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On 19/10/12 07:40, Sean Conner wrote:

   As Joel Spolsky said, "all abstractions leak." [1]
And a computing metaphor begins being useful when it differs from the real thing :) 



   Here's a file:

-rw-r--r--    1 spc spc  25288 Oct 18 15:50 urls.check

   Here's a socket:

srw-rw-rw-  1 root root 0 Aug 28 08:11 /dev/log

   And here's a pipe:

prw-r--r--  1 spc spc 0 Oct 19 05:24 foo

...

It's a lie that "everything is a file" under Unix (it's a useful lie, but
a lie nonetheless).  Perhaps it's better to say, "nearly every device has a
file interface to some degree."
Yup, even not being a native english speaker and having extra latitude for building my mental image for what a "file" is, it's too much for me. But I suppose calling it "thing" or "stuff" isn't very helpful, either. So, when i program i have three mental models. 

Have I mentioned I want an OS where "everything is a table"?

Jorge