Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!phri!dasys1!alexis
From: alexis@dasys1.UUCP (Alexis Rosen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Why can't the Finder show folder sizes? (summary & rejoinder)
Message-ID: <5152@dasys1.UUCP>
Date: 24 Jun 88 10:17:24 GMT
Lines: 27


tim@ism780c.isc.com (T.W."Tim" Smith, Knowledgian) writes:
>matthews@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Dave Matthews) writes:
>< *Why* doesn't the Finder maintain a data structure with all the information
>< about folder sizes?  Naively, it seems like all that would be needed is a
>How is the Finder supposed to know what files I have modified?

Actually, it *DOES* already. I'm not sure how, since I haven't taken the Finder
apart, but my best guess is that the Finder patches certain FS traps. You can
see this in action if you use MultiFinder. If you put a folder's window where
you can see it while an Application is in the foreground, and then you create
a new file in that folder with that app, it will show up immediately in the
folder! Obviously the Finder is Juggler-aware :-)

This is also true of any change in a file's size. The finder knows about it
right away, whether or not you close and re-open the folder.

Despite all of the above, keeping all the file sizes in memory is a rotten idea.
It's just one more thing to eat up RAM, just one more thing to slow the finder
down. If you really want to know, ask it with the "Get Info" command.

/Alexis
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