What does zip mean?

[Terry Reedy]

On 11/10/2014 3:36 PM, Cameron Simpson wrote:
> On 10Nov2014 17:19, Grant Edwards <invalid at invalid.invalid> wrote:
>> On 2014-11-10, giacomo boffi <giacomo_boffi at inwind.it> wrote:
>>> To help you understanding what is the `zip` builtin, please forget
>>> about PKZip etc and think about the _zip fastener_ or _zipper_ in
>>> your bag or in your trousers
>>>
>>> In the bag you have two sequences of teeth that the zipper
>>> binds together in interlocking pairs
>>
>> No, you don't. That's not how a zipper works.  Each tooth from side A,
>> isn't bound with one from side B.  It's bound with _two_ of them from
>> side B. And each of those is in turn bound with an additional tooth
>> from side A, and so on...
>
> This is true, but the analogy is still the correct one:-)

Perhaps ironically in this context, zippers replaced hook-and-eye 
fastening, where the two sequences *are* matched in parallel.  "Hookless 
fastener" was one of the original names (Wikipedia).

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy