[TriLUG] File extension for a binary executable?

[James Olin Oden]

On Dec 12, 2007 10:39 AM, Steve Litt <slitt at troubleshooters.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> What is a good file extension for a binary executable (something compiled from
> C that runs from the command prompt)? Personally I don't want to call my
> filepicker just "fpick" because I'll forget what it is or what it does. When
> I create shellscripts I always put ".sh" as the file extension. What's a good
> file extension for a binary executable?
>
> Personally, if politics weren't an issue, I'd use ".exe", as in "fpick.exe".
> Everyone knows what that means, and it describes it perfectly. Unfortunately,
> that isn't very FOSSly correct, and I could see a lot of people getting their
> undies in a bundle over that. ".bin" is ambiguous because lots of different
> things are binary.
>
> Any ideas?
>
Its already been said, but don't use any extension.  Its unix
tradition but it also makes since, in that in unix they would have to
type out that extension.   Users don't care what your language was,
and they already know its executable because of the execute bit.   So
again, no extension is the right choice.

As a silly aside, and Alen alluded to this, if you think of commands
as verbs, it would be rather awkward in language to say something
like:

   list.verb /tmp.directory

But:

   list /tmp

is natural from a langage persepective.  The CLI already positionally
makes clear that the first word is the verb, and thus we type:

   ls /tmp

DOS of course made up for this by treating some file extensions
special such that you don't have to type .exe, but that IMO
overcomplicates the shell.

Cheers...james
> Thanks
>
> SteveT
>
> Steve Litt
> Author: Universal Troubleshooting Process books and courseware
> http://www.troubleshooters.com/
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