Working with Files
Files and folders
Read a file path, name the folder a file sits in, and use the extension to say what kind of file it is.
Everything you save on a computer is a file: one piece of writing, one photograph, one song. A folder is a container for files, and a folder can hold other folders as well. That is how a computer with a hundred thousand files on it stays findable — everything is inside something.
Reading a path
A path is the list of folders you would open to reach a file, written with slashes between them. In School/Math/sums.doc you open School, then Math, and there is the file. The last name is always the file; everything before it is a folder.
Have a play
Each box in this folder tree has a name — find out what each one is called. Notice that the further right a box sits, the deeper inside it is.
Tap any part of the picture.
Worked example
Where does the file live in Home/Pictures/Birthday/cake.jpg?
Find the last name in the path: cake.jpg.
It ends in a dot and a few letters, so it is the file rather than a folder.
Try it together
Let us read the path Work/Reports/June/summary.txt together.
Take it one piece at a time, reading from left to right.
1.Which name in that path is the file rather than a folder?
Have a go
Have a go on your own. A file is saved at "Games/Chess/board.png". Which folder is it sitting directly inside?
Ready to practice?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.