Well an uppercase ASCII char is a different char than its lowercase counterpart. I would argue that not differentiating between them is an arbitrary rule that doesn't make any sense, and in many cases, is more computationally difficult as it involves more comparisons and string manipulations (converting everything to lower case).

And the result is that you ultimately get files with visually distinct names, that aren't actually treated as distinct, and so there is a disconnect from how we process information and how the computer is doing it.

'A' != 'a', they are just as unequal as 'a' and 'b'

Edit: I would say the use case is exactly the same as programming case sensitivity, characters have meaning and capitalizing them has intent. Casing strategies are immensely prevalent in programming and carry a lot of weight for identifying programmers' intent (properties vs backing fields as an example) similar intent can be shown with file names.

[–] Kissaki@programming.dev 5 points 3 weeks ago (8 children)

Case insensitive handling protects end-users from doing "bad" things and confusion.

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 17 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

I work with a lot of users and a lot of files in my job.

I don't remember a single case, where someone had an issue because of upper- or lowercase confusions.

[–] Kissaki@programming.dev 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

On a Linux environment? Mind sharing the usage area?

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Mostly Windows, and construction industry. So projects generate anywhere from a few hundred to up to a hundred thousand files.

Everyone has their own filesystem, and then you often have one formal and multiple informal exchange platforms. You still have people throwing around stuff in E-Mails too.

It is a mess. But in this mess i didn't come acrosse people complaining they couldnt find a file because of the letters case yet.

I see that it could be different for programmers, but i dont see that apples solution of treating upper and lowercase as identical name is the solution there, rather than working with explicit file naming conventions in the program.

[–] Kissaki@programming.dev 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Windows is / Windows filesystems are case insensitive too.

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Hmm you're right. I didnt notice so far, nor was it brought up as an issue.

You can activate case sensitivity since Win 10 or so.

load more comments (3 replies)

load more comments (5 replies)

load more comments (22 replies)