Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Rough Draft Independent Research Directories and File System Fundamentals: Libraray and Information Science



Researched and writted, by: Miss. Bayo E. Cary, A.A., B.A., M.L.I.S.
“Directories, Folders, and File System Paths: An Illustration of an Inverted Tree Metaphor”
       Computer directories are, where and how a computer’s folders, and the “document files” they contain, are stored (Folder (computer), n. d.). “You might think of directories as being drawers in a file cabinet; each drawer contains a bunch of files that are somehow related” (Ray, D. S., & Ray, E. J., 2007).  A folder is most easily and accurately conceptualized as a container for a directory’s files (Folder (computer), n. d.).  

         A tree metaphor is utilized to describe file system paths within a directory (Levine, & Young, 2004).  A directory on a computer’s hard drive begins at “root” (Levine, & Young, 2004).  The root directory is “the” directory on the computer’s “hard drive” and, as such, it is the storage unit for all the information on the computer’s “disk” (Levine, & Young, 2004, p.93).   A file system path name begins at “root” (Levine, & Young, 2004).  Following a file system path, a computer’s Operating System, is able to locate a specific file (Levine, & Young, 2004). 

         A computer’s root directory is divided up into subdirectories (Levine, & Young, 2004). Subdirectories are directories nested within directories (Levine, & Young, 2004; Ray, D.S., & Ray, E. J., 2007).  Subdirectories are utilized to divide folders, and the files that they contain, into smaller units of aggregated information (Levine, & Young, 2004; Ray, D.S., & Ray, E. J., 2007).  The division of directories into subdirectories, which contain smaller topically defined folders and their files, enables for faster more specific folder and file location--a greater degree of system organization (Levine, & Young, 2004).   

                A more complete explanation of file system paths’ requires additional information, regarding the structure of a computer’s directory, as a “tree structured directory” (Goyal, n.d.).  Computer file systems are organized into paths which reflect a “tree” structured directory (Goyal, n. d.).  The “tree” structured directory, is represented metaphorically by an inverted tree (Goyal, n.d.; Levine, & Young, 2004).  The “tree’s” root directory is at the top of the “tree” structure, and the branches of the “tree” are represented by the directories or various subdirectories, of the file system paths (Goyal, n.d.; Levine, & Young, 2004).  Figure 1., presents a pictorial representation of a “tree” structured directory:

Tree Structured Directory
Tree-Structured Directory.png
Figure 1.
The following information regarding: computer directories, folders and the files that they contain, was available from Wikipedia:
Folder, directory[1], catalog, or drawer[2], in computing, is a virtual container within a digital file system, in which groups of computer files and other folders can be kept and organized.  A typical file system may contain thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of folders. Files are kept organized by storing related files in the same folder. A folder contained inside another folder is called a subfolder or subdirectory of that folder. Together, the folders form a hierarchy, or tree structure. (Folder (computing), n.  d.)

The following, is a summary of the organization the of file systems paths, within a computer directory: 

·         Directories hold subdirectories;
·         Subdirectories hold folders;
·          Folders hold subfolders;
·         Folders are, therefore, subdirectories;
·          Subfolders are also referred to as subdirectories;
·         Subdirectories are also considered directories;
·         Files are contained within subdirectories, which as previously mentioned, are also referred to as directories;
·         The last file in a file system path, is not a directory, it is simply a file. (Folder (computing), n.  d.; Levine, & Young, 2004)

In conclusion, based on my comprehension of: directories, folders and the files that they contain, it follows that: the file system path, which is utilized to describe the exact location of a file, lists the file name last (Levine, & Young, 2004).  According to the statement posted by Dr. Jorgensen to the DB regarding the application of a character to the end of a file system path:

"For maximum clarity a file system path ending with a directory name should have a slash following it. A file system path ending with a file name should not have a slash at the end." (Jorgensen, 2010)

Therefore, the final character, after the last path listed in a file system path, should be excluded (Levine, & Young, 2004). Because the last path listed in a file system path, is the name of a file and not the name of a directory (Folder (computing), n. d.; Levine, & Young, 2004).

Works Cited

Figure 1. (n.d.). [Graph illustration: PowerPoint Slide]. Tree Structured Directory. Retrieve from
Folder (computing). (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_directory
Goyal, N. Operating System [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from Department of Computer
Science and Information System Retrieved from

Jorgensen, P. (2010, May 29). Re: Question Pertaining to File System Path Termination.
Retrieved from

Levine, J., & Young, M. L. (2004). Unix for Dummies: A Reference for the Rest of Us!.
Indianapolis : Wiley Publishing, Inc..

Ray, D. S., & Ray, E. J. (2007). Visual Quick Start Guide: Unix Third Edition.
Berkeley: Peach Pit Press.


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