Creating a File System in Java

File Systems are one of the most essential parts of any operating system; without them, nothing of substance would ever be achieved with computers! A great feature of file systems is their hierarchal structure, which perfectly captures the Composite design pattern. In this example, we'll be modeling our very own file system.

FileSystem Base Class:

public abstract class FileSystem
{
   public boolean isDir;
   public boolean isFile;
   public String name;

   public FileSystem()
   {
       this.isDir  = false;
       this.isFile = false;
       this.name  = null;
   }

   // Work-around since Java doesn't support default value parameters:
   public void ls()
   {
       this.ls(0);
   }

   public abstract void ls(int indent);

   public String Tab(int indent)
   {
       return " ".repeat(indent * 4);
   }
}

Directory:

public class Directory extends FileSystem
{
   protected LinkedList<FileSystem> listings;

   public Directory(String name)
   {
       this.isDir = true;
       this.name = name;
       this.listings = new LinkedList<FileSystem>();
   }

   public void ls(int indent)
   {
       System.out.println("\n" + this.Tab(indent) + this.name + "/");

       for(FileSystem item: this.listings)
       {
           item.ls(indent + 1);
       }
   }

   public void Add(FileSystem listing)
   {
       this.listings.push(listing);
   }

   public void Remove(FileSystem listing)
   {
       this.listings.remove(listing);
   }
}

FileType:

public class FileType extends FileSystem
{
   protected String ext;

   public FileType(String name, String ext)
   {
       this.ext = ext;
       this.name = name;
       this.isFile = true;
   }

   public void ls(int indent)
   {
       System.out.println(this.Tab(indent) + this.name + "." + this.ext);
   }
}

Demo of the File System:

public class CompositeSolution
{
   public static void main(String[] args)
   {
       Directory root = new Directory("usr");

       // Create the home dir:
       Directory homeDir = new Directory("home");
       homeDir.Add(new FileType("howToCodeInJava", "pdf"));
       homeDir.Add(new FileType("ThingsToDo", "txt"));
       homeDir.Add(new FileType("grandCanyon", "png"));

       // Add home to the root;
       root.Add(homeDir);

       // Create a directory for projects:
       Directory projectDir = new Directory("codeProjects");
       // Create a new project:
       Directory devmakingProj = new Directory("devmaking");
       devmakingProj.Add(new FileType("index", "html"));
       // Create another project:
       Directory ticTacToeProj = new Directory("AI_tic-tac-toe");
       ticTacToeProj.Add(new FileType("app", "py"));

       // Add the projects to the project directory:
       projectDir.Add(devmakingProj);
       projectDir.Add(ticTacToeProj);

       // Add the project dir to the root:
       root.Add(projectDir);

       // list out the file system:
       root.ls();
   }
}