3 ms·

I'm not sure I agree that 'zip' is lost. I would say the metaphor has always been ambiguous. If you zip something irl, without context, what are you doing? I c

by Gunax 3y ago

I'm not sure I agree that 'zip' is lost. I would say the metaphor has always been ambiguous. If you zip something irl, without context, what are you doing? I can see it being either sealing a bag or merging.

masklinn 3y ago
Which is not far from the metaphor. If you seal a bag, you take two strands and you basically match them one for one. If you merge (or close a zipper) as the essay points out it’s a bit iffier because they interleave constructs, but at the same time a zipper keeps a clear distinction of right and left, so it’s pretty close. Strictly speaking “buttoning” might be a better match for the semantics, but I don’t think it’d be clearer. Then again I’ve long integrated zipping so I’m way biased.
- Karliss 3y ago
  I think the problem isn't that you can't come up with story which makes sense. Problem is that you if you focus on other aspects of process for example opening/close part instead of mechanism how it's closed, or other meanings of word zip as making certain sound or a fast movement and come up with other equally meaningful metaphors. Once multiple of them get used you have a problem, even worse some of those uses can form new associations. That's how you end up with 5 completely different meanings associated with a word: * zip(sound)<->zip(quick movement) no idea of history * zipper <- zip(sound) * zip tie <- zip(sound?) * zip(function) <- zipper(side by side interleave) * pkzip <- supposedly from zip(quick movement), although some other sources suggest similarity with opening/closing a container aspect. Which also somewhat makes sense as you can more easily extract or add individual files to a zip archive, which many other archive supports don't support. Seems like some of the early software packaging had illustrations of zipper, so I guess they embraced the multiple meanings of zip. * zip(general compression) <- pkzip * zip drive <- quick? * zipper -> plastic teethless zipper (closer to zipping function) -> Ziploc -> strengthen the open and close meaning without zip sound or interleaving Does anyone have any sources of origin for computer science use of zip meaning combining multiple lists? All the examples using actual word "zip" in wikipedia are from somewhat modern programming languages no earlier than 1990, lisp is older but it doesn't seem to use the word zip.

by Gunax 3y ago

masklinn 3y ago

Which is not far from the metaphor. If you seal a bag, you take two strands and you basically match them one for one. If you merge (or close a zipper) as the essay points out it’s a bit iffier because they interleave constructs, but at the same time a zipper keeps a clear distinction of right and left, so it’s pretty close. Strictly speaking “buttoning” might be a better match for the semantics, but I don’t think it’d be clearer. Then again I’ve long integrated zipping so I’m way biased.

Karliss 3y ago
I think the problem isn't that you can't come up with story which makes sense. Problem is that you if you focus on other aspects of process for example opening/close part instead of mechanism how it's closed, or other meanings of word zip as making certain sound or a fast movement and come up with other equally meaningful metaphors. Once multiple of them get used you have a problem, even worse some of those uses can form new associations. That's how you end up with 5 completely different meanings associated with a word: * zip(sound)<->zip(quick movement) no idea of history * zipper <- zip(sound) * zip tie <- zip(sound?) * zip(function) <- zipper(side by side interleave) * pkzip <- supposedly from zip(quick movement), although some other sources suggest similarity with opening/closing a container aspect. Which also somewhat makes sense as you can more easily extract or add individual files to a zip archive, which many other archive supports don't support. Seems like some of the early software packaging had illustrations of zipper, so I guess they embraced the multiple meanings of zip. * zip(general compression) <- pkzip * zip drive <- quick? * zipper -> plastic teethless zipper (closer to zipping function) -> Ziploc -> strengthen the open and close meaning without zip sound or interleaving Does anyone have any sources of origin for computer science use of zip meaning combining multiple lists? All the examples using actual word "zip" in wikipedia are from somewhat modern programming languages no earlier than 1990, lisp is older but it doesn't seem to use the word zip.