BeOS File System

December 1997 / Reviews / The Be-All-That-You-Can-Be OS / BeOS File System

Several modern features of the BeOS file system really stand out. The first, called journaling, eliminates the need for time-consuming FSCK operations to check the validity of the file system. With journaling, the system maintains a separate record of all changes to the file block al locations table. If the system crashes, this journal makes it much easier to reconstruct the accurate table without surveying the entire disk.
Users can also store arbitrary attributes for each file under th e BeOS file system and use the central index that BeOS builds for these attributes. Much more flexible than using DOS's three-letter-suffix technique or the Mac OS's hidden four-letter creator approach, the index lets programmers call up files quickly by asking for particular attributes. This is used, for example, by the mail system. It stores each e-mail message as a separate file with attributes listing details such as the sender, with the result that the programmers didn't have to write their own separate search facility into the code.

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Matthew Wilson
My approach to software engineering is far more pragmatic than it is theoretical--and no language better exemplifies this than C++.

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