I've been trying to figure out where the first z comes from. At least I tend to think "z" is for compression because of ZIP, but it predates that.
.Z was used for compress(1), probably because pack(1) used .z, but where did that come from?
My best theory is that it's from Steve Zucker who wrote pack(1) at RAND. There were other versions of pack(1) too, but if his was the first, it seems possible that he choose the z extension for Zucker.
.Z was used for compress(1), probably because pack(1) used .z, but where did that come from?
My best theory is that it's from Steve Zucker who wrote pack(1) at RAND. There were other versions of pack(1) too, but if his was the first, it seems possible that he choose the z extension for Zucker.
Does anyone have more info or other theories?