Design
Zip files are archives that store multiple files. Zip allows contained files to be compressed using many different methods, as well as simply storing a file without compressing it. Each file is stored separately, allowing different files in the same archive to be compressed using different methods. Because the files in a Zip archive are compressed individually it is possible to extract them, or add new ones, without applying compression or decompression to the entire archive. This contrasts with the format of compressed tar files, for which such random-access processing is not easily possible.
A directory is placed at the end of a zip file. This identifies what files are in the zip and identifies where in the zip that file is located. This allows zip readers to load the list of files without reading the entire zip archive. Zip archives can also include extra data that is not related to the zip archive. This allows for zip archives to be made into self-extracting archives, applications that decompress their contained data, by including the program code in a zip archive and marking the file as executable. On the other hand, it also allows for an innocuous file, such as a GIF image file, to hide malicious code by making the file a zip archive.
The zip format uses a 32-bit CRC algorithm and includes two copies of the directory structure of the archive to provide greater protection against data loss.
Read more about this topic: Zip (file Format)
Famous quotes containing the word design:
“The reason American cars don’t sell anymore is that they have forgotten how to design the American Dream. What does it matter if you buy a car today or six months from now, because cars are not beautiful. That’s why the American auto industry is in trouble: no design, no desire.”
—Karl Lagerfeld (b. 1938)
“I begin with a design for a hearse.
For Christ’s sake not black—
nor white either—and not polished!
Let it be weathered—like a farm wagon—”
—William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)
“Westerners inherit
A design for living
Deeper into matter—
Not without due patter
Of a great misgiving.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)