Why does everyone keep calling cookies "files"?
Whenever I see a news article or FAQ about cookies, it seems like everyone refers to them as "files". Seeing as cookies have been in the news recently, e.g. "web users who are being tracked via text files called "cookies".", I'm seeing this mind-bogglingly stupid and wrong language again and again (don't get me started on "These files are widely used to help users navigate faster around sites they visit regularly"), and it sets my teeth on edge.
Cookies are not files. They're just little pieces of data. They're the content of the "Set-Cookie" HTTP header, similar to the contents of the "Date", "Server" or "Content-Type" headers.
Is every bit of data a web server sends you a "file"? Is the value of the "Content-Type" header a "file"? No. Of course it bloody isn't. So why the heck are cookies always referred to as "files"? What's wrong with saying "users who are being tracked with data called "cookies"."
I'd expect the BBC at least to get this right. They normally insist on using the correct spelling and punctuation, so why not the right (or at least, not the wrong) words?
(Incidentally, the reason why I'm posting about a 3-day old article is that I've been fairly non compos mentis since Tuesday evening with an advanced case of lerg - so much so that I wasn't even feeling up to reading the news, let alone posting, so am only catching up now. Brain mostly working, but will probably stay out of everyone's way 'til next week in case I'm still infectious.)
Cookies are not files. They're just little pieces of data. They're the content of the "Set-Cookie" HTTP header, similar to the contents of the "Date", "Server" or "Content-Type" headers.
Is every bit of data a web server sends you a "file"? Is the value of the "Content-Type" header a "file"? No. Of course it bloody isn't. So why the heck are cookies always referred to as "files"? What's wrong with saying "users who are being tracked with data called "cookies"."
I'd expect the BBC at least to get this right. They normally insist on using the correct spelling and punctuation, so why not the right (or at least, not the wrong) words?
(Incidentally, the reason why I'm posting about a 3-day old article is that I've been fairly non compos mentis since Tuesday evening with an advanced case of lerg - so much so that I wasn't even feeling up to reading the news, let alone posting, so am only catching up now. Brain mostly working, but will probably stay out of everyone's way 'til next week in case I'm still infectious.)