ZAP

Language for expressing transformational developments.

["A System for Assisting Program Transformation", M.S. Feather, ACM TOPLAS 4(1):1-20 (Jan 1982)].

zap

1. To modify, usually to correct; especially used when the action is performed with a debugger or binary patching tool. Also implies surgical precision. "Zap the debug level to 6 and run it again." In the IBM mainframe world, binary patches are applied to programs or to the operating system with a program called "superzap", whose file name is "IMASPZAP" (possibly contrived from I M A SuPerZAP).

2. To fry a chip with static electricity. "Uh oh - I think that lightning strike may have zapped the disk controller."