Re: [Mingw-users] problem with reading dirs (_findfirst())

[MARSHALL K. <Kei...@to...>]

> ... first name returned was ".", wich [sic] doesn't mean much
> to Windows-kids, but reminds us the good'ol DOS days, where every "dir"
> command started by those famous "one-dot" and "two-dots" files...
> (still there, as one can see it through CMD, but not visible in the 
Windows
> explorer)

It's actually a concept which Bill pinched from UNIX,
where *every* directory contains a '.' link (to itself),
and a '..' link (to its parent); (even the root directory
has both, with '..' recursively linked to itself!).

On UNIX, these are deemed hidden (from a regular directory
listing), by virtue of the initial '.' in the name; (an
'ls -a' listing will reveal them).  So, Windows Explorer is
perhaps, closer to the original UNIX concept, in concealing
them, than DOS was, in showing them.

It is a great shame that Bill didn't, at the same time, pinch
the UNIX concept of a homogeneous, singly rooted logical file
system, instead of persisting with the fragmented architecture
he pinched from CPM.

Best regards,
Keith.