Files and Directories
Explore the concepts of files and directories in operating systems, focusing on how storage is virtualized and organized through inode numbers and directory hierarchies. Understand UNIX file naming conventions, directory trees, and how these abstractions support persistent data storage and access.
Two key abstractions have developed over time in the virtualization of storage.
File
The first is the file. A file is simply a linear array of bytes, each of which you can read or write. Each file has some kind of low-level name, usually a number of some kind. Often, the user is not aware of this name (as we will see). For historical reasons, the low-level name of a file is often referred to as its inode number. We’ll be learning a lot more about inodes in future chapters. For now, just assume that each file has an inode number associated with it.
In most ...