Files, Folders and Programs

"Remember, if you can't find your content when you need it - consider it lost."
Digital Workflow by Penny Ann Dolin, pg. 14

Whenever you do something on your computer, you are using files, folders and programs, but what is the difference?

Files
A file is a piece of information stored on your computer. The Windows operating system gets to decide where that file lives. When you "open" something on your computer, Windows knows where the file is and fetches it. However, Windows could care less what's in the file. Instead, Windows gives the file to some program to figure out what to do with it.

Each file has a last name, called an extension. Often Windows is set to hide the extensions from you. Extensions look like .doc, .html, .gif, .jpg. The extensions tell Windows which program knows how to interpret that kind of file. Windows adds a little icon beside the file to show you which program is best to open that file.

Sometimes one program can interpret a file from another program and sometimes they can't. For example, in a PhotoShop class, you learn how to work with a .jpg picture. Your internet browser also knows how to open that file, but it doesn't know how to make changes to that file. Notepad doesn't know what to do with a .jpg at all.Sometimes you may have a problem opening a file that came from another computer. For example, Windows often has a problem opening files that come from a Macintosh computer.

The files you make on your computer are called data files. Examples of data files are a letter you write on your computer, a web page, or a photo you have on a CD.

Folders
Folders are a way to organize your files. Basically, folders are addresses. Every file has to have an address so Windows can find it. An address might look something like this: C:\Desktop\My Documents\My Pictures\Family Photos\Dad Birthday.jpg. That means that there is a photo of Dad's birthday in a folder called Family Photos, which is in another folder called My Pictures, which is in another folder called My Documents, which is on the Desktop of your computer, which is on your hard drive.

The files in the example on the right are in the Windows folder. To see the folder levels, click the down arrow beside the folder. If you need to make a new folder, you can click the little folder icon with the red star burst. When you are saving files, you should always be aware of which folder you are saving to.

Programs
A program is a tool that you use to do something on your computer. For example, you are looking at this web page. To ask for the web page and to view the web page, you are using a program called a browser. Your browser might be Internet Explorer, or it might be Netscape or some other brand.

A program is actually made of many files. Some of the files in a program can do work; in computer science we call these files "executables". For example, when you type in a web page address, an executable sends a message to the internet asking for that page. Other files in a program hold information the executables need. For example, when you hit the Back button on your browser, there is a file that holds information about the pages you have already seen. The executable uses that information to go back to the page.

 

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