We explain what a file is and the types of files that exist. Also, how a computer file is composed.
What is archive?
The concept of archive comes from Latin archivum, and refers to set of documents produced by natural persons or legal, public or private, in the exercise of their activity. This definition is the one proposed by the International Council on Archives, and contrasts with that of Elsevier (which focuses on the preservation of the document), and with that of the Spanish Historical Heritage Law (which refers to the use of the archive).
Documents can be books, photos, clippings of diaries, and are of utmost importance when undertaking a historical research activity. The libraries they are the quintessential archive repositories, and must be well classified and distributed for efficient use.
The word, however, has extended its use and the places that are prepared to house and guard large quantities of information they are known as. Some countries have General Archives, which house in an organized way information regarding the history and the culture of their towns.
In many cases, the archives also serve the function of preserving and assisting in the restoration of the documentation they have. The verb “archivar” is often used to imply the closure of a process, for example, by saying 'the case file has been ordered'.
Computer file
In the field of computing, the information element composed of a sum of records (combinations of bytes) is called "file". They bear this name because they are the digitized equivalents of the files described above. So much so that many of the files "on paper" are currently being digitized, to reduce their physical size and facilitate their organization and search. Computer files, in general, have some characteristics in common:
- Name. Each file is identifiable with a name, which cannot match another that is in the same location.
- Extension. The files have an optional extension, which often indicates their format.
- Size. As said, they are made up of a series of bytes that determine its size. It can reach kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes.
- Description. Besides the name and the extension, they usually have other characteristics. Within these characteristics the protection of the file can appear, which means the limited permission for the reading or modification.
- Location. All files belong to a certain place in the computer (or circumstantially outside of it), the so-called storage space. Most are stored on hard drives, which are arranged. hierarchically in folders and subfolders. There is necessarily a path to that location, starting with the referenced disk (C :, D :).
- Format. The way in which the file will be interpreted depends on its format, among which are the formats of text, executable, of data, image, audio, video, among many others.
The way computers organize files are often called file systems and depend on the operating system with which you are working. The files can be executable or non-executable, depending on whether they work on their own (such as a PC game) or need another application to load them (such as a document document). Word).