Re: Duplicate identifiers in a single namespace

On 10/5/2024 6:40 PM, Jasen Betts wrote:

On 2024-09-29, Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:

On 9/29/2024 11:10 AM, Don Y wrote:
>
<https://mega.nz/file/krwmlBCL#Im_HcJFa6i6IaR6m3ziL4GadXO3uZnam0iAAWk-xkPI>

 

Note the two icons having the same name (desktop.ini) but different
contents.  I can create many such "duplicates" presented in the
"Desktop" namespace.

 I notice two files one called "C:\Users\Asministrator\Desktop\desktop.ini"
and the other called "C:\Users\Public\Desktop\desktop.ini"
 What's a  ""Desktop" namespace" ?

It's the set of names that are visible to a user when looking at
their desktop.

Is there some way to retreive those files from that namespace by name?

I have no idea what APIs MS supports for this.  Obviously, Explorer
(or whatever it is that I am interacting with when I click on an icon
displayed on the "Desktop") can map the screen location of my click
to a specific object (the file associated with the icon).
Is this supported in an API?  Or, does an application wanting to interact
with "The Desktop" have to effectively implement the union internally?

However, MS's implementation exposes every object in the union
without a way of (easily) identifying which is which.  E.g., how
do YOU know that the PROPERTIES windows I displayed haven't been
reversed?

 Microsoft making an ambiguous user inteface is neither surprising nor
interesting to me.

*My* concern is to whether this would ever have value:
      "And, what *value* to supporting this capability?"
Most union mounts apply some default sense of priority to namespace
conflicts.  So, "A_Name" always resolves the same.  There *is*
value to that, even in a union mount (as I illustrated).
MS could have similarly applied some priority to this resolver
but chose not to.  Whether that is a conscious decision on
their part or a negligent oversight is hard to tell.  Dismissing
everything they do as folly is an arrogant approach.

Two icons at the top have the same writing under them, but that
writing is not their name, it's only a partial representation.
their actual names on the desktop are their screen co-ordinates.

To the piece of *code*, that is the case.  But, to the human user,
the coordinates are insignificant.  I could swap those two icons
(indeed, a bug in Windows causes desktop contents to magically
reshuffle) while you are distracted and you would have no way of
identifying which is the one you "wanted" -- without consulting
meta information.
Similar ambiguity exists in the Start Menu.