In the late 1980s, the digital world was dominated by the ARC compression format. Phil Katz, a self-taught programmer from Milwaukee, believed he could do better. He wrote , which was significantly faster because he rewrote critical sections in assembly language.
In April 2000, Phil Katz was found dead in a hotel room in Milwaukee at the age of 37. He died alone from acute pancreatic bleeding caused by chronic alcoholism. When investigators later visited his home, they found a place filled with garbage and decaying food—a chaotic environment for a man who spent his life perfecting the art of organization. src.zip
: As a child, Katz was bullied and sought refuge in technology. He was deeply close to his father, Walter, and after his father's death, he began to withdraw from the world. In the late 1980s, the digital world was