Most implementations of protocols add a lot of niceities for users. Even ones we would consider archaic, like a plain old implementation of ftp. For example, the whole concept of a current working directory is actually handled by the client, at least with Net::SFTP (and I see no reason wy Net::FTP would be different). Internally, everything is full pathed. It can be an eye opener but it is also a great opportunity to understand how some of these common protocols we take for granted actually work.