Computer science lessons are not easy for everyone. Students know a lot about computer games and using a browser. But few people know the theory. Few will be able to answer the name of the named area on the storage medium. We will try to deal with this issue and take a closer look at the object of study.
Question
This article is not only suitable for teenagers who want to get an answer to their question. It will be useful for other people who either know nothing or know a lot about PCs. Still, the wording of the question “What is the name of the named area on the storage medium” is found on control tests in computer science.
In order not to torment those who came specifically for the answer to this question, let’s say right away that this is a file. That is what this area is called on the storage medium. And then we dwell on this concept in more detail, consider everything that is connected with it.
The concept
So, the file has many interpretations. Wikipedia provides a large number of variations on this subject. Here we can talk about the area in Portugal, or a tool for dentists. Under this name, there are utilities for Unix or a namespace.
If you are told a “file”, then you will surely recall a transparent paper bag where the abstract or important documentation is put. And finally, the file is called the named area on the storage medium. Further more.
Variations
It is known that the OS easily handles files. In fact, it is the “OS” that can name files not only the usual elements of the system. Sometimes they can be equated with the field of materials, network resource, socket, data stream, physical or virtual devices, etc. Therefore, talking about the file, you need to expand the understanding of the usual interpretation.
Historical summary
The name of the named area on the storage medium was not immediately known. For the first time this word in his English translation became known in 1950. Then computer storage became known as a file.
Mention of this has been preserved and documented. There is a certain advertisement in Popular Science magazine from an American company that has already ceased to exist.
The developers promoted memory, saying that the results can be stored “in a file cabinet”. By it they meant the file. The advertising described the technology of the novelty. It was a question of how the memory kept the numbers electrically and for a long time kept them in the “safe”.
Becoming
As a result, as we see, the named area on the information carrier, called the file, was related to memory. Since 1952, the term has belonged to a deck of punch cards. Interestingly, even storage equipment could be called a file, rather than what's inside. So, if you recall the device of the BM 305 machine, then you can find in it a disk called "disk file".
Technology has evolved. There were systems that first talked about the file system. All this was realized in the following way: several virtual equipment was placed on one storage equipment. After that, the “file” has acquired modern significance. Immediately came the understanding of the name of the named area on the storage medium. And the file itself began to add up of two names. The first was the main, the second indicated expansion.
Development
Technologies have evolved, and with them systems. They became more and more files. To make it easier to work with them, there was a need for structuring. All this influenced the development of symbolic names.
Initially, everything worked as a continuous array attributable to one of the information carriers. Now structuring has led to the advent of tree technology. Thanks to it, you can embed or mount communications. The named area of ​​external memory has acquired the characteristics of a path. It consisted of several tree nodes arranged sequentially as they passed to the desired “arrival point”.
Name
Like any physical or virtual object has its own properties, the file is also endowed with special characteristics. So, a lot can say a name.
In almost all cases, it is the name that points to the file that is being accessed. There are a number of limitations that depend directly on the file system. For example, FAT16 and FAT12 only allow 8 characters to be used for the main name and three for the extension name.
In other cases, formats are limited to 255 bytes. If you look at NTFS, then this figure is 256 characters of Unicode 1. Naturally, these are not all the restrictions that may affect the name. There is a ban on the use of certain characters.
Windows does not allow slashes and forward slashes, asterisks, question marks, colons, quotation marks, or angle brackets in the name. GNU / Linux has far fewer prohibited characters: the right slash and the null character.
Almost all operating systems require uniqueness of the names of each file. Although the same name is valid when working with tape drives . Some file systems allow you to leave nameless documents. Typically, such a named area of ​​external memory of arbitrary length is considered temporary. An advantage of this type is the absence of name conflicts.
Expansion
Another file property. It is considered an independent attribute and is located in each file system of different operating systems. It is necessary in order to understand what kind of document is in front of us. The system sees the middle name and independently determines the program that will help open the file. Windows hides the extension from "users". It can be found by clicking on the file properties.
Attributes
A named data area is a file. Among its properties are attributes. They are not available for all file systems. But with the most common NTFS as an example, they are easy to learn. There is a read-only attribute that prohibits making adjustments to the file. “System” indicates the importance of the document and the fact that working with it affects the system.
"Hidden" is hidden from the user. "Archive" appears automatically. This happens if the file was changed after the backup but was not returned back to the system.
Other properties
In addition to the above, the file may have timestamps indicating modifications. Some file systems may assign an owner or group to a specific document.
The properties also include access rights. Some files may have content restrictions. The OS can set write, read, or execute access. Each of these options depends on the status of the user. There is an option to install advanced separation of rights.
conclusions
You already know what the named scope is called. There is much more to say about the file. But all of the above is the basis that it is desirable to know for anyone who wants to understand at least a little computer science.
To all this, you can search for information about the type of files or about working with them. There is also a difference in implementation for different systems. By the way, it is known that it is not yet possible to give an absolutely exact definition to a file. This is due to the fact that, depending on the operating system, it may have different attributes, properties and access.