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Meaningful filenames

207 bytes added, 22:33, 2 November 2020
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This article is Article about naming files in a meaningful way. Naturally files should have unique names so we don't end up with several files with the same or very similar names. This article takes file naming one step further by looking at how the file name itself can carry useful information about the file.
= Why meaningful filenames =
** HTML, the language of webpages, uses tags like ''<span style="normalText">Example</span>''. Here the meta data describes the style of the text, ie: ''Example'' is ''normalText''
** EXIF ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchangeable_image_file_format Wikipedia's ''EXIF'' entry]) is a way of storing meta data in image files, like when the photo was taken and what type of camera was used.
* Database systems (Gramps is a database system for genealogy) can store a huge amount of data about data. They're are very efficient at this job and very powerful.** Google Search uses a database to remember what web pages are about, and tells you when you ask.
So why not use one of those options?
Obviously this method is limited in scope to some kinds of sources, and doesn't make sense for naming photos or documents that aren't part of a larger source (e.g. an ID card).
 
A really good article on why and how to implement this kind of naming system is [http://parallax-viewpoint.blogspot.com/2015/01/hierarchical-sources.html Hierarchical Sources] by Tony Proctor.
= See also =
* [http://whatdoiknow.org/archives/000442.shtml File Naming / Organization Methods?] from [http://whatdoiknow.org What do I know?]
[[Category:Documentation|F]][[Category:Developers/General|F]][[Category:Media]]
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