stone already in the 1980s and 1990, decades before Apple launched the Mac Vs. PC campaign in 2006. If your teacher called an Apple IIe PC, he was wrong about that, even before it was cool.
andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 2y
Tired of users' elitism? Get some corporate elitism instead!
What's wrong babe? We've just moved your taskbar, created one another directories for program files and documents, and renamed This Computer to Our Computer. It's not a big deal!
TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
đ