merge (Re: zip or marry etc)

[Aahz Maruch]

In article <39763FF4.2CA5BF75 at schneider-kamp.de>,
Peter Schneider-Kamp  <peter at schneider-kamp.de> wrote:
>Aahz Maruch wrote:
>> 
>> Precisely.  "Zip" has come to mean compression, and I think *that's* a
>
>I hate to warm up the whole thread from python-dev, but I'll post
>a quote from /F:

Some of these make sense, others are absurd.  And while I'm sure /F
meant this as a joke, I feel a need to respond seriously:

>/F:
>> is this the end of Python development?
>> 
>> just imagine what this crowd would have done if guido had asked
>> you *before* he added things like:
>> 
>>     dir ("hey, dir should give you a list of filenames")

Directories existed before DOS.  Not relevant.

>>     del ("removes files, right?")

Ditto.

>>     compile ("but people will think that it generates
>>     machine code")

A point, but mostly <shrug>

>>     global ("but it's not truly global. how about regional
>>     or domestic?")

<snort>  Amusing.

>>     hash ("that's a data type, right?") ("or perhaps something
>>     from the The Amsterdam Aloha Seed Bank?")

Again, "hash" has long since had a relevant meaning for computers.

>>     hex ("now wait.  it's not clear from the name if it con-
>>     verts a hex string to an integer, or the other way around.
>>     oh, it's the latter.  sorry, but that will confuse perl pro-
>>     grammers")

IIRC, at that point in time, Perl was not a standard other languages
were being judged against.

>Come on, other languages can live with zip(), too.

I think I was insufficiently clear: in addition to "zip" having a known
meaning, it does not have any connotation in computer terms of combining
data that I've ever seen.  Yeah, if you want to call it "zipper", I
might almost see your point.
--
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