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To save you a query: - "The name "zip" (meaning "move at high speed") was suggested by [Phil] Katz's friend, Robert Mahoney.[4]. They wanted to imply that thei
by perihelions 3y ago
To save you a query:
- "The name "zip" (meaning "move at high speed") was suggested by [Phil] Katz's friend, Robert Mahoney.[4]. They wanted to imply that their product would be faster than ARC and other compression formats of the time.[4]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_(file_format)#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_(file_format)#History
- OJFord 3y agoI could've sworn it was named for the authors - took a while to find with nothing more to go on, but I was thinking of Lempel-Ziv (and I suppose Ziv became ZIP, sorry Ziv). I must be using a lossy compression for memory.
- ambicapter 3y agoThat's funny, I always pictured it as "zipping up" like closing up some sort of container.
- Timon3 3y agoIt's funny how well that would fit tar.
- heywhatupboys 3y agoto quote the famous bash.org: "What should I give my sister for unzipping?" "20 bucks?" "no like, for files and stuff"
- paulddraper 3y agoHahaha
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Groxx 3y agoQuite a lot of zip application icons used this imagery, so that's not particularly surprising
- TechBro8615 3y agoHuh, I had always assumed the etymology was related to "zipper," as in "all my clothes fit in my bag once I zipped it."
- jcrawfordor 3y agoI think the zipper iconography was used by pretty early versions of pkzip, so it was definitely on the mind of the format's creator. Of course the more common implementation WinZip (these days from Corel but I assume it was acquired, not sure of the history) went the C-clamp route, which I think it shared with WinRar.
- mastax 3y agoInteresting. In iconography I often see an allusion to a zipper being used as if compressing an overfilled suitcase.
- raverbashing 3y agoInterestingly, gzip came after zip (some 3 years later)
- billpg 3y agoI remember fruitlessly trying to open a .zip file with gunzip back in the mid 90s. That was my first experience of the GNU project.
- edu 3y agoWell, GZIP is GNU ZIP. I ale says expected it was developed after the original ZIP.
- canucker2016 3y agogzip is just the compression/decompression algorithm (Deflate) from PKZip. They needed a new compress/decompress tool once IBM asserted their patent rights on the LZW algorithm used in the compress tool.
- account42 3y agogzip adds its own file header with lots of useless information like a field for a file name. zip uses a different header for the compression stream, commonly known as the zlib format. They also use different checksums at the end (CRC32 vs Adler32).
- sph 3y agoThat's what the name might mean but it's simply wrong. gzip is not the same format as ZIP, and the tool itself is unable to read or write ZIP files.
- account42 3y agoIt is however GNU's alternative to the zip format.
- MitPitt 3y ago
- rjeli 3y agoConversely: The term ZIP is an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan; it was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently and quickly (zipping along) when senders use the code in the postal address. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_Code https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_Code
- peterldowns 3y agoAnd for anyone who hasn’t heard of him, look up “mr zip”! The smithsonian has some great material. I’m hoping to create an online archive (hah) of mr zip materials at https://mr.zip https://mr.zip sometime soon
- ClassyJacket 3y agoLike other commentors, I always thought it was an allusion to zipping up some sort of storage or container, like a suitcase - zipping would still be useful even if it didn't compress, as it's a way to send a folder as a single file.