Re: File types [was: Re: wide characters and i18n]

[Matthew Mondor <mm_lists%pulsar-zone.net@localhost>]

On Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:59:24 -0400 (EDT)
der Mouse <mouse%Rodents-Montreal.ORG@localhost> wrote:

> So, tell me: besides the name, what is the difference between an
> extended attribute and an entry in the resource fork?  In particular,
> what makes the former good and the latter bad?
> 
> Because I'm having trouble seeing the difference.

I could be wrong, but my impression is that extended attributes should
limit functionality to what is strictly necessary to tag custom
metadata to files, and possibly even enforcing sanity on the data (i.e.
a typed property system), as opposed to forks which may allow
arbitrary, structured or unstructured data (that is, hidden files
within a file)...
-- 
Matt