Curious about writing to file

[Kenchu]

I'm pretty new to Ubuntu and linux. I've noticed that usually all programs save their stuff @ homefolder with . (dot) appname. Just wondering if this "feature" is in the OS itself, or something programmers choose to implement themselves? Because I've got a Java IRC client, and it is saving stuff to a hidden folder in home. That made me think how it was implemented. Because java programs work on practically all OS. So was that part with writing files specialized, or is it something the OS handles itself?

Thx

EDIT

I must've explained myself confusingly. I meant more like the path to the file. Does the program have different implementations for each OS (with different paths), or is it the same for each (kinda like "save to user docs" or something, that results in My Documents if in windows, or Home if in linux, for example).

[Majorix]

It is programmers who specify to save files that start with a dot. It is NOT the OS.

[ghostdog74]

the "dot" in front of a file name/dir is supposed to be *nix way of specifying hidden files. IT IS an OS "feature". But whether to save files as hidden, is entirely up to whoever.

[Kenchu]

I must've explained myself confusingly. I meant more like the path to the file. Does the program have different implementations for each OS (with different paths), or is it the same for each (kinda like "save to user docs" or something, that results in My Documents if in windows, or Home if in linux, for example).

[cwaldbieser]

the "dot" in front of a file name/dir is supposed to be *nix way of specifying hidden files. IT IS an OS "feature". But whether to save files as hidden, is entirely up to whoever.

Isn't it more of a feature of the "ls" command and some window managers, rather than the OS?

[ghostdog74]

Isn't it more of a feature of the "ls" command and some window managers, rather than the OS?

you can put it that way since you can use ls to see hidden files w/o using -a. however, if you have hidden files in a directory and you do a rm *, normally, those hidden files won't get deleted.

[Majorix]

I must've explained myself confusingly. I meant more like the path to the file. Does the program have different implementations for each OS (with different paths), or is it the same for each (kinda like "save to user docs" or something, that results in My Documents if in windows, or Home if in linux, for example).

Sorry I got you wrong.

Yes there are different implementations for each OS in cross-platform programs. Usually, in the sourcecode, there is something that creates a folder in the user's home or Program Files folder or wherever. If you would like, consider this pseudo-code example:


if OS is Windows
install to Program Files\program name
else if OS is Linux
install to users_home/.program_name
.
.
.
You get the idea.

You can see a sourcecode for a cross-platform program to see the idea I explained here in action.

It is nice of you to try to learn the insights to your OS :)

[tyoc]

mmmm... :S.

It is a convention that if you will only store a single file, then you do it in home in a file for your app ~/.appname if you gona have more than 1 file for your app configuration, then it should be inside a hiden folder.

Like I know the dot file is also a convention between one of this: tools accessing FS or the FS.

[LaRoza]

I'm pretty new to Ubuntu and linux. I've noticed that usually all programs save their stuff @ homefolder with . (dot) appname. Just wondering if this "feature" is in the OS itself, or something programmers choose to implement themselves? Because I've got a Java IRC client, and it is saving stuff to a hidden folder in home. That made me think how it was implemented. Because java programs work on practically all OS. So was that part with writing files specialized, or is it something the OS handles itself?


The languages that have an interpreter or a virtual machine (Java, Python, etc) have the implementation of the file and directory handling internally so the programmer doesn't have to think about it.

In Python (for example) you can specify a path without worrying if the slashes are right.

As for the programs themselves, it is the programmer who choses to follow the convention. I have a few GNU Software ported to Windows, and they have .something files in my "home" directory, so it is not a feature of the OS.

[Kenchu]

Thx. I got what I was looking for. :)