GAS-L: Zip?

[Peter Singfield <snkm@btl.net>]

Folks -- this morning a little educational stuff. A lot of people are
confused about compressing files -- here is an easy intro.

Zip is everything to us 3rd world dudes.

Peter Singfield / Belize

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              TOURBUS Volume 6, Number 67 -- 22 March 2001
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ZIP?
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Have you ever had a file on your computer that was so ridiculously
large that it was all but impossible for you to put it on a floppy
disk or send it to a friend as an email attachment?  Even better, have
you ever wanted to email someone a BUNCH of different files at the
same time but didn't want to go through the tedious process of having
to attach the files to the email one after the other?  That's where
zip technology comes in.

In the computer world, "zip" has two meanings.  The first meaning is
actually a trademark of the Iomega corporation.  Iomega makes
something called a Zip Drive that uses special disks ("Zip disks")
that hold either 100 or 250 megabytes of stuff.  The second definition
of "zip," and the one I want to talk about, is a tool/algorithm that
lets your compress and uncompress computer files.  The reason why I
want to talk about zip compression is that a few people were confused
by the fact that the PowerPoint files I mentioned in my last post [see
http://www.netsquirrel.com/classroom/ ] were zipped.  I apologize for
the confusion.

The reason why I zipped those PowerPoint files in the first place is
so that you can download them quicker.  However, to be able to use
those files -- or any zipped file for that matter -- you have to first
unzip them.

Fortunately, unzipping files is simple so long as you have the right
tools.  The first thing you need to do is download and install a
special piece of software that will zip and unzip files.  This may
sound like more trouble than it is worth, but a zip/unzip program is
an ESSENTIAL tool, especially if you are going to be using the
Internet a lot.  In fact, call someone you know who is a computer
guru, someone whose advice you trust implicitly, and ask her if she
could live without her zip program.  She'll laugh.  Zip programs are
THAT important.

Where can you get a zip program?  Well, for PC users, I recommend
WinZip.  You can download a free evaluation version of WinZip at

<A HREF="http://www.winzip.com/ddchomea.htm";>
http://www.winzip.com/ddchomea.htm </A>

It has been a while since I have unzipped a file on a Mac, but I seem
to remember that Aladdin's free StuffIt Expander worked pretty well.
You can download StuffIt expander for Mac, PC, and even Linux at

<A HREF="http://www.aladdinsys.com/expander/";>
http://www.aladdinsys.com/expander/ </A>

Download either program and then install it.  After that, whenever you
encounter a zipped file (a file that ends in ".zip"), just
double-click on that file.  Your unzip program will automatically
open, and you can then choose where you want the unzipped version of
that file to be saved on your computer.

That's it.  :)

By the way, one of the reason why I prefer WinZip over StuffIt
Expander for the PC is that WinZip adds unzip capabilities to Windows
Explorer's context menus.  To see what that means, install WinZip,
right-click on any zipped file on your computer, and then choose
"extract" from the pop-up window.  No more double-clicking.

Happy uncompressing!

http://www.TOURBUS.com
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