Re: 1-based indexing in Lua or the one without zero

[Oliver Kroth <oliver.kroth@...>]

Am 22.04.2018 um 17:43 schrieb ag:
> On Tue, Apr 03, at 03:25 Oliver Kroth wrote:
> > Am 03.04.2018 um 15:02 schrieb Ahmed Charles:
> > > Written before I was born, EWD831
> > > (http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD08xx/EWD831.html)
> > > describes why 0 based ranges are superior better than I can. It has
> > > nothing to do with programming languages and everything to do with math.
> > Actually, Dijkstra just prefers to have items counted like 0,...,N-1 instead
> > of 1,...,N
> > odd.
> >
> > When I count things, let's say, cows, I start with the first cow and say
> > "one", second cow "two",  third cow counted "three"...
> > I would not start with the first cow and say "zero", I say "zero" when there
> > is no cow at all.
> > A zero-th cow is the cow in the empty corral, and actually "not a cow"...
> I'm going to be another one that bites the dust here.
>
> So, lets say that we could talk with a just born human child, and asked him:
>   
>    how old are you?
>
> Is not one, but is not zero either. He actually is zero and an offset.
>   
> Back in the old times learned to say that we are __at__ [age] or walking
> at [age].
>
> In this regard and in a humanish way of thinking and without second
> thoughts, Lua got it right. But i do not think that machines thinks the
> same.
They don't have to. That's the compiler's task.
> And more philosophically:
>
> What could be the one without the zero? It has no meaning, as it requires a
> starting point to exist and calculate itself and the next same objects, even
> if it is a cow or a goat (its wise that you've used cows and not goats in the
> example (but this is another story)).
It fills the gap between negative integer numbers and positive integer 
numbers.
> But now, what do you think that would be the kid's answer after one year?
>
> For the record and in mho, C like languages choosed very wiselly to refer at
> the starting point of the object address (or n-1) and for a good reason.
I always found and still find it odd that the n-th element is indexed 
with n-1;
always reminds me of one of my favourite jokes:

What are the three most common errors in programming?

1) missing semicolon,
2) being off by one

--
Oliver