[Tutor] Help Noob Question

[Alan Gauld]

On 28/03/14 09:28, spir wrote:
> On 03/28/2014 02:17 AM, Alan Gauld wrote:

>> you have to remember where it is. There is no ~ shortcut in Windows.
>> On my system that means typing something like:
>>
>> C:\Documents and Settings\alang\Desktop
>
> Can't you make a symlink pointing to Desktop? (in C:\ or anywhere else)

You could, and that would help a little. But the problem on Windows is 
that what appears on the Desktop *display* is an amalgam of (up to 3?) 
different folders in the file system. So just because you see an icon on 
the 'desktop' doesn't mean you actually know which folder it is in.

Secondly this correlation between desktop folder and desktop display 
means that's a bad place to store python files since every file you 
create will add to the clutter of icons on your display. In my python 
projects file I have over 100 small test files. That would be a
lot of icons messing up my screen.

So because of a combination of:
a) path complexity,
b) the disconnect between display and physical location and
c) the correlation between files and displayed icons
I recommend not using the desktop to store python files.

Of course everyone is free to ignore this recommendation,
it's just my experience/opinion. :-)

> Well, all filesystems are labyrinthians

Yes but Windows is much more so because of the disconnect
between how it displays things in visual tools and how it
stores things on the disk (and the fact that it has multiple
disks often with partially duplicated file structures!)
Very few things wind up in one place only. For a user,
this is ameliorated by the use of Libraries to group
folders with similar content, but they only serve to
make life even harder for the programmer!

[Even worse is the iPad with its insistance on storing
files with the app that last worked on them. A moving
target indeed, even assuming you can find the files in
the first place. Stupid decision.]

-- 
Alan G
Author of the Learn to Program web site
http://www.alan-g.me.uk/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alangauldphotos