Macintosh file system

file system A file on the Macintosh consists of two parts,

called forks. The "data fork" contains the data which would

normally be stored in the file on other operating systems.

The "resource fork" contains a collection of arbitrary

attribute/value pairs, including program segments, icon

bitmaps, and parametric values. Yet more information

regarding Macintosh files is stored by the Finder in a

hidden file, called the "Desktop Database".

Because of the complications in storing different parts of a

Macintosh file in non-Macintosh file systems that only handle

consecutive data in one part, it is common to only send the

Data fork or to convert the Macintosh file into some other

format before transferring it.

(1996-03-03)