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.
If you zip something irl, without context, what are you doing? I can see it being either sealing a bag or merging.
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.
* 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.