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The File Filesystem (2021)

(mgree.github.io)
346 points wegwerff | 3 comments | 30 Apr 24 17:43 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
1. ThinkBeat ◴[30 Apr 24 19:50 UTC] No.40215480[source]▶
No XML, Excel,PDF or CSV support yet.
replies(1): >>40219106 #
2. IlliOnato ◴[01 May 24 03:11 UTC] No.40219106[source]▶
I guess support for XML would be tricky, because XML is just way more complex format than the ones already supported. It is still essentially a tree, but with additional structure.

Representing elements and their contents is easy enough. But attributes, comments, processing instructions, entities... And remember, an XML document can include a DTD (it does not have to be in a separate file).

To present it as a file system in a useful, non-convoluted way? I will be very, very interested if it's possible, but not holding my breath.

replies(1): >>40219426 #
3. eyelidlessness ◴[01 May 24 04:11 UTC] No.40219426[source]▶
On the one hand, I can’t help but point out you forgot to mention the other big inherent complexity that would make XML-as-FS a uniquely complex beast: namespaces.

On the other hand, I can’t help but point out that a related technology comes very close to demonstrating how you might map XML to a file system: XPath. Probably the biggest issue would be syntax, and again largely due to namespaces.