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filenameconventions [2014/07/15 21:47]
filenameconventions [2014/07/15 21:47] (current)
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 +This file was 00_dancing_standards.txt on the "​dancing music" laptop computer.
 +
 +John C. Nash    2007-3-3
 +
 +This file is intended to describe the "​rules"​ that I have
 +used in trying to build a coherent and useful collection of
 +English and American dance music and instructional notes.
 +
 +===== General =====
 +
 +Where possible, I have used plain text files for instructions
 +and notes. However, "plain text" does differ across operating
 +systems, though most text editors are smart enough to recognize
 +the differences. Linux ends lines with a line-feed (LF, ASCII 10)
 +character. Macintosh uses a carriage-return (CR, ASCII 13), while
 +Microsoft DOS/Windows uses a two-character pair CR LF (ASCII 13, 10).
 +
 +The instructional and notes files are not fully commented. I 
 +propose to use tags much as SGML or HTML or XML such as 
 +<​notes>​
 +<caller suggestion>​
 +<​todo!>​
 +
 +with corresponding ending tags  </​notes>,​ </caller suggestion>,​
 +</​todo!>​.
 +
 +
 +===== File names =====
 +
 +Because different operating systems have different requirements
 +for filenames, I have opted to simplify filenames so that the
 +collection is portable.
 +
 +- All spaces have been replaced with underscore (_)
 +- All quotes, commas, semicolons, colons, exclamation,​ question
 +        brackets, equals, plus, tilda, ampersand etc. have been 
 +        removed
 +        ,'";:​{}[[]]()=+?​!~&​
 +
 +        & is replaced with _and_ for safety, since & is used
 +        in a number of web-type applications.
 +- <​todo>​I have not scanned for filename length, but there is a 
 +        limit in many operating systems. I would like to suggest
 +        a 100 character limit to filenames.<​!todo>​
 +
 +In giving files names, I have suppressed "​A"​ and "​The"​ at the 
 +beginning, in fact not included them at all. In the names I 
 +have not capitalized '​a'​ or '​the'​. ​
 +
 +
 +===== Special files =====
 +
 +Many dances use lots of different possible music. Linux allows a 
 +"​symbolic link" and this allows us to include filenames for the
 +music easily. The Linux command
 +
 +        ln -s Our_Special_Music.mp3 Our_Funny_Name.music.mp3
 +
 +will set up a very small file Our_Funny_Name.music.mp3 that simply
 +points to Our_Special_Music.mp3. There may be many pointers to 
 +this file, so we don't need multiple copies. Note that it is 
 +important to have the .mp3 name at the end of the link to cause
 +file browsers (I use Gnome browser in Ubuntu) to recognize that 
 +it is supposed to launch the mp3 player of choice.
 +
 +The .music. part of the name is my convention to tell me I am 
 +dealing with a pointer (symbolic link) rather than an actual file.
 +
 +I propose to use "​Another_Name.link.txt"​ in the same way for 
 +dances with multiple names e.g., Chestnut is also called ​
 +Dove's Figary. The command to do this was
 +        ln -s Chestnut.txt Doves_Figary.link.txt
 +
 +Note that the ' has been omitted.
 +
 +In Windows I believe "​Shortcuts"​ will work, but this is still to
 +be tried out. Similarly, I don't know how Macintosh OS-X deals with
 +symbolic links.
 +
 +===== Operating system considerations =====
 +
 +Linux works with "​Permissions"​ that control who may do what with 
 +files. I have found it important to set the permissions on text
 +files of dance instructions to 644 mode to ensure double clicking
 +text files will open a display of the file rather than offering a
 +dialogue over whether the file is to be "​executed"​. I use 755
 +permissions for .mp3 files. I also set file ownership to the special
 +user "​dancing"​ whose password is "​music"​. ​
 +
 +<​todo!>​ More documentation of the setup </​todo!>​
  
filenameconventions.txt ยท Last modified: 2014/07/15 21:47 (external edit)