[note: the text of this tutorial has not been changed since the 1999 version,
but links and a few typos have been fixed.]
 
 

WELCOME TO ZIGZAG.

The ZigZag system is very hard to explain, especially since it resembles nothing else in the computer field that we know of, except perhaps a spreadsheet cut into strips and glued into loops.

It is a PRINCIPLED SYSTEM OF INTERCONNECTION.

Lists and Spreadsheets are rational ways of connecting things, but they have shortcomings.  Hierarchical directories are a standard way of connecting things, but they have extreme shortcomings.

The ZigZag structure (we don't know the best term-- zzstructure, zzspace, quantum hyperspace?) is extremely simple but has remarkable properties.

It can be built into almost anything, and has default visualizations.

Where is this going?

1.  With its rich default visualizations, it offers a simple structured interface for compound menus-- offering the simplification of such environments as Unix.

2.  We see it as a DATA LAYER for a new rational system of computing.  The grotesque inconsistencies and complications of files in their present form-- consider, for example, the issues of readdressing among downloaded HTML files-- may be replaced by a clean, table-like arrangement which keeps track of things more easily-- and which bright non-tekkies can deal with.

Tomorrow's computer environment will involve vast, constant media downloads.  ZigZag structure offers a scalable, rational system of registration and storage which can handle this very cleanly.

3.  A new form of SPATIAL PROGRAMMING, table-driven in zzspace, may simplify programming and computer environments in general.

CONTENTS OF THIS LITTLE HYPERTEXT

"Welcome to ZigZag" This page here. "The Connections of ZigZag" All it is, is connection. "The Views of ZigZag" Dimensions and Different Refreshes. "The Axioms of ZigZag Structure" Only two.  But their ramifications will grab you from behind. "The Multidimensionality of ZigZag" All the dimensions you didn't think you needed. "Special Properties of ZigZag Structure" Twisted columns, folded rows, intercalary cells, and any number of cells at an intersection. "Easy Misunderstandings about ZigZag" A rank is not a dimension; and every cell is in every dimension. "The Paradoxes of ZigZag" Yes, it's strange.  But compared to what?