On 04/04/13 05:21, Pavel Stehule wrote:
[...]
At the time (just over 40 years ago!) I was adamant that arrays should start with an index of one, now I much prefer zero. Probably I prefer zero in part, because now I understand what is happening at the machine code level, and partly because zero is the default for the main languages I use.
Wasting time on Google (I have 'more' important things I 'should' be doing!), I find ALGOL 60 did not appear to have a default value for the lower index - not only that, but one could make it negative! see:
http://www.csci.csusb.edu/dick/samples/algol60.syntax.html Anyhow, I think we should standardise on zero as the initial index to be as consistent as practicable. However, not with a religious zeal at the expense of practical considerations!
Cheers,
Gavin