Paths

Paths

The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.

In some ways, the concept of Paths on computer drives is a little like standing at a fork in a road and looking down two, or more, paths. Where you stand in the road determines what you can see. Once you go down one path, the other(s) can no longer be seen.

Genealogists have an advantage when it comes to understanding the concept of Paths, because it is a lot like a family tree. Think of a father standing alone in a room.

Dad is alone in the room, but he can see the entire room.

Dad has three children. They are Allen, Bob and Chuck. Dad can see Allen, Bob and Chuck, because they are his children, and he can see into their rooms. They cannot see directly into his room.

Allen has three children. They are Dan, Ellen and Frank. Bob has two children. They are George and Harry. Chuck has two children. They are Inger and Janet. Allen can see Dan, Ellen and Frank because they are his children and he can see into their rooms. They cannot see directly into his room. Bob can see George and Harry because they are his children, and he can see into their rooms. They cannot see directly into his room. Chuck can see Inger and Janet because they are his children and he can see into their rooms. They cannot see directly into his room. Allen cannot see George, Harry, Inger or Janet because they are not his children, and he cannot see into their rooms. Bob cannot see Dan, Ellen, Frank, Inger or Janet, because they are not his children, and he cannot see into their rooms. Chuck cannot see Dan, Ellen, Frank, George or Harry, because they are not his children, and he cannot see into their rooms.

Dan has no children. Ellen has no children. Frank has three children. They are Kent, Larry and Martin. Frank can see Kent, Larry and Martin, because they are his children, and he can see into their rooms. They cannot see directly into his room. George has two children. They are Nancy and Oscar. Frank can see Nancy and Oscar because they are his children, and he can see into their rooms. They cannot see directly into his room. Harry has no children. Inger has no children. Janet has two children. They are Paul and Quincy. Janet can see Paul and Quincy because they are her children, and she can see into their rooms. They cannot see directly into her room. Dan, Ellen, Harry and Inger can see none of the children. Frank cannot see Nancy, Oscar, Paul or Quincy, because they are not his children, and he cannot see into their rooms. George cannot see Kent, Larry, Martin, Paul or Quincy, because they are not his children, and he cannot see into their rooms. Janet cannot see Kent, Larry, Martin, Nancy or Oscar, because they are not her children, and she cannot see into their rooms.

Kent has four children. They are Ralph, Sam, Tom and Ursula. Kent can see Ralph, Sam, Tom and Ursula because they are his children, and he can see into their rooms. They cannot see directly into his room. Larry, Martin and Nancy have no children. Oscar has one child, Vickie. Oscar can see Vickie because she is his child, and he can see into her room. She cannot see directly into his room. Paul has two children. They are Will and Xavier. Paul can see Will and Xavier because they are his children, and he can see into their rooms. They cannot see directly into his room. Quincy has no children. Kent cannot see Vickie, Will or Xavier, because they are not his children. Larry, Martin, Nancy and Quincy can see none of the children. Oscar cannot see Ralph, Sam, Tom, Ursula, Will or Xavier, because they are not his children, and he cannot see into their rooms. Paul cannot see Ralph, Sam, Tom or Ursula, because they are not his children, and he cannot see into their rooms.

The Path from Dad to Ursula would look like this:

The Path from Dad to Vickie would look like this:

The Path from Dad to Xavier would look like this:

The organization of a disk is much the same, except that the rooms are now called folders or directories. In the Windows operating system, the first folder is always named with a Drive letter, which is followed by . In this example, the drive letter is G:\.

When the drive is new, and empty, the directory looks like this:

There is nothing in the folder, and no other folders can be seen.

Lets create several folders on different levels:

All of these folders are now created on our G:\ drive.

The Path from the G:\ directory to the Collie folder looks like this:

The Path from G:\ to the Dune folder looks like this:

The Path to the Provo folder looks like this:

 

After adding these folders to the drive, the directory listing on the Root level looks like this:

By double clicking on one of these folders, we can open it, and see the folders inside it, like this:

Each time we open a folder and create a folder inside it, we are adding another level to the structure in the directory list:

Each level of the structure, except the top level, is contained inside another level. To get to any other folder from the Root directory (in this case, the G:\ directory) you must reference each directory level. This is known as Absolute Addressing. Which brings us to the subject of Relative Addressing… But that’s a story for another day.

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• Tagged: Ancestral Quest, computer, Directory, Genealogy, Genealogy Software, Path, Paths