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Not quite. Fortran enshrined the convention, so the question becomes "Why did Fortan pick that range for integers?"
by martincmartin 16y ago
Not quite. Fortran enshrined the convention, so the question becomes "Why did Fortan pick that range for integers?"
- MWinther 16y agoI don't agree that the question changes. I would argue that the fact that Fortran enshrined the convention is a more relevant answer than the answer to why Fortran picked that range. The reason being that the answer to the latter question is most likely from another domain, such as Mathematics. Although I do find the answer to the latter question interesting as well, just not as interesting as the answer to the first.
- ewiethoff 16y agoBecause mathematicians, physicists, and engineers use i through n for integers in their mathematical formulas, and Fortran was their FORmula TRANslator into computerese. (Additional fun fact: They begin their matrix row and column counts with 1, which is why Fortran array indices start at 1.)