Re: SSD TBW

On 8/23/2026 2:09 AM, Cóilín Nioclásín Glostéir wrote:
> Don Y <[email protected]> wrote:
> |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
> |"Again, it only works if you tell the OS about your particular file type and|
> |every other machine that will ever see files of that type.  That's what     |
> |Apple did, ages ago."                                                       |
> |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
> 
> Commodore-Amiga owners used to similarly promote the original
> operating system for Commodore Amigas when they used to belittle
> Microsoft DOS.
Treating everything as TEXT or NOT_TEXT is arrogant and self-serving.

/etc/ethers, /etc/bootptab, /etc/hosts and scads of other files
would be assessed as "text files".

Yet, if I took the *contents* of those files and randomly reassigned
them to the 'wrong" names, they would all fail spectacularly in their
intended function.

Because they are text *representation* of radically different THINGS.

Worse, you wouldn't KNOW they were "corrupted" until they were referenced.
So, you'd have a latent bug in your system, because there is nothing
ensuring that /etc/ethers complies with the definition of an
"ethers(5) file", etc.

And, because they are text files, one would assume they could be
manipulated by a text editor (!).  Thus allowing anyone to
(un)intentionally corrupt them with the same delayed realization
      AB:CD:EF:GH:IJ:KL is not a valid MAC
      *(&^jsdf no such host
etc.

With *typed* objects, you can create tools that preserve and enforce
those type constraints -- in addition to MEANINGFULLY showing you the
difference between arbitrary versions thereof.

So,
    X = 2
and
    #define TWO (2)
    X = TWO
and
    X=1+1
are identical programs.  They are just EXPRESSED differently.

You can ignore differences in whitespace -- because you
rationalize that it has no meaning (unless quoted).  So,
why can't you ignore differences in expression -- of identical
concepts?

If I globally replace "identifier1" with "identifier2", how many silly
hits are you going to come up with to highlight a difference that doesn't
exist?

     diff -picknits A B

How does (*ptr).member differ from ptr->member, other than lexical form?
If I systematically went through my sources and made that change,
you'd show me (possibly) hundreds of differences -- that aren't REALLY
differences.  Simply because you fixate on ASCII symbols and their
corresponding glyphs.

I.e., your tool is crippled by "cheap" assumptions -- likely put
in place in case someone wants to drag out a PDP-11 with 16K of core
to run the tool!

But, let's keep our feet firmly tied in the past so when we have
graphical programming languages, everyone will insist on some way of 
representing them as unambiguous text with precise 1:1 mappings
(so the spatial relationships are preserved, etc.).  Anyone wanting to
use things other than text can reinvent the wheel -- likely with
backwards support for text for those folks still tied to that
representation.

The great thing about "evolution" is it takes forever to make
real progress!