Why was the period chosen for the separator character?

ownedbycats · 09-04-2024, 07:29 PM

Out of curiosity, why is the period the separator character for hierarchical columns? I would expect either back or forward-slash.

theducks · 09-04-2024, 07:34 PM

slashes mean FOLDER on many OS
IIRC it was only 8.3 (DOS) file naming that only allowed 1 period.
+ means concatenation, so that was out

ownedbycats · 09-04-2024, 07:36 PM

Considering that a) the folder structure is meant as a black box and b) most (or all) punctuation gets normalized to _ anyways, not sure how that would factor in?

theducks · 09-04-2024, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Considering that a) the folder structure is meant as a black box and b) most (or all) punctuation gets normalized to _ anyways, not sure how that would factor in?

You are correct for INSIDE the Library. But what about Send To .... ?
I am not sure if it was Charles or Kovid that came up with the dot

fidvo · 09-04-2024, 08:47 PM

Just a guess: periods are used in a lot of programming languages (including Python) to indicate properties and methods of objects, which can themselves be objects, allowing nested objects of any number of levels. As a programmer, I find a period-separated hierarchy feels natural. No doubt Kovid does too.

BetterRed · 09-04-2024, 10:10 PM

Dots are less intrusive than Slashes and Sloshes

ALGEBRA.ARCADIA, Algebra.Arcadia

v

ALGEBRA/ARCADIA, ALGEBRA\ARCADIA, Algebra/Arcadia, Algebra\Arcadia

kovidgoyal · 09-04-2024, 10:28 PM

Many excellent reasons have been posted, for me it was that slashes exist in tags already for example, SciFi/Fantasy is a common tag. Periods are less common in tags from general metadata sources.

09-04-2024, 07:29 PM	#1
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 11,363 Karma: 79528341 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	Why was the period chosen for the separator character? Out of curiosity, why is the period the separator character for hierarchical columns? I would expect either back or forward-slash.

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09-04-2024, 07:34 PM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,270 Karma: 61916422 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	slashes mean FOLDER on many OS IIRC it was only 8.3 (DOS) file naming that only allowed 1 period. + means concatenation, so that was out

09-04-2024, 07:36 PM	#3
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 11,363 Karma: 79528341 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	Considering that a) the folder structure is meant as a black box and b) most (or all) punctuation gets normalized to _ anyways, not sure how that would factor in?

09-04-2024, 08:47 PM	#5
fidvo Addict Posts: 315 Karma: 1645952 Join Date: Jun 2012 Device: none	Just a guess: periods are used in a lot of programming languages (including Python) to indicate properties and methods of objects, which can themselves be objects, allowing nested objects of any number of levels. As a programmer, I find a period-separated hierarchy feels natural. No doubt Kovid does too.

09-04-2024, 10:10 PM	#6
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 22,025 Karma: 30277294 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Dots are less intrusive than Slashes and Sloshes ALGEBRA.ARCADIA, Algebra.Arcadia v ALGEBRA/ARCADIA, ALGEBRA\ARCADIA, Algebra/Arcadia, Algebra\Arcadia

09-04-2024, 10:28 PM	#7
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,610 Karma: 28549044 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Many excellent reasons have been posted, for me it was that slashes exist in tags already for example, SciFi/Fantasy is a common tag. Periods are less common in tags from general metadata sources.